A swanky Grom Zaza exhibition, with plenty of headscissor usage, cool takedowns and transitions, and...well, shitty striking but that's okay, because everything else works. Koba doesn't quite have Zaza's finesse but his rawness works well against Zaza. I mean, at one point, he press slams him into the turnbuckle. The action heats up heading into the finishing stretch, with Koba using a neat armwhip takedown before Grom dumps him with a throw and cinches in a terrific full nelson hold for the submission.
Volk Han vs. Dick Leon-Vrij
Loved this match. Such an awesome dynamic between the heavy cyborg striker in Vrij and the submission specialist in Han, with the perfect build and set-up to the finish. It plays on the strengths of both dudes, and is sort of a personal dream match of mine from when I first started watching RINGS. Han knows what Vrij’s all about and immediately tries to submit him with the kneebar and keeps dragging him back to the middle of the ring. But once he’s back on his feet, Vrij goes hard with the strikes, cracking Han with kicks to the hamstring and brutal knees whenever Han tries for the double leg takedowns. On the ground, however, Han rules and he once again utilizies his legs in unique ways to try and pry open an armbar on Vrij. Vrij can't really hang with him on the mat.. He’ll hack out one of Han’s legs with kicks but he's unable to follow up with a submission. Even when he works in a head scissors, Han is able to turn it against him and force him to the ropes. By the end of the match, they’re both exhausted, they’ve used up all their outs and it’s down to the last submission or knockdown. Vrij swings for the fences with a high kick but Han’s able to catch it, spoiling Vrij’s homerun with a calf hold to submit him. Awesome match.
Akira Maeda vs. Andrei Kopilov
This was similar to Kopilov’s match against Han in that it was more or less a stalemate on the mat. But it was fun seeing Maeda go to the mat early on, and I thought the struggle and defense on the ground was well-executed. Where this match excels over the match with Han is Maeda's character work. He's such a good babyface-in-peril when he needs to be and I loved the drama from him as he's trying to get to the ropes when Kopilov snags him with the kimura. Kopilov’s terrific on the mat, trying to tie Maeda into knots, until eventually Maeda says “fuck the matwork” and starts picking up knockdowns with his strikes -- big open-hand slaps to the face, kicks, and knees. But Kopilov wants to finish this where it started, and after another tussle on the mat, Maeda’s able to pry open the armbar for the submission victory.
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