After the first two matches of Metamoris II, there was some grumbling about how slow they had been, but there had been some good technical action. That fan discontent turned into outright rage during the Brendan Schaub and Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu match.
To summarize, this was the jiu jitsu equivalent of Kalib Starnes vs Nate Quarry, as Schaub spent the majority of time avoiding grappling with Abreu at all costs. Abreu became clearly frustrated and tried anything and everything to get Schaub to engage: he pulled guard, offered take-downs, went for his own take-downs, jumped guard, and no matter what he did, Schaub would not grapple for more than a few seconds before standing up and disengaging.
For the full play-by-play of the match click here and for some gifs click here.
In the post-fight interview Abreu called out Schaub for not actually fighting him. Schaub, both in the post-fight interview and the press conference afterwards, defended his strategy as shutting down Abreu’s game and considered the match a moral victory.
In reality, Schaub embarrassed himself in this match. He voluntarily took part in a submission only jiu jitsu match and acted like he was allergic to ground grappling, standing up at the first chance he got in each ground engagement. Not only was it horrific to watch, it was disrespectful by Schaub, both to the art and to the fans who paid money to watch a grappling match.
It seemed to slip Schaub’s mind that when he agreed to compete in a submission only match, that would actually require grappling. Yes, in MMA, standing out of an unfavorable grappling situation is perfectly fine, but at times in this match, Schaub was literally fleeing before Abreu’s guard.
Any time Schaub was on top, he would stand up to avoid Abreu’s guard, he wouldn’t shoot for take-downs, and he wouldn’t pull guard. Really, the only time he seemed interested in grappling was when he was stopping Abreu’s take-downs and would work on a guillotine for a bit before, you guessed it, disengaging. Everything about how Schaub performed screamed, “I’d rather be fighting MMA” which calls into question why he agreed to do this event in the first place.
In short, Schaub’s performance was an insult to fans, and to Abreu. He seems to have done real damage to the promotion, as the match cast a shadow the entire event, which is a shame, because there were some very good matches. Rafeal Lovato Jr. and Andre Galvao had a wonderful match, as did Braulio Estima and Rodolfo Vieira. The matches that came earlier weren’t much more thrilling, but at least they went out there and competed honestly and engaged.
Schaub claimed he was doing this to help jiu jitsu and to bring attention to the art and Metamoris. Next time, the best way for him to help Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, is to just stay at home and let grapplers willing to leave it out on the mats have the spot light.
About the author
