The illustrious Eddie Bravo Invitational returns on April 24th, but this time it is different. Instead of EBI 6 airing solely on pay-per-view, the promotion has also signed a streaming deal with UFC Fight Pass and is set to feature one of the greatest openweight submission-only tournaments ever. In the weeks leading up to the event, Bloody Elbow will be giving you the low down on the strengths and background of each competitor. Let’s kick off this edition with tournament favourite Yuri Simoes.
Yuri Simoes
Lineage: Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Rolls Gracie > Romero Cavalcanti > Ricardo Vieira > Yuri Simões
Team: Caio Terra Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Association
Weight: 194lbs
Yuri Simoes is the man to beat in this tournament. As far as medals are concerned, nobody in the rest of the EBI lineup compares to Simoes, Simoes has won gold at ADCC, the World Championships in the gi and no-gi, and at the Pan Am games. Simoes is in his prime right now and he has looked simply amazing as of late. In the last few years Simoes has beaten a who’s who of the grappling world’s elite and even on the rare occasions that he does lose, it is almost always by points. Yuri is extremely well rounded and versatile in his finishing methods, though he does have a penchant for the armbar. Some of the most memorable matches of Yuri’s career are his ADCC upset wins over Keenan Cornelius and Romulo Barral, which happened en-route to him winning the 88Kg division in 2015.
Looking at the EBI field it is hard to pick someone capable of beating Simoes. Outside of Tonon and Chsiev, I really can’t imagine anyone being a strong challenge for Simoes. If Simoes plays it safe he will be almost impossible to submit and I fully believe that he will excel in the submission only ruleset. If I was a betting man I would list Simoes as the overall favourite to win this tournament.
First round opponent: Evandro Nunes
Evandro Nunes is as tough as they come, he’s substantially bigger than Simoes and very talented, but he just isn’t on par with Simoes. I expect Simoes to use his improved wrestling in to take down Nunes and submit him within regulation time.
The Eddie Bravo Invitational 6 goes down at the Orpheum Theatre, in Los Angeles, CA on April 24 and will be available on pay-per-view on Dish and InDemand, as well as live on UFC Fight Pass.