This review was commissioned by Damon Spriggle over on my Ko-fi account.
Pretty decent bout where I appreciate the attempt more than the result. It’s a no ring set up here where strikes are illegal, so a lot of it is back to basics grappling. Basic probably the key word here as this doesn’t have the polish or struggle of the best of shoot style, nor does it have the rhythm of a really great pro-style problem/solution match either. None of it looks awful, but everything leaves me with the impression that I’d rather see it in a proper ring of a few years down the line when everyone involved has gotten a lot more reps in.
Narrative-wise there’s a tension at play here over the no striking rule. Spriggle chooses to go the honorable path despite some early temptation and Jah-C’s the first to actually nail one after a ref bump (an odd choice for a match like this if I may add). That said, it’s hard to take too seriously when those strikes they’ve been building up to are just your standard indie superkicks.
Still, there’s nothing wrong with keeping it simple and trying to experiment around a non-standard ruleset and environment. I’d wager these might be better as private riff sessions than their own show though.
Rating: **1/2
