EBI 20: The Absolutes took place on October 23rd and the event saw plenty of elite grapplers battling it out to be crowned the promotion’s newest openweight champion. That belt is one that has only ever been won by Gordon Ryan, at both EBI 6 and EBI 14, with this event marking the first time that he was completely absent from the absolute division. He was replaced by two teammates however, Giancarlo Bodoni and Luke Griffith. Both of them won their first matches but Griffith was submitted by Nick Rodriguez in the quarterfinal and Bodoni withdrew from the event before his second match took place.
Rodriguez actually faced Bodoni’s replacement, Austin Baker, in his semifinal match, where he locked up a triangle choke in order to secure the win. On the opposite side of the bracket, Kyle Boehm got the fastest submission of the night in his opening round match against Travis Moore before moving on to lock up another heelhook against Roosevelt Sousa in the quarterfinals. Boehm registered the most submission finishes in regulation time when he got his third against Andre Porfirio in the semifinals but he wasn’t able to escape with a perfect record. Rodriguez took him all the way to EBI overtime and he ended up securing a rear-naked choke against Boehm to force him to tap and take home the title for himself.
EBI 20: The Absolutes Full Results
Opening Round
Nick Rodriguez defeats Ezequiel Zurita via Submission – Reverse Triangle Choke at 2:59 in Regulation Time
Luke Griffith defeats Franco Pana via Submission – Smother at 3:44 in Regulation Time
Andrew Kimler defeats Maxim Cote via Submission – Heel Hook at 6:15 in Regulation Time
Giancarlo Bodoni defeats Austin Baker via Decision – Fastest Escape Time in EBI Overtime
Kyle Boehm defeats Travis Moore via Submission – Heel Hook at 0:55 in Regulation Time
Roosevelt Souza defeats Angel Lugo via Submission – Inside Heel Hook at 1:23 in Regulation Time
Pat Shahgholi defeats David Viera via Submission – Heel Hook at 2:51 in Regulation Time
Andre Porfirio defeats Dan Martinez via Submission – Straight Ankle Lock at 5:45 in Regulation Time
Quarterfinals
Kyle Boehm defeats Roosevelt Souza via Submission – Heel Hook at 7:06 in Regulation Time
Andre Porfirio defeats Pat Shahgholi via Decision – Fastest Escape Time in EBI Overtime
Giancarlo Bodoni withdraws and is replaced by Austin Baker
Austin Baker defeats Andrew Kimler via Submission – Armbar at 3:07 in Regulation Time
Nick Rodriguez defeats Luke Griffith via Submission – Armbar in EBI Overtime
Semifinals
Nick Rodriguez defeats Austin Baker via Submission – Triangle Choke at 6:31 in Regulation Time
Kyle Boehm defeats Andre Porfirio via Submission – Rear-naked Choke at 5:15 in Regulation Time
Final
Nick Rodriguez defeats Kyle Boehm via Submission – Rear-naked Choke in EBI Overtime
Superfights
Mercedes White defeats Paola Ambriz via Submission – Armbar in EBI Overtime
Mario Gonzalez defeats Sam Barbosa via Submission – Armbar in EBI Overtime
Maxim Cote defeats Fedor Nikolov via Decision – Fastest Escape Time in EBI Overtime
The full EBI 20: The Absolutes event replay will be available to watch on UFC FightPass, click here to subscribe and watch.
