Finishers Survivor Series 3 took place on April 16th, 2023 and the promotion put together a fun team grappling tournament alongside several exciting superfights. The team tournament had an unusual format, as five teams were competing and as a result, two of them had to engage in an extra match in the opening round in order to make it into the semi-final. In the end this didn’t prove to be very difficult for Vault BJJ, as Zack Ghalayini and Caleb Livingston eliminated the entirety of The Hive between the two of them.
In the first semi-final match, recently promoted BJJ black belt Rene Sousa got Team Finishers off to a strong start by submitting his first opponent but was caught in a tight triangle choke for what felt like forever in his second match against Luke Shiomos. He was eventually eliminated when that match ended in a draw, and that’s when things fell apart for Team Finishers. Andrew Kochel and Dillon Masington eliminated two of his teammates and carried Team Wildcard into the final. On the opposite side of the bracket, Vault BJJ continued their clean sweep as Colin Cronin finished a brutal straight ankle-lock and Ghalayini earned yet another submission win.
The team tournament at Finishers Survivor Series 3 took a quick break, as the promotion staged a series of over a dozen superfights between talented grapplers. Andrew Jones put on a fantastic display of relentless offensive Jiu-Jitsu to get the win, shortly before Chris Dempsey continued the run of exciting finishes he’s been landing lately. With around ten seconds left, Dempsey locked up a beautiful Peruvian Necktie and squeezed hard to get the tap in the final second of his match. The main event was a close match between Steve Joachim and Sergio Vilas, where Vilas won by fastest escape-time in EBI overtime and retained his 205lbs title.
When time came for the final of the team grappling tournament at Finishers Survivor Series 3, both Vault BJJ and Team Wildcard had been given plenty of rest and were eager to get started. Masington got the only submission of the match to put Team Wildcard 1-0 up and then survived some deep submission attempts throughout his second match to see his team through to victory. He definitely turned out to be the MVP for his team by securing two out of three submission wins throughout the tournament, but the performance of the night has to go to Zack Ghalayani for submitting three opponents for Vault BJJ.
Finishers Survivor Series 3 Full Results
Opening Round
Vault BJJ v The Hive
Zack Ghalayini defeats Jake Collalilo via Submission – Rear-naked Choke
Zack Ghalayini defeats Ziyad Punter via Submission – Rear-naked Choke
Zack Ghalayini v Chris Emery ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Caleb Livingston defeats Matt Gosline via Submission – Katagatame Guillotine
Caleb Livingston defeats TJ Salles via Submission – Rear-naked Choke
Vault BJJ defeats The Hive 4-0 and progresses to the Semi-Finals
Semi-Finals
Team Finishers v Team Wildcard
Rene Sousa defeats Alejandro Mayorga via Submission – Mounted D’arce Choke
Rene Sousa v Luke Shiomos ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Andrew Kochel defeats Wil Gracia via Submission – Straight Ankle-lock
Andrew Kochel v Sid Tavolaro ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Dillon Masington defeats Quin Puryear via Submission – Straight Ankle-lock
Dillon Masington v Jordan Juliano ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Team Wildcard defeats Team Finishers 2-1 and progresses to the Final
Vault BJJ v Team Precision
Nick Willey v Mike Padilla ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Colin Cronin defeats Matt Fox via Submission – Straight Ankle-lock
Colin Cronin v Dylan Royce ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Charlie Livingston v Pete Shoemaker ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Zack Ghalayini defeats Mike Bachman via Submission – Smother
Vault BJJ defeats Team Precision 2-0 and progresses to the Semi-Finals
Final
Vault BJJ v Team Wildcard
Caleb Livingston v Zach Shiomos ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Zack Ghalayani v Luke Shiomos ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Dillon Masington defeats Colin Cronin via Submission – Kneebar
Dillon Masington v Nick Willey ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Alejandro Mayorga v Charlie Livingston ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Team Wildcard defeats Vault BJJ 1-0 and wins the tournament!
Superfights
Sergio Vilas defeats Steve Joachim via Decision – Fastest Escape Time in EBI Overtime
Vilas retains the Finishers Sub-Only 205lbs title
Chris Dempsey defeats Kyle Myers via Submission – Peruvian Necktie
Alex Nemeth defeats Alec Hooben via Decision – Fastest Escape Time in EBI Overtime
Trent Creech defeats Luis Cabrera via Submission – Rear-naked Choke in EBI Overtime
Matt Cantwell defeats Justin Michael via Submission – Rear-naked Choke in EBI Overtime
Mason Klein defeats William Keith Highfield Jr via Submission – Outside Heelhook
Lily Ramos defeats Leticia Oliveira via Decision – Fastest Escape Time in EBI Overtime
Gabby Etzel defeats Lauren Strausser via Submission – Armbar in EBI Overtime
Matt Ferriaro defeats Steven Eisner via Submission – Mounted Guillotine Choke
Derek Schmidt defeats Omar Castro via Submission – Rear-naked Choke in EBI Overtime
Kim Trabulsi defeats Simmons Wilbanks via Submission – Armbar
Chris Ellis defeats Zac Rhatigan via Submission – Kneebar
Andrew Jones defeats Dave Smith via Submission – Straight Ankle-lock
Taylor Clarke defeats Amanda Mazza via Submission – Armbar in EBI Overtime
The full Finishers Survivor Series 3 event replay, including all of the above results, is available to watch on FloGrappling.
