Midwest Finishers 12 took place on February 11th, 2023 and the promotion managed to deliver a night full of fun matches and exciting results for the fans. The event featured a men’s absolute tournament and a women’s 3 v 3 team grappling tournament, along with several superfights throughout the night. The men’s tournament saw some truly impressive performances as Achilles Rocha submitted all three of his opponents on the way to the final, although he couldn’t overcome Andre Porfirio as the veteran became a two-weight champion for the promotion. Achilles’ sister Jasmine Rocha was competing in the team tournament alongside Maggie Grindatti and Leilani Bernales, but they couldn’t make it to the final after losing by the thinnest of margins in the second round.
The most impressive performance in the women’s team tournament came in the opening round, when Janine Mocaiber managed to submit all three of the opposing team’s competitors in a row in order to book their place in the semi-finals. Her teammate in Top Dogs, Claire North, then went 2-1 in the semi-final, losing to ADCC trials winner Peyton Letcher but still securing her team’s progression to the final. Mocaiber had another good showing in the final as she fought Sheliah Lindsey to a draw, but her team’s next two matches went the same way. That meant that it all came down to EBI overtime but Top Dogs’ Felicia Marceau submitted her opponent and helped her team win the title.
Midwest Finishers 12 Full Results
Men’s Absolute Tournament Opening Round
Achilles Rocha defeats Tyler Gruzalski via Submission – Rear Triangle Choke
Nilo Burgener defeats Mike Delavenga via Submission – Rear-naked Choke
Jose Jurema defeats Bryan Peterson via Submission – Arm-triangle Choke
Mario Gonzalez defeats Ben Schultz via Submission – Armbar in EBI Overtime
Andre Porfirio defeats Daniel McGuire via Submission – Rear-naked Choke
Andrew Mathison defeats Nicholas Craton via Submission – Kneebar
Travis Henn defeats Matt Lim via Submission – Kneebar
Ashur Darmo defeats Ryan Roth via Submission – Rear-naked Choke
Quarter-finals
Achilles Rocha defeats Nilo Burgener via Submission – Rear-naked Choke
Jose Jurema defeats Mario Gonzalez via Submission – Armbar
Andre Porfirio defeats Andre Mathison via Submission – Heelhook
Ashur Darmo defeats Travis Henn via Submission – Estima Lock
Semi-finals
Achilles Rocha defeats Jose Jurema via Submission – Heelhook
Andre Porfirio defeats Ashur Darmo via Submission – Rear-naked Choke in EBI overtime
Final
Andre Porfirio defeats Achilles Rocha via Submission – Straight Ankle-lock
Women’s 3 v 3 Tournament
Quarter-finals
Top Dogs v Mothers of Mayhem
Janine Mocaiber defeats Mariya Masha via Submission – Armbar
Janine Mocaiber defeats Mateah Roehl via Submission – Triangle Choke
Janine Mocaiber defeats Olivia Beeskau via Submission – Armbar
Top Dogs win 3-0 and move to semi-final
Hometown Heroes v Motley Crue
Peyton Letcher defeats Natalie Faris via Submission – Armbar
Peyton Letcher defeats Katie Botchnik via Submission – Heelhook
Peyton Letcher v Melanie Iverson ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Motley Crue win 2-0 and move to semi-final
Edgerunners v Serial Submitters
Sheliah Lindsey defeats Emily Nicholson via Submission – Rear-naked Choke
Sheliah Lindsey v Beatrice Jin ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Lauren Sears v Kate Egan ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Serial Submitters win 1-0 and move to semi-final
Veneration Primal/MKE v VRMA
Leilani Bernales defeats Leah Perry via Submission – Armbar
Leilani Bernales v Courtney LaBuy ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Jasmine Rocha defeats Rachel Llanas via Submission – Triangle Choke
VRMA win 2-0 and move to semi-final
Semi-finals
Top Dogs v Motley Crue
Claire North defeats Rais Radford via Submission – Americana
Claire North defeats Ally Wolski via Submission – Heelhook
Peyton Letcher defeats Claire North via Submission – Heelhook
Peyton Letcher v Felicia Marceau ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Top Dogs win 2-1 and move to final
Serial Submitters v VRMA
Nabila Martinez v Maggie Grindatti ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Lauren Sears v Jasmine Rocha ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Sheliah Lindsey v Leilani Bernales ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Nabila Martinez defeats Leilani Bernales by Decision – Ride-time in EBI overtime
Serial Submitters win in EBI overtime and move to final
Final
Top Dogs v Serial Submitters
Janine Mocaiber v Sheliah Lindsey ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Lauren Sears v Felicia Marceau ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Claire North v Nabila Martinez ends in a Draw – Double Elimination
Felicia Marceau defeats Nabila Martinez via Submission – Rear-naked Choke in EBI Overtime
Top Dogs win in EBI overtime and win the tournament
Superfights
Abdulrahman Rana defeats Isaac Akrongold via Submission – Armbar
David Garcia defeats Sebastian Oyervidez via Submission – Rear-naked Choke
Blake Harris defeats Will Gates via Submission – Straight Ankle-lock
Luke Renk defeats Austin Cole via Submission – Rear-naked Choke in EBI Overtime
Alex Lee defeats Riley Reynard via Submission – Heelhook
Matt Wallace defeats Nick Paul via Submission – Kimura
The full Midwest Finishers 12 event replay, including all of the above results, is available to watch on FloGrappling.
