Pat Downey has just revealed that he will be the under 99kg representative for Team Misfits Americas at the second Craig Jones Invitational (CJI 2). Not only is Downey one of the best wrestlers actively competing in Jiu-Jitsu, but he also brings some valuable experience in to the team. Downey competed in the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational last year and he made it through to the semi-finals of the over 80kg division. Although the promotion and the venue remains the same for their second event, the format has changed dramatically and the team grappling element will present some new challenges for everyone.
For Downey specifically, the difficulty comes from the fact that there will no longer be a need for judges to declare a winner. Following the traditional Quintet format that CJI has adopted for their second event, every match that reaches regulation time will be ruled a draw and both competitors will be eliminated. Not only did both of Downey’s CJI matches go to decision, but most of the wins in his submission grappling career have been by decision too. Because of the way that the Quintet format works, the most valuable trait is always the ability to hunt for submissions aggressively.
Downey will still be a great anchor as he’s incredibly tough to submit, and the team already has a pair of submission hunters anyway. The first competitor announced for Team Misfits Americas was Deandre Corbe at under 66kg and he’s had some success against slightly bigger opponents before, so he’ll likely be one of the more difficult lighter grapplers. More recently, Taylor Pearman was added to the team at under 88kg and he’s known for being one of the most reliable finishers in the UK. Team Misfits Americas is now starting to take shape and head coach Greg Souders just has the under 77kg and over 99kg slots left to fill.
The full interview with Pat Downey where he reveals that he will be competing for Team Misfits Americas at CJI 2 was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Alex Wendling:
