The first Emerald City Invitational was a fantastic success with PJ Barch putting on a dominant show in submitting all four of his opponents and the promotion is wasting no time in setting up their second event. While their last event saw a group of elite 170lb competitors meeting to fight for the $10,000 grand prize, this next event will feature sixteen phenomenal 145lb athletes instead. The prize money remains the same, and along with a number of invited entrants there will also be an Emerald City Invitational qualifier at the Finishers 6 Open, which will award the winner of a smaller tournament with a place in the upcoming event and a $1,000 prize.
The promotion has wasted no time in setting up the event for August 7th and have already managed to book three big names to compete against each other. Richard Alarcon will be in attendance and as an ADCC veteran who won several IBJJF no gi World Championships on his rise through the colored belt ranks, he stands a good chance of emerging victorious. One of his old foes Jon Calestine will also be competing and the EBI 15 champion is a leglock expert who has twice been shut down by Alarcon and lost on points, although the submission-only EBI format of the Emerald City Invitational might favor him this time around.
The final competitor who has already been announced is Joshua Cisneros, the heaviest of the three who has been known to compete above 145lbs in the past. Despite having been a black belt for less than a year even by the time the Emerald City Invitational takes place, Cisneros is a very experienced competitor. He’s already an IBJJF Pan-Ams champion in the gi and took second place in the most recent no gi edition of the event, including beating some notable names like Paulo Miyao and Pedro Dias. All-in-all, the Emerald City Invitational is shaping up to be a fantastic event already.
The second Emerald City Invitational will be available to watch live on August 7th on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch.
