Midwest Finishers 18 is scheduled for April 20th, 2024 and the promotion has announced a pair of tournaments for the main card that both feature some fantastic grapplers. There’s a women’s bracket at 135lbs and a men’s bracket at 145lbs, with 16 competitors entered in to each division. Both of the eventual champions will have to win 4 matches under EBI rules in order to walk away with the title, and there will undoubtedly be some fun matches along the way. There will also be a handful of superfights taking place at the event as well, either before the opening rounds or in between the later rounds of the brackets.
The women’s 135lbs division features the biggest names, with the two favorites being placed on either side of the bracket and making up the most likely final match. Peyton Letcher is on the left side of the bracket with some tough opponents like Martina Zola and Beatrice Jin standing in her way, but she is still the top contender from this half of the lineup. Nicole Mathew is the top contender on the right side and she also has some interesting matches waiting for her against the likes of Melanie Iverson and Laylah Watkins.
The men’s 145lbs division has one top contender really, as Julian Espinosa is riding a wave of momentum after winning a spot in the Sapateiro World Championship. He’ll have to get past the likes of CJ Murdock and Fabian Jimenez if he wants to make it into the final though, and there are several talented grapplers who might be waiting for him there. Mando Gutierrez might be the most likely one to meet him in the final match, but top prospect Andrew DeGraff is going to be one to keep an eye on too.
Midwest Finishers announced the brackets for the two tournaments that will take place at Midwest Finishers 18 in a pair of posts to their official Instagram account:
