2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Los Angeles

Did you know?

• ▸ Across 107 recorded matchups at the 2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Los Angeles, points were the single most common way to close a match, deciding 43 of them under the AJP ruleset. If you want to win here, you had better be comfortable grinding out a positional lead.
• ▸ The submission rate at this event was 21 percent, with 23 matches ending by tap. Under AJP rules a lot of these bouts came down to points, advantages, and decisions rather than the finish.
• ▸ Beyond the finishes, the scoreboard did heavy lifting here: 16 matches were settled by advantage and another 16 by decision. That is the kind of margin work that rewards clean guard passing and defensive discipline.
• ▸ Tanner Rice went 3 wins on record at 110kgs without a single submission, taking finals by advantage twice and once by decision. That is a heavyweight winning on control and scramble points rather than power.
• ▸ At 94kgs, Gustavo Batista beat Kaynan Duarte on points in the final. Batista finished the event with 3 recorded wins and no submissions, so he built that result through positional scoring.