In the buildup to the Eddie Bravo Invitational 6’s open weight tournament, Bloody Elbow’s grappling editor Roy Billington will be providing athlete profiles for each of the competitors. Here, we look at Rustam Chsiev.
The ever-entertaining Eddie Bravo Invitational returns on April 24th, but this time it is different. Instead of EBI 6 airing solely on pay-per-view, the promotion has also signed a streaming deal with UFC Fight Pass in and is set to feature one of the greatest openweight submission-only tournaments ever. In the weeks leading up to the event, Bloody Elbow will be giving you the low down on the strengths and background of each competitor. Let’s kick off our latest edition with ADCC 2015 bronze medalist, Rustam Chsiev.
Rustam Chsiev
Team: K-Dojo
Weight: 194lbs
Rustam Chsiev’s path to submission grappling notoriety has been quite unorthodox. Unlike the rest of the field at EBI, Chsiev isn’t the product of an established jiu jitsu lineage – he is a near-international level wrestler with insane submission defense. Under the tutelage of Murat “Master K” Keshtov, Rustam Chsiev emerged onto the scene a few years ago and began emphatically shocking established Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioners. Rustam holds wins over Davi Ramos, Romulo Barral and Rafael Lovato Jr. to name but a few, and he has shown some of the most legit wrestling in the submission grappling scene, which makes him a threat to anyone in points based tournaments.
Chsiev is as strong as an ox and seems impervious to all but the tightest submissions attempts. While Chsiev is as solid as they come defensively, his offense isn’t quite on par with his defense. Chsiev excels in tournaments where he can use his takedowns and passing to score points, so to proceed to the latter rounds in EBI he will need to ramp up his offense, or look to get the fastest submission escapes in overtime.
First round opponent: Amir Allam
Amir Allam is big and strong, substantially bigger than Chsiev, but Chsiev holds a big advantage in the wrestling domain. I feel like this match is going to come down to overtime and it really is a toss up. I cannot foresee Chsiev getting the submission in regulation time, but he is going to be tough to beat when it comes to fastest submission escape.
The Eddie Bravo Invitational 6 goes down at the Orpheum Theatre, in Los Angeles, CA on April 24 and will be available on pay-per-view on Dish and InDemand, as well as being live on UFC Fight Pass.