It’s a wrap (or RNC): Ryan Aitken secured the victory for Team New Hope Regeneration on the final night of the Professional Grappling Federation regular season. Top pre-season ranked competitors shined on the final night, ensuring their playoff hopes and fulfilling the promise of their reputations. Let’s look at what happened on Day 4 of #PGF7.
TEAM NEW HOPE REGENERATION WINS!
After the dust settled, Team New Hope Regeneration ended the season with 80 points, 29 points in front of their nearest competitor. Ryan Aitken turned in another ridiculous performance. Aitken sunk in rear-naked chokes against very tough competitors Fedor Nikolov and Caleb Crump (despite saying his RNC sucked). Aiken rounded out his hat trick of submissions for the night with a head and arm choke against Aaron Sheffield. Aitken finished the regular season with an almost perfect score, going three for three with all kills. While none of the other Team New Hope Regeneration competitors put up points on the final day of the PGF, they supported the effort on the first three days. Travis Thomas, Ernesto Rivera, and Brad Schneider all finished in the top 10 of competitors. Cam Hurd served as the stopper for the group, showing his toughness and grit. But Cam Hurd has grown so much as a competitor that he was comfortable navigating the leg game against competitors from the best leg-locking schools in the country. But coming back to Aitken, one cannot overstate his anchor status for Team New Hope Regeneration. Aitken amassed 45 points from his submissions alone. The second-place team amassed 51 points. Essentially, Aitken only needed one teammate to hit one kill and one break to win his team the championship. Team New Hope Regeneration Coach Pedro Sauer’s bet to save his money to ensure snagging Ryan Aitken definitely paid off.
The Editorial Board of Eggheadwarrior.com has no problem admitting we’re wrong. When the draft occurred, Egghead did say it was already over, saying the 1st Phorm Yankees/Dodgers would run away with the title. On paper, this assessment should have held. Team 1st Phorm fell prey to common themes in the PGF: their highly-touted competitors had some trouble adjusting to the PGF World ruleset, and they also faced a number of injuries. Just like other sports, there’s a PGF World premium for keeping your team healthy. When reserves come on the roster (minus Abe the Mountain La Mantagne), they usually give up points to the other teams. Out of the 60 matches Team New Hope Regeneration played, they only gave up seven (7) submissions. They just didn’t give up points to other teams. And now they’re sharing the $100,000 #PGF7 team championship prize.
TOP TEAM CONSTELLATION MEMBERS WOULDN’T BE DENIED
Marcin Maciulewicz has been consistent on two things. First, he has said continuously “You will know my name!” And Marcin has proven every fan of #PGF7 and submission grappling in general either know his name or will shortly. Second, Marcin has consistently hit submissions. Even though it was the final day of the season, even though his second place finish was assured, Marcin would not take any matches off. He finished the final day of the season with another three submissions. Marcin hit a kneebar against fellow top-8 finisher Travis Thomas. In block 2, Marcin chased down Caleb Crump (literally) and got him with a leg lock. Marcin put an exclamation on his #PGF7 performance and the PGF regular season as a whole when he hit an arm-in guillotine against Sam Schwartzapfel in the final match of the regular season. Marcin heads in the #PGF7 playoffs in the second spot and will face PGF standout Ernesto Rivera. Rivera forced the draw in the regular season, but now Marcin will have an extra four minutes to get a sub on the smaller man. Many fans expect Marcin to fight in the finale match against Ryan Aitken (a match we didn’t get to see in the regular season).
Fellow Team Constellation competitor Chris Wojcik ensured his playoff hopes with multiple submissions on the final night of the playoffs. In the first block of the night, Wojcik got a kill against Cam Hurd. So, the renowned leg locker, Wojcik didn’t settle for a break – he got the kill. But not only did he get a kill, he got a kill against the multi-season veteran and PGF stalwart Cam Hurd. Wojcik would not be denied a spot in the playoffs. Wojcik catapulted himself even higher in the ranking sinking in a leg lock against Aaron Sheffield in the final block of the season. Now Wojcik will start his playoffs run against PGF7 surprise star Ernesto Rivera. Wojcik caught Rivera with a leg lock during the regular season, but he has to know Rivera will be wanting some payback.
KYLE BOEHM FINISHES STRONG
Having faced, and in many cases, won matches against some of the biggest names in grappling, Kyle Boehm faced high expectations heading into the #PGF7. Like so many other highly-touted competitors, Boehm had a slow start, only having one submission to his name after half the season had elapsed. Boehm would not be deterred. After getting his one submission on the second day, Boehm assured fans he would be getting many more submissions . He said the first two days were his hardest in the season and he would start racking up points in the second half. Boehm proved himself right. Boehm scored two submissions on both of the final two days of the season. On the final day of the season, Boehm hit a heel hook against Caleb Crump in the first block. Then, even though his playoff hopes were assured, Boehn sank in a RNC against Drew Dyer to catapult himself to third place.
RESERVES MAKE THE MOST OF THEIR SHOTS
As the #PGF7 competitors gripped and ripped their opponents throughout the season, the injuries continued to rack up. Every time a competitor got injured, a reserve player had to step up and take on regular roster competitors. While many of the competitors gave up points, many others put on great matches. Team Intrana reserve member Kris Olivo saw a lot of playing time this season. Team Intrana used the most amount of competitors in PGF history this season, having nine separate players take the mats to represent them. On the final day of the season, Olivo accentuated his time on the #PGF7, hitting an ankle lock against regular roster Team Constellation member Sebastian Attard. Olivo had been showing his aggressive, acrobatic style against so many competitors this season, never backing down from anyone. Olivo scored a sub for himself and every other reserve player on day 3, showing they all belonged in the PGF.
While the #PGF7 Draft and Regular season were free and live on YouTube, the #PGF7 Finale will only be available on UFC Fight Pass. Whether you watch through the app or through the website, you need to watch. #PGF7 will come to an end tonight with the playoffs. Team New Hope Regeneration member Ryan Aitken will take his shot at being the first PGF competitor to win $40,000. He’s already won $20,000 as the captain and anchor for PGF7 team champions New Hope Regeneration. Now, he has a chance to double that money if he can be the overall #PGF7 individual champion as well. But seven other competitors, including the Polish Punisher Marcin Maciulewicz will have something to say about Aitken’s aspirations. Marcin has a chance to make Aitken and everyone else know his name if he can stop Aitken and claim the #PGF7 title for himself.
Keep following PGF World and Brandon Mccaghren on Instagram and keep tuning in to the PGF Insiders on PGF World’s YouTube page. We normally go live at 7pm Eastern on Sundays. Even as #PGF7 concludes, we’ll have a lot to discuss about the season.
After all, it’s everything you love about sports, plus jiu jitsu!
BTW, if you’re looking to get some new jiu jitsu gear, PGF World Season 6 Team Champions XMARTIAL has some great gear. I wrote a review of my XMartial shorts and rash guard HERE. If you use the coupon code “EGGHEAD,” you will get 15% off your order (and you’ll help me out a bit). XMARTIAL has some really fun rash guards and everyone I know loves their shorts. So check them out.
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