Lucas “Hulk” Barbosa took to the BJJ Stars stage against 2019 ADCC Champion, Matheus Diniz. The match will go down in history as one of the most controversial and surprising matches of all time.
Match Recap
BJJ Stars super fights are 10 minutes long, and follow a scoring system similar to IBJJF. At the start of the match Lucas immediately initiated the action. He dictated the pace of the match with his wrestling, committing to shots, and obtaining multiple double leg entries. Without a doubt, he was the aggressor creating most of the action.
About the eight minute mark was when Lucas was able to start finalizing his attacks. He scored 2 points off a double leg attempt, and earned an advantage for a near back take. With less than 90 seconds left in the match Lucas was up 2 points and 2 advantages to zero. With just 11 seconds left in the match, Diniz attacked the back off of an arm drag. As the regulation time expired, Diniz was attacking the neck, but the match had ended. Lucas Barbosa earned a 2-0 victory over Matheus Diniz.
The Controversy
It seems like a 2-0 score at the end of regulation time would indicate a clear winner. Due to technical complications with the BJJ Stars timing systems what we got was anything but a straight forward result.
As the time ran out, Diniz had Lucas in a single arm rear naked choke. Regulation time expired, but the air horn did not sound, and so the referee did not stop the match. Lucas was defending the choke and moving up until the clock ran out, but five seconds passed between the time expiring and the referee stopping the match. And, as any competitor would, Diniz held onto the choke for that interim period until the referee stopped the match. By the time the choke was released Lucas was put to sleep.
After thoroughly reviewing the tape the officials determined that Lucas was conscious for the entirety of the match. It wasn’t until the time between the regulation time ending and the referee stepping in that the choke took effect.
Key Takeaways
The referee’s job is to focus on the athlete’s, award points, and make sure they stay on the mat. The referee was doing his job. The athlete’s job is to compete, go for the submission, and fight until the end. Both the referee and the athletes were doing their jobs.
Automated sounding systems to indicate the end of the match could help avoid events like this. With the use of technology, the BJJ Stars was able to determine the correct result of this match. However, the result is tainted by an ending that could have been avoided. Both athlete’s have a little something taken away from them. Lucas Barbosa won the match, in regulation time, fairly. And, I’m sure Matheus Diniz feels a sense of victory (and perhaps robbery) for ending on with a powerful statement. It’s up to the promotions to make sure events like this don’t happen in the future, so athletes can perform to the best of their abilities, and reap the rewards they have earned.
One thing is for sure: the saga is not over. Lucas and Matheus have competed against each other 6 times. Lucas has now taken 5 victories. Now, it looks like the only way forward is to run it back again.