Finishers: 3 v 3 Money in the Bank Preview
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Friday, May 16th Card Begins at 11 AM Finishers HQ — 3713 Linden St, Suite 1, Bethlehem, PA 18020
$20 entry for spectators.
Money in the Bank is a 3v3 team tournament with eight men's teams, eight women's teams, all competing for cash under a modified EBI format. Before we get into any of it, a lot of credit goes to Laura Kent, who helped put this whole event together and supplied the intel on the women's bracket. This card exists in large part because of her.
How It Works
Three members per team: 155, 170, and open weight on the men's side, 125, 145, and open on the women's. You only go against your counterpart. 155 fights 155, open fights open. Prelims and quarters are six minutes, semis and finals go eight. Sub-only EBI rules throughout. If nobody gets finished in regulation, it goes to overtime. Three rounds, two minutes max ride time each. Three points for a regulation finish, two for an OT sub, one for ride time. Tie at the end? A five-minute judges round, weight class picked at random.
One rule that matters more than it sounds: all three members have to compete even if their team is already up. No sitting anybody out. You earn it or you don't.
The Men's Bracket
Two pigtail matches get things started. Team Gambit (Eric Cruz, Tyler Blasko, Vince Kline) and Steady Pressure (Asher Castro, Brad Pearson, Gary Gioni) are fighting their way into the main draw against The Fate and Food Fight respectively.
The bracket keeps Wolf Pack and Los Tres Golpes on opposite sides, those two teams share some lineage history that makes a potential final between them worth caring about. Same with The Fate and Los Tres Golpes. The 170lb class is quietly one of the most competitive things happening all day; Jordan Juliano, Luke Shiomos, Mason Klein, and Ricardo Pena are all slotted at that weight on different teams, and every one of those matchups is going to matter.
Full men's field:
Wolf Pack — Zach Maslany, Jordan Juliano, Rene Sousa
Rolling Ronin — Evan Chmieleski, Nick Mancini, Connor Dixon
Food Fight — Jacob Scheflan, Sage DiGuiseppe, Enrico Denard
Heel Hook Kvlt — AJ Discianni, Luke Shiomos, Kyle Myers
Lineage — Jack Sudduth, Porter Foley, Kevin Southworth
The Fate — Eli Flores, Mason Klein, Andrew Kochel
Illuminati — Nick Digiacomo, Jack Reynolds, Steve Joachim
Los Tres Golpes — Gabriel Tejada, Ricardo Pena, Martin Arbelaez
170lb Title — Sid Tavolaro (Standard Jiu Jitsu) vs Frankie Rodriguez (Unity BJJ)
Sandwiched between the semis and finals, the 170lb title is on the line. Tavolaro is coming in hot off a strong showing at the Main Character Team Event in Austin with the Finishers squad. Rodriguez is out of Unity BJJ and has shown himself plenty of times of the Finishers mats. This fight has legitimate match-of-the-day potential and it isn't even part of the tournament.
The Women's Bracket
Before we get into it. Yes, we have way more info on the women. You can again thank Laura for that.
Four first-round matches open the women's side before the men's semis kick in, and the bracket is stacked deeper than a lot of people probably realize.
Honeybadgers and Bangarang are the two favorites, and it's not particularly close. Honeybadgers bring Cathryn Discianni, a Finishers veteran who's gone for the 115lb title, alongside Nicole Mathew the current 135lb champ, former 145lb champ, the kind of competitor who changes the calculus of any bracket she enters. Dominique Monserrat rounds them out at open, fresh off winning both her matches at her last Finishers event. Bangarang counters with Lauren Sears, who just won the vacant 125lb Finishers title, Sheliah Lindsey, recent trials champ at -55kg with multiple Midwest Finishers titles to her name and Melissa Sheppey, former Toro heavyweight champ, probably the biggest open weight in the field. Both teams are built to win this thing.
The middle of the bracket is genuinely anyone's guess. Smesh Sisters have Teara Lewis at open weight, and Teara's only Finishers appearance was dropping the 170lb title match to Laura Kent, and she's made no secret of wanting another shot. Threesome counter with Chrissy Briggs, who has done this exact format before and got two twisters the last time, plus Gabby Phillips at open, she moved up from 145 late, who has a habit of producing highlight moments. Bad Buggies have Skyler Munson and Alysa Couce (shout out Jits and Giggles), both Finishers regulars who know have no shortage of competition experience.
No Fox Given deserves a mention here because of who's on it. Laura Ken, the current 170lb champ and one of the people most responsible for this event existing, is competing at open weight alongside Ansley Cox at 145 and Solans Kennedy at 125. Kennedy was supposed to compete in the Femvasion quintet before an injury kept her out and has been making up for lost time since. This team has the talent to go deep.
Valkyries and Blue Belt Behavior are the two all-blue-belt teams in the field, and they drew tough first-round opponents in Bangarang and Honeybadgers respectively. Valkyries are all out of 10th Planet Allentown. Taylor Schmidt has the most comp experience of the group and recently had a Fury match against Kyleigh D'Agostino but walking into Bangarang in round one is a steep ask. Blue Belt Behavior's Abbey Reynolds recently competed at ADCC trials. These teams aren't without weapons. They've just got hard roads.
Full women's field:
No Fox Given — Solans Kennedy, Ansley Cox, Laura Kent
Valkyries — Taylor Schmidt, Amy Gracia, Cheyenne Rossanese
Honeybadgers — Cathryn Discianni, Nicole Mathew, Dominique Monserrat
Blue Belt Behavior — Shelby Straughn, Katie Bielicki, Abbey Reynolds
Smesh Sisters — Talis Shelbourne, Adriana Gutowska, Teara Lewis
Threesome — Zania Walker, Chrissy Briggs, Gabby Phillips
Bangarang — Lauren Sears, Sheliah Lindsey, Melissa Sheppey
Bad Buggies — Skyler Munson, Yara Helmy, Alysa Couce
Doors open at 11. Get there.
Follow @finishers_subonly and @peopledoingmartialarts for updates, results, and highlights.