The Copa Podio Professional Jiu-Jitsu middleweight challenge was this past Saturday.  For $21.95 American, you had access to 3 hours of Jiu-Jitsu!  I have bought this event in the past and knew the Jiu-Jitsu was high quality and also knew the stream could be very suspect. Nevertheless, I bought it based on an outstanding card, listed below, and the fact that I am a mega nerd.

SUPERFIGHTS

Lucas Valle (BRA) vs Rafael Mansur (BRA), Tim Spriggs (USA) vs Lucas Hulk (BRA), Gianni Grippo (USA) vs João Miyao (BRA) - sub-only, Leando Lo (BRA) vs Gilbert Durinho (BRA) - sub-only

MIDDLEWEIGHT GRAND PRIX

Champion: Felipe Preguiça (BRA), The Rest: Cláudio Calasans (BRA), Luiz Panza (BRA), Patrick Gaudio (BRA), Diogo Moreno (BRA), Jon Satava (USA), Diego Borges (BRA), Gregor Gracie (BRA), Erberth Santos (BRA) , Thiago Sá (BRA), Guga Campos (BRA)

So as I'd guessed the case would be, the stream was shit for the first 40 minutes.  Either a blank screen or the website didn't recognize you had permission (see Paid) to watch the stream. Finally it started to smooth out and you had a picture albeit choppy and slow.  Because of this I missed the preliminary match with Valle and Mansur and some small begining parts of Grippo v Miyao.  Kind of annoying but whatever I guess.  Speaking of Grippo v Miyao, a nogi/no time limit/no points match was a dumb idea.  Yes it was nonstop foot/ankle locks and heel hooks, but it was NOGI...neither guy was in any danger because their feet would just slip right out of the others attacks.  So this match went an hour before it was stopped in order to "continue it after the GP".  

Other observations: They finally got the stream figured out (what the hell kind of internet do they have down there in Brazil?  AOL dial-up?).  The rest of the card was outstanding.  Only one guy (Guga Campos) seemed to play a "stall" game.  Patrick Gaudio had some really solid, exciting Jiu-Jitsu (I am gonna do some research on him).  I was a little disappointed in Erbeth Santos as I thought he would do better.  He crushed the 1st guy he faced, but seemed tentative in his other matches (I almost wonder if he got injured.)  Luiz Panza is a beast.  He crushed Calasans, Satava and Campos with footlocks, and almost beat Preguica in the final losing by a single advantage!  He is another one I need to study.  His game has improved since he joined Checkmat.  And Felipe Pena, you can see why the guy is a world champion.  The sky is the limit for him at this point.  He is young, is an amazing athlete and has great Jiu-Jitsu.

Anyway, you can look up the rest of the results if you wish, my goal isn't to rehash things others say on here or post every result to every fight.  I just want to give my take on things and stimulate conversation etc.  I would definitely recommend this event to others to watch and will definitely buy this event again, even with the stream issues. The organizers issued a statement via facebook addressing this problem.  Hopefully it's not lip service and they do something about it.  They have the potential to have a good thing (Jiu-Jitsu for us and a money maker for them) going, if they address the stream issue.