Pat Shahgholi, Keith Krikorian shine at SOGI Winter Warz
Pat Shahgholi and Keith Krikorian both won superfights over the weekend at SOGI Winter Warz.
On Saturday, March 11, the Submission Only Grappling Invitational returned to action with SOGI Winter Warz, live from Long Island, New York.
The card featured a number of high-level no-gi superfights as well as an eight-man middleweight tournament.
In the evening’s main event, 16-year-old phenom Pat Shahgholi successfully defended his SOGI heavyweight title, defeating Alex Nemeth by way of escape time in overtime. After a relatively uneventful regulation period during the 10-minute EBI rules match, the young 10th Planet competitor impressed in the overtime rounds, escaping back Nemeth’s back control in well under 30 seconds each round.
The teenager burst onto the scene late last year with highlight-reel leg locks at the EBI qualifier in addition to the EBI 20, earning him the moniker “Adult Slayer.”
And in other superfight action, multiple-time ADCC veteran Keith Krikorian returned to action with a strong showing against JT Torres black belt Andrew Solano. Krikorian – a 10th Planet black belt and fixture of the elite no-gi scene – went to work quickly from his open guard, soon finding his way to Solano’s back before sinking in the match-ending rear-naked choke just a few minutes into the match.
With the victory, Krikorian is now back in the win column after suffering a first-round submission loss to Diego “Pato” Oliveira at the 2022 ADCC World Championships. He will return to action on April 1 at Grapplefest 15 when he competes alongside Gianni Grippo, Sam McNally, and Jeremy Skinner in a four-man grand prix.
Finally, Karel Pravec black Enrique Galarza impressed with three straight submissions over Christopher Van Dunk, Nick Domgjoni, and Felipe Cesar Silva, respectively, to win the middleweight grand prix.
