And frankly the 'I only do sub only tournaments' excuse is pretty thin, because sub only tournaments typically do not have the same caliber of competitor as points tournaments. There's just no comparison between the level of competition in EBI and ADCC. And when EBI stars like Tonon, Cummings, Geo Martinez, etc. have stepped up to the big leagues they've consistently fallen short.
Generally, I agree with what you're saying. I prefer points tournaments and the style they encourage over sub only. I think these guys are closing the gap quickly though. The standards that you're holding them to, very few can stack up to. There's probably 1 or 2 guys at each weight who could. Even Keenan has no ADCC title and no Black belt World Championship. He's been training much longer and in the spotlight longer than any of these guys. Do you think he's B-team because Lo seems to have his #? I don't, I think his day will come.
DDS has been getting beat by guys like Lepri, Tanqinho, ect lately. They've got work to do but thats nothing to be ashamed of. They've already got a 20 year old with back to back wins over ADCC gold and bronze medalist. They're dismantling anyone who isn't a Black Belt medal contender, usually in quick and exciting fashion. No one else is doing this. Alot of the success of EBI is owed to DDS IMO, if Metamoris had more DDS they probably would have done better. These guys go for the kill.
EBI guys have come up short at ADCC, losing to the very best guys, how have ADCC guys done at EBI?