A rundown of the biggest headlines and news from the world of competitive grappling.
This last week has been absolutely stacked with elite matchups as three events have taken place one after the other. The first was BJJ Bet in Brazil, which saw several high-profile superfights deliver action. Among the matches were legends of the sport like Xande Ribeiro and Roberto ‘Cyborg’ Abreu, and the very best of the current generation like Kaynan Duarte and Nicholas Meregali.
The main event offered a shocking outcome when Cyborg managed to heelhook Duarte after originally being on the defensive in a leg entanglement. The most surprising event came when Erberth Santos decided to quit his match against Felipe Pena at the very moment that his opponent got the upper hand. As it turns out, Pena was actually injured himself which might have been a factor in the match, had Santos not quit soon after it happened.
Fight 2 Win 151 Sees a Changing of the Guard
The next event in the last week came courtesy of American promotion Fight 2 Win, who put on a fantastic night of fights as always. As is their usual practice, they featured a number of up-and-coming colored belt grapplers competing early on in their careers as they built up to the main card of top-tier BJJ black belts. Despite recently taking an indefinite leave from MMA competition and vacating the Bellator Middlweight title, Rafael Lovato Jr was competing against Aaron ‘Tex’ Johnson in the co-main event.
Sadly, the fight wasn’t as entertaining as most of his MMA career as Tex was able to maintain a stalemated position for the vast majority, before winning by decision. The main event was a match between Osvaldo ‘Queixinho’ Moizinho and the incredibly young Kennedy Maciel for the F2W Lightweight Championship. Maciel is the son of legendary Rubens Charles ‘Cobrinha’ and having already won his first IBJJF World Championship, he made light work of Quiexinho and beat him by decision.
Third Coast Grappling Kumite 6 Crowns a New $10,000 Champion
The final event of the week was a tournament between eight of the best grapplers available in the US, with $10,000 up for grabs for the winner. Third Coast Grappling’s sixth Kumite event delivered non-stop action as Roberto Jimenez and Victor Hugo battled their way through each side of the bracket to set up a phenomenal final. Before that could happen, the competitors were granted a rest while the evening’s superfight took place, featuring Queixinho again, who competed for the second time in 24 hours.
Queixinho faced off against the first Ecuadorian black belt, Johnny Tama in the main event superfight. He did manage to right the ship after the previous night’s defeat at F2W 151 however and took a close decision victory over Tama. The grand finale saw Hugo pushing the pace and attempting several submissions in the opening minutes before Jimenez returned fire with a Toehold from 50/50, only to be countered by a Toehold of Hugo’s own that forced him to tap.
Female BJJ is Getting a Huge Push In the Coming Months
The women in the world of grappling often have difficulty finding opponents and weight-classes can suffer with being thin on the ground. But the next few months are full of opportunities for women at the very highest levels of the sport to compete, starting with another Third Coast Grappling Kumite. This time the promotion will be putting $10,000 on the line for eight of the best female grapplers on the planet, including multiple IBJJF World Champions, to fight for.
Then the very next day will see the Polaris Squads event that was revealed last week. While the team grappling matchup doesn’t feature any women, the superfight scheduled between breaks sees the best female talent that the UK and Europe have to offer facing off as Ffion Davies takes on Magdalena Loska. Then, BJJ Stars 4 takes place in November and the legendary Claudia Do Val will try to take down the most intimidating woman in grappling history, Gabi Garcia.
Quick Hits
- Cesar Gracie black belt and UFC legend, Nick Diaz has announced his intention to return to professional MMA in 2021 after completing a test weight-cut and training camp.
- Ex-UFC Champion and NCAA Wrestler Brock Lesnar has been flirting with MMA again and it seems like Scott Coker is willing to pull out all the stops to get him competing for Bellator.
- ADCC veteran Lachlan Giles explained that he’s just like everyone else and that he too, feels worse when he first starts to learn a new technique or concept in training.
- Horrific news as Iranian wrestler and protestor, Navid Afkari, was executed despite global outcry after he was allegedly tortured into giving a false confession.
Technique Corner
Standing Back Control, breaking them down with a Suloev Stretch option