A rundown of the biggest headlines and news from the world of competitive grappling.
Perhaps one of the biggest news in the history of ONE Championship, Gordon Ryan has now signed a contract to compete in both Submission Grappling and MMA for the Asian promotion. Immediately fans went into overdrive thinking up potential matchups for Ryan to take for his MMA debut, although he soon put a dampener on the excitement. He revealed that he will initially only compete in grappling matches as his focus is entirely set on ADCC 2022.
He hasn’t closed the door entirely however, as he did clarify that MMA is still very much on the table and he now has the option to take matches under that ruleset with ONE FC if he chooses. To add to that, after Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida had his MMA debut for ONE FC delayed again due to his opponent withdrawing, he revealed that he would be open to replaying the ADCC 2019 absolute final with Ryan under MMA rules instead.
The Danaher Death Squad emerge undefeated at Who’s Number One
Gordon Ryan’s grappling career is not slowing down just because of him signing with ONE, as he recently headlined the last Who’s Number One event against one of the most brutally effective black belts around, Vagner Rocha. He was in control for the vast majority of the match, including nearly ten minutes of back control before Rocha could escape, and eventually managed to lock up the submission he predicted he would: a Triangle Choke.
That match capped off a perfect night for John Danaher’s team as both Nicky Rodriguez and Oliver Taza also emerged victorious. Rodriguez won a unanimous decision despite being the underdog against multiple-time ADCC World Champion Yuri Simoes. He had to overcome a significant experience disadvantage, while Taza had a pretty tough match against Johnny Tama that he also won by unanimous decision in the end.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Elias Anderson becomes first Combat Jiu Jitsu World Champion of 2021
The Bantamweights were first up for a shot at a Combat Jiu Jitsu World Championship, although the Welterweight edition is not far behind. Despite being an underdog going into the event, Elias Anderson ended up coming out on top after four tough matches against Isaac Cordova, Zack Schneider, Ben Eddy, and Richard Alarcon. This was his third attempt at the CJJ World Championships and he’d never made it past the second round before.
The biggest moment of the night came right at the beginning in the opening round when Marcelo Cohen took on Taylan Yuasa. Cohen locked up a perfect Kimura and rotated Yuasa’s shoulder out of position, only to find that he had the most flexible joints in the world. Yuasa gutted it out before losing in EBI overtime, but many viewers feared for the damage done to his shoulder. Fortunately, he revealed that somehow he suffered no injury whatsoever.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Victor Hugo earns submission of the night at Fight 2 Win 167
As usual, Fight 2 Win put on the longest card of the week with over forty fights from start to finish, with kids matches all the way to fifteen black belt matches on the main card. Haisam Rida put on an impressive display in one of the few superfights he’s had on US soil against Nonso Ebede and the Quintet veteran reminded everyone that he’s one to keep an eye on for the future as he took his F2W record to 2-0.
Gabriel Sousa featured in the co-main event against Osvaldo ‘Queixinho’ Moizinho and the pair had a tough back-and-forth match before Sousa was eventually declared the winner by split decision, although it really could have gone either way. The main event then saw Victor Hugo earn ‘submission of the night’ with a beautiful belly-down heelhook against IBJJF no gi World Champion and ADCC veteran Tim Spriggs.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Quick Hits
- The biggest intergender match of all time is only hours away as Craig Jones will take on the most successful and most intimidating female grappler of all time, Gabi Garcia.
- Ryan Hall has been booked to fight for the first time in almost two years at UFC 264, where he will face undefeated submission artist Ilia Topuria.
- UFC Lightweight Nate Diaz was recently seen in a friendly grappling exchange with weightlifter and CEO of Strength Cartel, ‘Big Boy’, who weighs in at over 300lbs.
- Multiple-time IBJJF and ADCC World Champion Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza will attempt to put an end to his three-fight losing streak against Andre Muniz at UFC 262.
Technique Corner
Omoplata to Backside 50/50, to Heelhook
Reverse De La Riva to Imanari Roll, to the Saddle, to Heelhook
Four Passing Options from the Leg Weave