A rundown of the biggest headlines and news from the world of competitive grappling.
Third Coast Grappling 7 is now just a little over a month away and the promotion has revealed the full lineup for their middleweight grand prix. The most surprising entrant announced was NCAA All-American Pat Downey, who has recently decided to make a career-switch and compete in Jiu-Jitsu on a regular basis. He will be competing with a pair of young prodigies eager to improve their reputation in Tye Ruotolo and William Tackett.
The rest of the field is tough enough as it is, with two veterans of ADCC 2019 in John Combs and Gracie Barra’s Pedro Marinho, and a man known primarily for his work in the gi; ATOS representative Gustavo Batista. Recently-promoted black belt and Danaher Death Squad member Oliver Taza will also be competing, alongside last year’s IBJJF no gi Pan-am silver medalist Pedro Rocha.
Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza suffers first submission loss at UFC 262
Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza is one of the most decorated grapplers to ever set foot in the octagon with two ADCC world championships and three IBJJF world championships. By the time that he made his UFC debut in 2013 he had already been a Strikeforce world champion and had cemented his place as a Jiu-Jitsu legend with the aforementioned accolades and a rivalry with Roger Gracie that’s still talked about today.
Since then, Jacare has consistently delivered highlight-reel knockouts and devastating submission finishes, fighting his way to the verge of a title shot on numerous occasions. At 41 he is now at the tail-end of his career and was coming into UFC 262 on a three-fight skid. What nobody saw coming however, is that the relatively unknown Andre Muniz was going to become the first man to submit Jacare, breaking his arm in the process.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Kayla Harrison is open to the idea of moving to the UFC
Kayla Harrison is one of the most dominant forces in women’s MMA at the moment, as the two-time Olympic Judo champion has finished all but two of her professional fights. She improved her perfect record to 9-0 at PFL 3 by dominating Mariana Morais in the first fight of her run to defend her Lightweight title and win the million-dollar prize in the promotion’s 2021 women’s Lightweight season.
She’s made the cut to Featherweight before for her one and only Invicta FC fight, so naturally Dana White finds himself with an interesting opportunity. In comments earlier this week, White expressed doubt over whether Harrison was ready for the level of competition. When Harrison was asked about his comments in an interview with Ariel Helwani, she was clearly interested in moving to the UFC but wanted to be compensated fairly for her talents.
EBI and CJJ announce new female-only grappling promotion: Medusa
Several of the world’s largest grappling promotions have recently decided to host all-female version of their events, with Fight 2 Win taking the plunge first before deciding to make it a regular occurrence. Now, the minds behind the Eddie Bravo Invitational and Combat Jiu-Jitsu have decided to take the premise a step further and will be introducing an entire promotion focused solely on female grappling; Medusa.
The proposed format is an interesting one, as they will host two tournaments on the same night. One will be contested under EBI rules, and the other under CJJ rules. Their first event is tentatively scheduled for September this year, but they’ve already decided to reveal the promotion’s aspirations. The main aim of Medusa is to be for Jiu-Jitsu, what Invicta FC is for MMA, the place where the majority of female stars begin to make their names in the sport.
Quick Hits
- For the first time in the promotion’s history, Polaris are opening the application process to the wider public to apply for the chance to feature on the undercard of Polaris Squads 3.
- After signing with ONE FC, Gordon Ryan has now had his first grappling match for the promotion announced as Japanese MMA and grappling legend Shinya Aoki.
- Former World’s Strongest Man Hafthor Bjornsson is getting more involved with grappling by the day as he was recently seen sparring with UFC and ADCC veteran Gunnar Nelson.
- There is a reward for the arrest of two-time Olympic medalist wrestler Sushil Kumar as he is now wanted in connection with the murder of a fellow wrestler, Sagar Rana.
Technique Corner
Squid Guard to Kneebar
How to properly elevate your opponent from Low-X
Kneetap to Duck-Under to Single-leg takedown