A rundown of the biggest headlines and news from the world of competitive grappling.
The lightweights took to the mats to battle it out for the Combat Jiu Jitsu world championships this past weekend and it was B-Team’s Ethan Crelinsten who ended up taking home the belt. He submitted all four of his opponents within regulation time, including Tenth Planet’s Nathan Orchard. This performance bodes incredibly well for Crelinsten as he gets ready to make a run at the 66kg division at ADCC 2022.
In the semi-finals he beat out one of his teammates, Damien Anderson, who actually made the most memorable moment of the entire night earlier on. Anderson took on Adrian Madrid in the very first match of the event and as Madrid started to attack his legs, Anderson postured up and delivered two hard strikes to his opponent. This resulted in the very first clean knockout in CJJ history as the referee ran forward to call the fight off.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Ffion Davies becomes first British IBJJF World Champion
The IBJJF world championships have wrapped up for another year and a new generation of champions have been crowned. There were a number of returning champions who defended their titles from the previous year like Tainan Dalpra, Kaynan Duarte, and Victor Hugo; along with several first-time winners like Mica Galvao, Meyram Maquine, and Ffion Davies.
Davies’ performance in particular will be remembered for quite some time as she actually became the first British IBJJF world champion in the history of the sport. Two men who failed to win gold also made headlines as Rafael Lovato Jr and Xande Ribeiro decided to retire from the IBJJF world championships. As always though, the black belt divisions were the icing on the cake after a week of tough competition at the coloured belt levels.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Big names announced for EBI 20: The absolutes
The Eddie Bravo Invitational has always been one of the most exciting tournaments in professional grappling and has been remembered fondly even during it’s time away from production. When Bravo himself announced the return of the tournament, fans around the world were excited to see who might be able to make a name for themselves at the event and Alan Sanchez was the man who managed to emerge victorious at EBI 19.
Now EBI 20 will be taking place and the tournament will return to the absolute division for the third time, famously only ever won by Gordon Ryan until now. A number of top competitors have already been announced for the event, including Ryan’s teammate Giancarlo Bodoni, Tenth Planet’s Kyle Boehm, and B-Team co-founders Nicky Rodriguez and Craig Jones.
Bo Nickal wins MMA debut in less than a minute
Elite wrestler Bo Nickal is quickly proving himself to be one of a rare breed of combat sports athlete. Not only is he one of a relatively small group of three-time NCAA Division I wrestling champions, but he quickly added a Freestyle world championship to his resume and transitioned to a more open ruleset to face Gordon Ryan in a hybridised Wrestling v BJJ Match that he gave a great account of himself in.
From there he started competing in amateur MMA and won his first two fights in the very first round, with everything leading to the moment that he made his professional debut. That moment came and went in the blink of an eye this past weekend, as he managed to knockout his opponent with a brutal combination of punches after less than a minute of action in the first round.
Quick Hits
- ONE Championship Featherweight title-holder Thanh Le was just promoted to black belt in BJJ by Ryan Hall.
- Muhammad Ali’s grandson, Biaggio Ali Walsh, was submitted in the second round of his professional MMA debut.
- A Russian MMA fighter in a local promotion rolled to attack his opponent’s legs only to end up damaging his own knee in the process and losing the fight.
- One of Checkmat’s top prospects, Elder Cruz, was promoted to black belt by his long-time coach Lucas Leite ahead of his first ADCC appearance later this year.