A rundown of the biggest headlines and news from the world of competitive grappling.
Merab Dvalishvili has been going from strength to strength in his MMA career lately, fighting his way all the way up to third in the UFC Bantamweight rankings. He’s done that by winning an impressive eight fights in a row, including against big names like Jose Aldo and Marlon Moraes most recently. This has put Dvalishvili in an impressive position, as he’s now matched up against the division’s former champion Petr Yan in March.
Before that fight goes down though, Dvalishvili took a brief break from competing in the UFC cage in order to take a professional grappling match in the main event of High Rollerz 23. Dvalishvili came out guns blazing and submitted his opponent Darren Branch immediately after a slick guard pass. Earlier on in the night, the promotion saw the conclusion of their very first wrestling tournament that began the day before.
Full results for the event can be found here.
New Wave Jiu-Jitsu dominate at Submission Hunter Pro 81
Submission Hunter Pro managed to put together an impressive main event for their 81st event, matching UFC veteran Roger Narvaez against top New Wave Jiu-Jitsu competitor Dan Manasoiu. Manasoiu put in some great work on the night and submitted Narvaez with a brutal rear-naked choke, although truthfully it looked as though it was significantly more neck crank than choke in the end.
Shortly before that Luke Griffith also represented New Wave well in the co-main event, submitting Hunter Newton with a heelhook. He wasn’t the only of Manasoiu’s teammates competing at the event though, as New Wave took a pretty big team with them. Junior squad members Bri Robertson, Davis Asare, Reese LeFever and Landon Elmore all put in great performances in their respective matches too.
Full results for the event can be found here.
ADCC signs exclusive multi-year streaming deal with UFC Fight Pass
In huge news for professional grapplers everywhere, ADCC has ended their deal with FloGrappling and instead signed an exclusive streaming deal with UFC Fight Pass. The deal is said to be lasting multiple years and will carry on until the 2024 ADCC World Championship at the very least. In the mean-time UFC Fight Pass will also be showing ADCC Opens and every ADCC Trial event.
The promotion has been a permanent fixture on FloGrappling for the longest time, and their departure changes the landscape of the professional grappling world. This means that the only majors left on FloGrappling are IBJJF events and their own in-house Who’s Number One events. Meanwhile, UFC Fight Pass had already managed to secure several major promotions prior to the inclusion of ADCC.
Polaris 23 schedules Chris Weidman v Owen Livesey for main event
Polaris 23 was already set to be a fantastic event, as the promotion put together a fantastic under 66kg women’s grand prix. The tournament will feature both of the female champions from ADCC 2022, Ffion Davies and Amy Campo, along with a silver medallist in Brianna Ste- Marie. With Elisabeth Clay, Jaidyn Mueller, Julia Maele, and Giovanna Jara joining as well, it’s impossible to pick a winner in the division.
Now the promotion has put the icing on the cake by arranging a phenomenal main event match for the card. Before the grand prix comes to an end, former UFC middleweight world champion Chris Weidman will be coming up against Commonwealth Games gold medallsit Judoka Owen Livesey. These men are fantastic standing grapplers so this will likely be a tough and gritty match with plenty of takedowns attempted on both sides.
Quick Hits
- ADCC veteran Cole Abate was just promoted to brown belt after winning his the purple belt lightweight division at the IBJJF European Championship.
- UFC veteran Felipe Colares managed to apprehend a robber in Brazil, using his grappling skills to restrain the suspect.
- NCAA champion AJ Ferrari has recently started training BJJ, including sessions with ADCC world champion Rodolfo Vieira, ahead of a transition to MMA.
- Ivan ‘The Highlander’ Jennings revealed that popular standup comedian Jo Koy had started training BJJ at his gym.