A rundown of the biggest headlines and news from the world of competitive grappling.
Eddie Bravo is back once again with the next edition of the Combat Jiu Jitsu World Championships, this time in the Lightweight division. There will be a number of ADCC trials winners competing like Polaris triple champion Ashley Williams and B-Team’s Ethan Crelinsten, allowing the event to serve as something of a precursor to the 66kg division of ADCC 2022.
Tenth Planet’s Keith Krikorian is the third ADCC trials winner announced for the Combat Jiu Jitsu Lightweight World Championships as he seeks to become the ruleset’s first double champion. Krikorian won the Featherweight edition back in 2021 and has been on fantastic form since then, so this represents a great opportunity for him to continue his run all the way to ADCC 2022 and make history along the way.
Legion Jiu Jitsu team impress at Fight 2 Win 199
Fight 2 Win are easily the busiest grappling promotion on the planet and they continue to put on fantastic events even as they approach their 200th. F2W 199 saw a stacked card full as fans in attendance were able to watch dozens of high level matches with plenty of submission finishes. In the main event, Elisabeth Bravo managed to secure an armbar in stunning fashion and earn victory over Elizabeth Mitrovic.
Elsewhere on the card, Keenan Cornelius’ team were out in full force. Legion Jiu Jitsu had two of their best competitors in attendance with Sloan Clymer coming up first against Manny Rocha. Although he wasn’t able to get the finish, he won a convincing decision and set the stage for Paige Ivette to register one of the best finishes of the night with an armbar against Joy Pendell in the co-main event.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Mikey Musumeci earns $50k bonus in ONE Championship debut
Mikey Musumeci made his promotional debut for ONE Championship this past weekend and was thrown straight into the deep end as he took on a legend of Japanese BJJ and MMA, Masakazu Imanari. With Musumeci being known for his incredible leglock and berimbolo proficiency and Imanari being one of the pioneers of leglocks, fans were excited to see how the match would play out.
Predictably, both men came straight out of the gate attacking the legs of the other with Imanari registering the first solid submission attempt of the night. Musumeci fired back quickly and both men proved that their defense was sound. Another attack by Imanari gave Musumeci the window he needed to counter and come up on top, quickly taking Imanari’s back and securing the rear-naked choke along with a $50,000 bonus.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Ruotolo brothers get ONE Championship debuts announced
ONE Championship founder and chairman Chatri Sityodtong is really pulling out all the stops as he brings submission grappling into the fold for his promotion. He’s already managed to bring some of the biggest names in the sport on board by matching up modern stars like Mikey Musumeci along with legends like Andre Galvao and up-and-coming talent like Danielle Kelly.
Now, ONE have also booked the debut fights for the Ruotolo brothers and their debut opponents are some fantastic matchmaking. Kade Ruotolo will be taking on Japanese MMA legend Shinya Aoki while Tye faces off against Garry Tonon just a matter of months before Kade enters the same division as him at ADCC 2022. Stylistically, both of these opponents are virtually guaranteed to produce fireworks in a match against the Ruotolo brothers.
Quick Hits
- Thirteen-time IBJJF world champion Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida has hit another roadblock in his MMA career as his fight with Oumar ‘Reug Reug’ Kane has been postponed.
- Jorge Masvidal revealed that he wants to face his former opponent Ben Askren in a freestyle wrestling match, and Askren is happy to oblige.
- FloGrappling have announced the release of a new submission grappling competitive reality show entitled ‘Who’s Next’.
- Nicholas Meregali has jokingly promoted Gordon Ryan to purple and then brown belt after the latter has spent extensive time training in the gi with him recently.