A rundown of the biggest headlines and news from the world of competitive grappling.
Gordon Ryan and Felipe Pena will be meeting for the third time in a no time-limit grudge match on August 7th, but the card that Who’s Number One have put together to support them is truly impressive. The pair have agreed to the match in order to help settle an old score, as Pena currently holds two victories over Ryan. Ryan is so confident he’ll win however that he’s put up $100,000 of his own money against a $10,000 bet from Pena.
The rest of the card is stacked from top to bottom with current ADCC trials winners and IBJJF world champions, including an incredible co-main event that sees Nicholas Meregali take on Rafael Lovato Jr. Jacob ‘The Hillbilly Hammer’ Couch takes on Jacob Rodriguez in a battle of exciting young competitors, while Elisabeth Clay and Bia Mesquita will meet in the only women’s match of the night.
The full card for WNO: Gordon Ryan v Felipe Pena can be found here.
Charles Oliveira v Islam Makhachev officially confirmed
The most interesting fight in the UFC Lightweight division has officially been made, as Charles Oliveira will be facing Islam Makhachev for the vacant title in the main event fight at UFC 280. Oliveira would have been the reigning champion, but was stripped of the belt after missing weight for his title-defence against Justin Gaethje. Oliveira went on to finish Gaethje in the very first round to earn the right to reclaim his title in his next fight.
Makhachev meanwhile has been unstoppable in recent years, racking up ten consecutive wins in the division. Surprisingly Makhachev has actually opened up as the betting favourite over Oliveira, although it’s still early days and the odds can change. If Oliveira does manage to reclaim his title, he’s already set up his next fight by stating that he wants to bring Khabib Nurmagomedov out of retirement after beating his teammate Makhachev.
Full ADCC 2022 competitor list finalised
The 2022 ADCC World Championships is less than two months away and now all 97 competitors have been confirmed. The event takes place on September 17th and 18th, and now fans will know exactly who they can root for when the athletes hit the mat. As always many competitors earned their way there by winning a trials event, while others were awarded an invite on account of their performances and accomplishments in the sport.
Several affiliations have a huge number of representatives at the event and ATOS lead the way with 11 athletes in 5 divisions, although 10th Planet and Alliance aren’t far behind with 8 and 7 athletes respectively across 6 divisions. Closely following those top three teams are and B-Team New Wave Jiu-Jitsu, who have both been able to field 6 athletes in the 5 male weightclasses.
The full competitor list for ADCC 2022 can be found here.
Usman Nurmagomedov continues undefeated career
Khabib Nurmagomedov cemented himself as one of the best grapplers in the history of MMA and retired on top of the world at UFC 254 with a perfect 29-0 professional record. Now his younger cousin Usman is starting to hit his stride in his own MMA career at the age of just 24. Usman put together an 11-0 record on the regional circuit before moving on to bigger things and has been contracted to Bellator ever since.
He won his first three fights for the promotion in incredibly convincing fashion, before facing off with his toughest test in Chris Gonzalez at Bellator 283. Although Gonzalez was supposed to be a more difficult challenge for him on paper, Usman submitted him with a guillotine choke and made his case for a title-shot against the current Bellator Lightweight world champion, Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Quick Hits
- ADCC veteran Tom DeBlass decided to open up about his usage of TRT because he believes it could benefit thousands of men out there.
- BJJ legend and UFC Hall of Famer Royce Gracie recently spoke about his excitement for the return of Conor McGregor.
- Multiple-time IBJJF world champion Mikey Musumeci has revealed that his diet consists entirely of pizza, pasta, and acai.
- Olympic silver medallist wrestler Mark Madsen had some words for UFC fan-favourite Paddy Pimblett, explaining that he believes wrestling is the way to beat him.