A rundown of the biggest headlines and news from the world of competitive grappling.
While FloGrappling might not put on a huge number of ‘Who’s Number One?’ events every year, they’re always massive fightcards stacked to the brim with the biggest names in grappling. As a result, it was exciting to hear that they were getting off to a quick start this year with an event scheduled for February 26th. FloGrappling have started to release some of the matchups already, with plenty more to be announced in the coming weeks.
The first to be revealed was the main event, where ATOS’ Ronaldo Junior will be stepping up in weight to face off against the Australian phenom Craig Jones. Perhaps the biggest match announced so far however, is Gabi Garcia taking on Nathiely De Jesus in a rubber match. The event will also feature the youngest member of the Danaher Death Squad, Nicky Ryan, as he takes on a huge challenge in the form of rising star, Roberto Jimenez.
F2W 162, the Promotion’s First All-Female Event, Delivers a Night of Action
Fight 2 Win has gotten off to a fantastic start to the year already with their third event of the month on consecutive weekends. This time the promotion decided to change things up quite a bit by booking a forty-six fight event that was entirely populated by female grapplers. This wasn’t just a marketing gimmick either, as they managed to arrange four elite-level title fights to finish out the event as well.
Luanna Alzuguir and Hannette Staack have four ADCC titles and twelve IBJJF gold medals between them and they put on a fantastic battle for the F2W 145lbs title, one that Alzuguir would be declared the winner in. Shortly after that was Talita Alencar beating Gabrielle McComb in the fight of the night, followed by the final two title-fights where Amanda ‘Tubby’ Alequin defeated Nathalie Ribeiro, and Rafaela Guedes defeated Ana Carolina Vieira.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Gordon Ryan Clashes with Several ATOS Team Members on Social Media
There’s been several meetings on the mats between representatives of ATOS and the Danaher Death Squad and so far, Gordon Ryan has won every single one of these matches. Now the rivalry has heated up a little after several major representatives of ATOS, namely IBJJF World Champion Kaynan Duarte and founder/head coach Andre Galvao, clashed with Gordon Ryan on social media.
The spat was centered around the matchmaker for WNO saying that everyone should be eager to take on either Craig Jones or Gordon Ryan. This sparked a debate with Duarte that led to him calling out Ryan for a match on a WNO event soon, something that could serve as a great build-up to the potential ADCC 2022 superfight between Ryan and Andre Galvao, although that is currently up in the air and may not be going ahead.
Screenshots via Grappling Insider.
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BJ Penn Arrested on Suspicion of DUI Again
He was at the very peak of combat sports as an IBJJF World Champion first, and then a UFC World Champion in two different weight classes. He was the second person to achieve this feat and went on to fight around the world in many more divisions, but his career has taken a sour turn both in and out of the cage since 2010. Penn has gone 1-1-9 and has lost his last seven fights in a row, but his legal troubles have taken centre-stage in the last few years.
There have been instances of brawls in public, including footage emerging of him being violently knocked out. He’s also had other run-ins with the law in Hawaii and has recently been arrested on suspicion of DUI again. Unlike the first time, video shows him yelling obscenities and a racial slur as he’s being taken away. This is not a good look for Penn and at this point, it would likely be good for him to spend some time away from the public eye.
Quick Hits
- Dan Ige left fans in stitches when it was revealed that he decided to buy access to Ryan Hall Online in order to prepare for his upcoming fight with the leglock specialist.
- Gordon Ryan’s long-term girlfriend, Nathalia ‘Hey Sonny’ Santoro was promoted to purple belt under head coach John Danaher.
- MMA veterans Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez will now meet in a grappling match on the upcoming High Rollerz 5 event and compete for a title and a pound of Marijuana.
- Maria Varshavskaia just became only the second Russian woman to be promoted to BJJ black belt by her fellow coaches at Corvos Combat.