The biggest wrestling meet in New York returned to Madison Square Garden for the second annual “Grapple at The Garden” event. Featuring meets from the top colleges around the US, this huge show was headlined by a few MMA fighters who decided to don the singlets for one day only.
With a team coached by Bellator MMA bantamweight title contender Joe Warren, and another team coached by BJJ legend Renzo Gracie, things were bound to get interesting! Warren stacked the deck in his favor with some huge names on his team, including Shawn Bunch and Ryan Martinez, while Team Renzo brought out WSOF middleweight Dave Branch (who was always a BJJ guy and had never wrestled before) and NCAA All-American Drew Headlee. However, on this Sunday afternoon in NYC, there were a few surprises along the way.
In the end, Team Warren won the meet with a score of 5-3, but Team Renzo earned some great moments when they did win. Team captain Joe Warren had the only pinfall of the meet against a very spry Mike Torriero, and “The Baddest Man on The Planet” was so ecstatic in his victory that he even broke out a backflip to honor it.
Due to a prior agreement in place with regards to filming at the event, I am not allowed to put up full matches, but am allowed to upload highlights. So, check out this exclusive highlight reel (shot and edited by this very Fight Nerd) to check out some of the big slams, suplexes, and pins from Team Warren VS Team Renzo!
The quick results for this meet are below:
147 pounds – Drew Headlee (Team Renzo Gracie) won by tech. fall over Alex Karnitski (Team Joe Warren), 13-2
145 pounds – Joe Warren (Team Joe Warren) pinned Mike Torriero (Team Renzo Gracie), 4:20
150 pounds – Shawn Bunch (Team Joe Warren) dec. Waylon Lowe (Team Renzo Gracie), 2-1
165 pounds – Boris Novachkov (Team Joe Warren) dec. Dave Esposito (Team Renzo Gracie), 7-1
175 pounds – Timothy Ludke (Team Renzo Gracie) won by tech. fall over Brennan Warde (Team Joe Warren), 10-0
195 pounds – Ryan Tobin (Team Joe Warren) dec. David Branch (Team Renzo Gracie), 4-0
220 pounds – Hudson Taylor (Team Joe Warren) dec. Rustam Ghsiev (Team Renzo Gracie), 10-2
285 pounds – Kyle Cerminara (Team Renzo Gracie) dec. Ryan Martinez (Team Joe Warren), 7-6
About the author
