
Vinny Magalhaes is one of only a handful of men who own a win over Gordon Ryan, and he’s the last person to hand Ryan a loss in professional grappling. The pair met in 2018 at ACBJJ 13 where Magalhaes won on points, and now they’ll be running it back at UFC FightPass Invitational 3 as the main event. Ryan will be looking to level the score just a few months before he attempts to do the same thing with Felipe Pena at WNO in February.
The co-main event for the night will be a battle between a fantastic grappler and a former UFC world champion, as Beatriz ‘Bia’ Mesquita takes on Miesha Tate. Shortly before either of those superfights take place, the UFC has put together an eight-man tournament in the absolute division. Although the competitors have yet to be confirmed, the winner will take home a grand prize of $25,000.
Urijah Faber set to make Combat Jiu Jitsu debut at CJJ Worlds
The next Combat Jiu Jitsu World event is set to take place on December 18th and it will be headlined by UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber making his debut under the CJJ ruleset. Faber will be taking on a tough opponent in Elias Anderson, the reigning CJJ Bantamweight world champion. While Faber is undoubtedly the more experienced competitor overall, Anderson is a veteran of the format and has already excelled in it.
The promotion has decided to change the format for the latest event, opting to change from a single-elimination tournament format to a team grappling one instead. The event will be a Team Duel, and four teams of five elite grapplers will battle it out for a $50,000 grand prize. The twenty athletes competing will be representing Combat Jiu-Jitsu Mexico, 10th Planet, Team Alpha Male, and B-Team Jiu-Jitsu.
Ruotolo brothers impress at ONE on Prime Video 5
Both Kade and Tye Ruotolo were competing at ONE on Prime Video 5, with Kade putting his Lightweight title on the line against Matheus Gabriel. Tye was competing much earlier in the night on the preliminary card, and he was set for a tough fight against former ONE Featherweight MMA world champion Marat Gafurov. Both brothers put a crazy pace on their opponents and showed exactly why they’re so well-respected in professional grappling.
Tye Ruotolo managed to get deep on an armbar attempt pretty early on in the match against Gafurov before transitioning to a triangle choke as he defended. From there he kept Gafurov controlled while he returned to attacking the arm and forced the tap. Kade wasn’t able to get the finish in his match, but he put Gabriel on the defensive for the entire time and won a convincing decision to retain his title.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Three exciting title-fights top Grapplefest 14
Grapplefest 14 took place this past weekend and saw some of the top grapplers from across Europe gather together to put on a fantastic show, headlined by three title-fights. The first of the three was for the inaugural women’s under 65kg title, and saw Julia Maele show off impressive leglock defence before locking up a kneebar of her own to take home the belt. Next up was another inaugural title, this time in the women’s under 70kg division.
Rosa Walsh was aggressive right from the start against Gabi Schuck and locked on to an armbar, forcing the tap shortly after. The final fight of the night saw ADCC 2022 standout Eoghan O’Flanagan putting his under 90kg title on the line against Jacob ‘The Hillbilly Hammer’ Couch. O’Flanagan launched into non-stop leg attacks and although he couldn’t get the finish, he did more than enough to win the decision and retain his title.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Quick Hits
- Felipe Pena has announced that he will be training at ATOS HQ under Andre Galvao for his upcoming fourth match with Gordon Ryan.
- Footage emerged from Renzo Gracie’s in New York that showed UFC welterweight contenders Neil Magny and Khamzat Chimaev grappling together.
- Kevin Holland made an unusual choice when he decided to challenge former UFC double champion Henry Cejudo to a grappling match.
- UFC Middleweight world champion Alex Pereira showed off his grappling skills in an indigenous wrestling match.
Technique Corner
The Teepee choke from Closed guard
Setting up the Ankle-pick
Two passing options from Three-quarter Mount
Meme of the Week
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