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BJJ stars win big at ONE Fight Night 12
ONE Championship did what they do best at ONE Fight Night 12, delivering an action-packed event with elite competitors from numerous combat sports disciplines. There was plenty to watch for grappling fans too, with one of the first few fights on the main card being a submission grappling match. Tammi Musumeci was back in action against Amanda ‘Tubby’ Alequin and the two women put on a great show, with Musumeci continuing her success by winning a unanimous decision.
Later on in the night another talented grappler stepped into the ring, although this time it was under MMA rules. ADCC veteran Garry Tonon was looking to build his case for a title-shot in the featherweight division after getting back in the win-column at the beginning of the year. He had some difficult moments in his fight with Shamil Gasanov but in the end he hit a slick rolling kneebar entry from standing that forced his opponent to tap and moved his professional record to 8-1.
Full results for the event can be found here.
New champions crowned at IBJJF American Nationals 2023
The IBJJF American National Championship 2023 took place earlier this month, attracting some of the best BJJ black belts from all around the country to compete. Top ATOS competitor Ronaldo Junior put in a great performance in the gi in particular, taking home a bronze medal in the middleweight division before coming back to win gold in the absolute. Elder Cruz did slightly better than that in no gi though, winning both the absolute and the heavyweight division.
Melissa Stricker Cueto came out with the biggest prize in the women’s gi divisions as she won the absolute division, but it was Elisabeth Clay who stood out as the most consistent performer across the whole weekend. She started out by taking a silver medal in the gi middleweight division and a bronze medal in the gi absolute, but she came back with a vengeance on the second day to win gold in both the no gi middleweight division and the no gi absolute.
Full results for the gi divisions can be found here.
Full results for the no gi divisions can be found here.
GSP meets Demian Maia in grappling comeback
Georges St-Pierre recently announced that he would be returning to combat sports, taking on a grappling match at the upcoming UFC Fight Pass Invitational 6 event on December 14th, 2023. Not only is it the first time that GSP has taken on an opponent in any ruleset in over 6 years, but it’s also the first professional grappling match he’s taken since an appearance at ADCC 2005. Originally the promotion kept quiet about who would be welcoming him back, but GSP was not so silent.
GSP evaluated several different opponents almost as soon as the match was announced and he made it clear what type of opponent he’d prefer to face. Now it appears as though UFC Fight Pass Invitational have done some excellent matchmaking, as they’ve managed to book him against none other than Demian Maia. Both men are MMA veterans and although Maia has significantly more grappling experience, it’ll still be interesting to see how they match up stylistically.
Quintet returns for the first time in two years
Quintet practically invented team grappling in the modern era and the promotion remains synonymous with the most popular rule-set used in team grappling matches around the world. Despite the wave of success that Kazushi Sakuraba’s brainchild enjoyed between 2018 and 2021, they went dark after that. Now Quintet has joined forces with K-1 to return for the first time in over two years with Quintet 4, scheduled for September 10th, 2023.
The teams have already been announced for Quintet 4 too, with grapplers representing 10th Planet, New Wave, Polaris, and Sakuraba himself. Not only is this one of the most well-balanced Quintet events in the promotion’s history, but there’s ADCC veterans in every single team. Sakuraba and Haisam Rida will represent Team Sakuraba, Giancarlo Bodoni will lead the New Wave team, PJ Barch and Geo Martinez are on the 10th Planet team, and Eoghan O’Flanagan is among 3 ADCC 2022 competitors on Team Polaris.
Quick Hits
- Facebook founder and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was promoted to BJJ blue belt by Dave Camarillo at Guerilla Jiu-Jitsu.
- Gordon Ryan revealed his competition plans for 2023 and he’s aiming to get two more matches in at a Who’s Number One and UFC Fight Pass Invitational event by the end of the year.
- Danielle Kelly and Jessa Khan will compete in the promotion’s first ever female submission grappling title-fight at ONE Fight Night 14.
- Top Art of Jiu-Jitsu competitor and young prodigy Cole Abate was just promoted to black belt after winning the IBJJF Asian Championship.
Technique Corner
Fixing a beginner mistake in Butterfly guard
Arm-drag to Single-leg X, to Straight Ankle-lock
Three Armbars from bottom Side control
Meme of the Week
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