Grappling Report: Mario Sperry becomes latest member of ADCC Hall of Fame
A rundown of the biggest headlines and news from the world of competitive grappling.
The latest inductee to the ADCC Hall of Fame is the original superstar of the promotion, Mario Sperry. The veteran grappler competed at the very first ADCC world championship event all the way back in 1998 and he set the standard that every future competitor was to be measured against by winning both his weightclass and the absolute division against tough opposition.
He returned in 1999 to win the inaugural superfight championship and even managed to successfully defend it in 2000 before losing to Mark Kerr. He was the very first double champion, triple crown winner, and to this day he remains the only person other than Andre Galvao to actually manage to defend the superfight championship. There really could be no more deserving inductee to the ADCC Hall of Fame than Mario Sperry.
Pedro Marinho shuts down Craig Jones at Who’s Number One
Three titles were on the line at the latest WNO event, including in the headline match between Craig Jones and Pedro Marinho. Jones wasn’t able to take home the inaugural Light-Heavyweight title as he lost a decision to Marinho, shortly after his teammate Nicky Rodriguez did the same against Elder Cruz. The co-main event saw Tye Ruotolo become a double champion in exciting style against Levi Jones-Leary.
Ruotolo locked up a kneebar after a beautiful series of transitions and chained attacks to add the Welterweight title to the Middleweight one he won last year. At the beginning of the main card, Mikey Musumeci put his Bantamweight title on the line against Estevan Martinez but he came out strong very early on and put Martinez under relentless pressure in order to win a unanimous decision.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Mauricio Gomez upsets Gianni Grippo at Fight 2 Win 191
F2W 191 also took place recently and the promotion booked their fair share of elite grapplers for the event. UFC veteran and Vagner Rocha black belt Jim Alers fought in the co-main event against Renny Gonzalez, putting in a solid performance. Alers managed to force his opponent to tap in one of several different heelhook finishes throughout the stacked forty-eight fight card.
The main event then saw superstar Gianni Grippo take on Mauricio Gomez in a match that he was expected to win, especially as he had already beaten Gomez twice in 2021. Gomez managed to pull off the upset in impressive fashion however by outworking his opponent to a decision victory, making the score between the pair 2 to 1 and leveling it to 1 each in no gi competition.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Vanessa Demopoulos scores amazing comeback submission at UFC 270
The main event at UFC 270 delivered a surprising amount of grappling action as reigning Heavyweight world champion Francis Ngannou displayed a remarkable improvement in his skills on the ground. Cyril Gane managed to use his striking to get ahead on the scorecards in the first two rounds, but Ngannou switched gears and used his wrestling to win the next two rounds before his Jiu-Jitsu skills won him the final round, and the fight.
Despite that shock, the most memorable Jiu-Jitsu moment of the night actually came a lot earlier in the night when Vanessa Demopoulos took on Silviana Gomez Suarez on the preliminary card. Demopoulos was sent tumbling in to the canvas early in the first round with a hard right hand but as Gomez Suarez rushed in to finish the fight, she managed to lock up an armbar to force the tap and secure the comeback submission win.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Quick Hits
- Nicky Rodriguez has started discussing the possibility of a match with Gordon Ryan at ADCC 2022 and says he is ‘enjoying the anticipation’.
- Multiple-time IBJJF world champion Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza has been making plans for his boxing debut after retiring from MMA.
- Saved by the Bell star Mario Lopez has been awarded with ‘Outstanding American’ by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
- Several fans and members of the MMA community accused Rogerio Bontin of using a ‘fake tap’ to escape a tight armbar against Brandon Royval at UFC Vegas 46.