Grappling Report: Keith Krikorian comes out on top at Combat Jiu Jitsu Worlds
A rundown of the biggest headlines and news from the world of competitive grappling.
The Featherweight edition of the Combat Jiu Jitsu world championships looked to be one of the most exciting that Eddie Bravo has ever staged, owing partly to the incredible superfight he’d managed to book between Craig Jones and Donald Cerrone. There was clearly no bad feelings between the two men and they both took a relatively relaxed approach with Jones eventually taking Cerrone’s back and finishing him with a choke.
In the tournament bracket, both Keith Krikorian and Jordan Holy put on impressive displays by submitting all three of their opponents on the way to the final. With four heel hooks and two rear-naked chokes between them, the stage was set for an epic battle to crown the Featherweight champion. Neither man was able to lock up a submission in a tough regulation time-period, but Krikorian secured the rear-naked choke to win in EBI overtime.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Invites handed out thick and fast for ADCC 2022
Historically, eight athletes have earned their place at the ADCC world championships through hard-fought weekends of grappling at different trials events while eight others have received invites to the event. Until this year it has been customary for the promotion to wait until the eight trials winners have emerged before revealing who they will be inviting to compete, but that has all changed now.
The 77kg division looks the most stacked already as JT Torres is returning to attempt to win a third consecutive gold medal and he faces plenty of difficult challenges. The last champion before him, UFC veteran Davi Ramos, is joining in alongside Lucas Lepri and Lachlan Giles. Other divisions are starting to fill as well with Gordon Ryan, Felipe Pena, Craig Jones, Nicky Rodriguez, and Xande Ribeiro have all been confirmed too.
A host of UFC stars set to compete at Fury Pro Grappling 3
Fury Pro Grappling might have started out as a relatively small promotion but they’re quickly upping the ante with some high-profile fights for their third event. The brains behind Fury have managed to book several interesting matchups such as Donald Cerrone, who will be coming in to the event fresh off his loss to Craig Jones, competing against fellow UFC veteran Joe Salecki.
B-team leaders Nicky Rodriguez and Craig Jones will be taking on a pair of undefeated heavyweights, Steve Mowry and Sean Brady respectively, while several high-profile UFC stars like Neil Magny and Clay Guida have also been matched. The main event features the biggest name however, as UFC Strawweight world champion Rose Namajunas will be facing a difficult challenge from Karel Pravec black belt Danielle Kelly.
Braulio Estima Joins ADCC Hall of Fame
The inaugural class of the ADCC Hall of Fame just keeps growing, with the list now growing to six elite grapplers. The latest inductee is another man, Braulio Estima, who has achieved the remarkable feat of being a triple crown winner at the world’s most prestigious no gi grappling event. He’s also the lightest man to win the absolute division when he embarked on a fantastic run to double gold back in 2009.
Estima returned in 2011 in order to challenge Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza for the superfight championship and emerged victorious. He did come back in 2013 to defend his title but unfortunately fell just short against fellow Hall of Famer Andre Galvao, who still holds the title to this day. The news came shortly after Kyra Gracie became the first and to date the only woman to be inducted into the ADCC Hall of Fame.
Quick Hits
- Serbian NBA player and Euroleague star Igor Rakočević has just been promoted to black belt in BJJ at Zerjal Team in Belgrade.
- Neiman Gracie has been booked to compete against Logan Storley at an as yet unnamed Bellator event in early 2022.
- Felipe Pena has just announced his intention to move up in weight to the over 99kg division at ADCC 2022 to meet Gordon Ryan and improve to 3-0 against him.
- UFC Hall of Famer BJ Penn is interested in returning from retirement provided he can get WWE legend Hulk Hogan to walk him out to the octagon.