The World of BJJ: July 2021 Recap

 

What’s going on in the world of BJJ? 

We’ve got you covered for all your BJJ-related news and happenings in this version of our monthly recap (July 2021).  

 

The Danaher Death Squad Announces Split

This is the biggest news in the grappling world since Gordon Ryan’s indefinite leave of absence from competition due to ongoing health issues.

The Danaher Death Squad is officially no longer a competitive grappling team. At its peak, the team consisted of big names such as Gordon Ryan, Eddie Cummings, Gary Tonon, Craig Jones, Oliver Taza, Ethan Crelinsten, Nicky Ryan, Nick Rodriguez, and more.

Here’s what John Danaher, the team’s leader and coach, said about the split in a post on his Instagram page:

It is with great sadness that I have to announce the break up of the squad as a unified training and competition team. A combination of factors revolving around disagreements in physical location of a future school, personality conflicts, conflicting values and an inevitable tension between the team brand and the growing individual brands of members were the main factors.

In a post on his Instagram page, Craig Jones cryptically announced that the “B Team” will stay together, along with a picture of himself, Nicky Ryan, Ethan Crelinsten, and Nicky Rodriguez.

To make things more confusing, Craig Jones’ B Team post on Instagram had Austin, Texas as its tagged location.

Then, Gordon Ryan announced that he and Danaher will be opening an academy in Austin, Texas, in a picture with Ryan, Danaher, and Gary Tonon.

Who will ultimately follow Danaher to Texas, and who will go their own way? Is this all an elaborate marketing scheme to promote the new academy in Austin, or is one of jiu-jitsu’s most dominant teams really splitting up?

 

Big Deal PRO #3 (10 July 2021)

Big Deal Pro 3 brought a stacked card to Florianopolis, Brazil, with a roster full of seasoned veterans and rising stars.  

This event featured some of the biggest-name grapplers in Brazil. The main attraction was an 8-man (gi) ultra-heavyweight tournament, and there were also a number of gi and no-gi superfights on the card as well.

Here are the results from the ultra-heavyweight tournament:

Quarterfinals

•     Anderson Munis def. Harysson Pereira (2-0)
•     Gabriel Henrique def. Duzao Lopes (12-0)
•     Wallace Costa def. Marcus Ribeiro (decision)
•     Erberth Santos def. Guilherme Lambertucci (rear-naked choke)

Semi-finals

•     Anderson Munis def. Gabriel Henrique (split decision)
•     Erberth Santos def. Wallace Costa (6-6, 1-0 adv.)

Final

•     Anderson Munis def. Erberth Santos (0-0, 2-1 adv.)

As mentioned, the card was also full of both gi and no-gi superfights. Here are the results from the main card.

Superfights

•     Marcos Petcho def. Alex Munis (0-0, 1-0 adv.)
•     Bianca Basilio def. Dulce Rosenthal (choke)
•     Erich Munis def. Leonardo Lemos (armbar)
•     Igor Schneider def. Otavio Nalati (13-0)
•     Isaque Bahiense def. Servio Tulio (2-2, 4-2 adv.)
•     Leandro Lo def. Henrique Ceconi (0-0, 2-0 adv.)
•     Mahamed Aly def. Pedro Alex (0-0, 2-0 adv.)

 

Road to ADCC (17 July 2021)

The ADCC World Championships in 2022 are right around the corner, and so it is only fitting that the organization hosted a Road to ADCC event with 6 high-level superfight matchups. All matchups were 20 minutes and followed the ADCC scoring format.

In the main event, Kaynan Duarte showed his continued no-gi dominance by submitting the incredibly tough and durable Matheus Diniz with a heel hook late in their match.

Here are the full results from the event:

•     Kaynan Duarte def. Matheus Diniz (heel hook)
•     Ana Carolina Vieira def. Elisabeth Clay (points)
•     Mikey Musumeci def. Geo Martinez (points)
•     Lucas Hulk Barbosa def. William Tackett (points)
•     Nicky Ryan def. Dante Leon (points)
•     Roberto Jimenez vs Kade Ruotolo (rear-naked choke)

This was a great event to get grappling fans (and competitors) back into the ADCC rules format in preparation for the big championship event in 2022.

If you had to make predictions right now, whom would you pick as your favourites to win gold at ADCC 2022?

 

Finishers Sub-Only Open 6 (Emerald City Qualifier) (25 July 2021)

Finishers Open 6 served as a qualifying event for Emerald City Invitational #2, a 145lbs tournament to take place on 7 August 2021. The winner of the Finishers qualifier gets to join a host of elite no-gi grapplers in a 16-man bracket, with the winner of the Emerald City Invitational taking home $10,000 in cash.

Finishers put together an 18-man bracket and followed the EBI rules format. In the end, the new 10th planet black belt Jeff Mock won the featherweight tournament. He won his first three matches by submission and beat Robert Diggle in overtime to secure his spot in the next Emerald City Invitational tournament.

Check out the Emerald City Invitational Instagram and the Finishers Instagram for more news about their upcoming events. 

 

F2W – July Events

Fight 2 Win Pro had another busy month, this time putting on four more high-quality events. Here’s what happened with F2W in July

F2W 176 (9 July 2021) saw Edwin “Junny” Ocasio defeat Carlos “Bebeto” Oliveira in a rather uneventful match to retain his no-gi bantamweight title. In the co-main event, Samir Chantre defeated Orlando Castillo by split decision. Also on the main card, Gustavo Batista shut down Tex Johnson for the win.

Here are the full results from the black belt main card:

•   Edwin “Junny” Ocasio def. Carlos “Bebeto” Oliveira
•   Samir Chantre def. Orlando Castillo
•   Gustavo Batista def. Aaron “Tex” Johnson
•   Chris Conway def. Wilbert Bailey
•   Suellen Lima def. Erin Johnson
•   Fabiana Jorge def. Jenna Osuna
•   Hunter Colvin def. Hiago Adao
•   Cesar Miyahra def. Isiah Wright
•   Joshua Sauseda def. David Lucarelli
•   Joe Baize def. Jeff Ake
•   Walker Madden def. Guilherme Cordiviola
•   Augusto Maciel def. Hanes Barbosa
•   Jeremy Hastings def. Chris Gabrielson

F2W 177 (16 July 2021) saw Rafael Lovato Jr. claim the Masters heavyweight gi title by defeating Alexandro Ceconi by referee’s decision. In the co-main event, Pedro Marinho defeated Davi Ramos via decision after a back-and-forth match. Also on the main card, Maria Malyjasiak made quick work of Kendall Reusing, submitting Reusing with a toehold to claim the middleweight gi title.

Here are the full results from the black belt main card:

•   Rafael Lovato Jr. def. Alexandro Ceconi (decision)
•   Pedro Marinho def. Davi Ramos (decision)
•   Maria Malyjasiak def. Kendall Reusing (toehold)
•   Jose Llanas def. Joshua Sharpless (decision)
•   Davin Ordinario def. Mohammed Magharef (decision)
•   Bernardo Pitel def. Carlos Catala (choke)

F2W 178 (24 July 2021) saw Victor Hugo defeat Guilherme Augusto by decision to retain his super heavyweight gi title. In the co-main event, Osvaldo “Queixinho” Moizinho def. Pedro Dias by decision. Also on the main card, Xande Ribeiro pulled off a decision victory over Fellipe Trovo, sealing the victory with a late armbar attempt.

Here are the full results from the black belt main card:

•   Victor Hugo def. Guilherme Augusto (decision)
•   Osvaldo “Queixinho” Moizinho def. Pedro Dias (decision)
•   Alexandre Ribeiro def. Fellipe Trovo (decision)
•   Keven Carrasco def. Daniel Lee Rodriguez (decision)
•   Austin Baker def. Jose Munoz (armbar)
•   Daniel Hampton def. Koa Kalama (kimura)
•   Lucas Norat def. Josh Guerra (choke)

F2W 179 (30 July 2021) saw Josh Cisneros exact revenge with a win in his rematch with Kennedy Maciel to claim the lightweight no-gi title. Cisneros finished off the match with a slew of submission attempts, ultimately earning him the unanimous decision win. In the co-main event, Gabi McComb defeated Karen Antunes by unanimous decision in a back-and-forth, extremely close matchup. Also on the main card, Jaime Canuto bested Jeferson Guaresi via decision.

Here are the full results from the black belt main card:

•   Josh Cisneros def. Kennedy Maciel (decision)
•   Gabrielle McComb def. Karen Antunes (decision)
•   Jaime Canuto def. Jeferson Guaresi (decision)
•   Charlie Swanton def. Parker Lapp (decision)
•   Heather Raftery def. Tracey Goodell (heel hook)
•   Suyan Queiroz def. Matt Blank (choke)
•   Alex Martinez def. Jay Shellhammer (split decision)
•   Josh Rodriguez def. Geoff Real
•   Austin Wourms def. Matthew Mamolen (decision)
•   Josh Guerra def. Jackson Batista (ankle lock)
•   Aaron Wilson def. Christopher William Hargett (heel hook)
•   Gabirle Almeida def. Bruce Xavier (decision)
•   Jordan Gomez def. Gerson Atoigue (decision)
•   Steve Hargett def. Paul Nava (decision)
•   Jeremy Hastings def. Victor Emanuel (split decision)

Check out F2W and FloGrappling for complete results from all the F2W events.

 

Submission Underground 25 – Marinho vs Varela – (18 July 2021)

Chael Sonnen’s premier grappling organization, Submission Underground (SUG), returned with another submission-filled show.

Marinho and Varela were promoted to the main event status after the original headlining match between Absolute champion Mason Fowler and number one challenger Kyle Boehm was canceled due to a Fowler injury. This event also featured another exciting tag-team match between Team BTT (Charlie Gilpin & Gustavo Bessa) and Team Impact (Phelan Carron & Ioane Palakiko).

Here are the full results from the event.

Main Card

•     Pedro Marinho def. Andy Varela (guillotine)
•     Edwin Najmi def. Jeremy Kennedy (OT – rear-naked choke)
•     Keith Krikorian def. Joey McKay (OT – rear-naked choke)
•     Team BTT def. Team Impact (more submissions in regulation)

Preliminary Card

•   Gustavo Pires def. Nicholas Maximov (OT – armbar)
•   Colton Vaughn def. Eric McConico (OT – fastest escape)
•   Aaron Tiegs def. Zachary Minteer (OT – face crank)
•   Zack Schneider def. Kevin Shaughnessy (heel hook)
•   Ighor Horta def. James Zeng (OT – fastest escape)
•   Alex Larmey def. Josiah Iwamizu (rear-naked choke)

Hopefully, Fowler will heal up quickly, as the title defence against Boehm was highly anticipated before its cancellation.

Also, does Marinho’s submission win at SUG 25 against Varela, plus his runner-up finish in the Absolute tournament (which Boehm won to earn the shot at Fowler), mean he’s next in line for a shot at the title after Fowler vs Boehm?

 

Rodolfo Back to His Winning Ways, Ryan Hall Gets Stopped

Finally, many jiu-jitsu fans were relieved to see Rodolfo Vieira get back to his winning ways with a rear-naked choke victory over Dustin Stolzfus at UFC on ESPN: Makhachev vs Moises. Before this important win, Vieira was stunned by Anthony Hernandez back in February, when Vieira was caught in a fight-ending guillotine in the second round.

However, July wasn’t all good for jiu-jitsu in MMA, as leg-lock wizard Ryan Hall was knocked out by punches in the first round by Ilia Topuria at UFC 264. This snapped a four-fight winning streak that included Hall’s highlight heel hook finish against the legendary BJ Penn.

We’re looking forward to Rodolfo continuing his winning ways, to Hall bouncing back into the win column, and to jiu-jitsu continuing to be well-represented at the highest level of MMA.

 

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There you have it. Now, you’re all caught up on key events in the BJJ world from July. 

Check in next month for a recap of everything that happened in August. 

Until then… stay rolling, and protect your neck! (And your legs, and arms, and wrists… you get it).