JANUARY 20, 2024, ABU DHABI, UAE. Last night we witnessed the return of the ADXC, a new jiu-jitsu/grappling project rooted in the AJP organization whose objective is to push the boundaries of professional jiu-jitsu further than before, offering a novel set-up and ruleset in an attempt to bring not only the existing fans of BJJ & submission-grappling, but also a chunk of the MMA crowd as well.
Held in a cage, with split in rounds, and a typical MMA/Boxing scoring system (10 point “must” per round), the second edition of the Abu Dhabi Extreme Championship gathered some of the best names in jiu-jitsu and also called on a few household MMA fighters who stripped the 4 OZ gloves to prove themselves in a grappling environment.
Although there was a fair amount of wins via decision (points) at ADXC2, most of the matches turned out to be quite entertaining, and, quite possibly, fans may have to adapt to the fact that it will be harder to score submissions in 3-minute rounds. This could be easy to achieve if athletes keep providing quality performances as they did last night.
Out of the main event, top marks for Bruno Lima and Manuel Ribamar who put on an amazing show for the fans. Great action from the start with takedowns, sweeps, big scrambles, and even back takes. The match was very even all round as both athletes pushed the pace relentlessly. In the end, a split decision win for the Portuguese athlete, Lima, who challenged Jansen Gomes for the next edition of the ADXC to be held in Brazil.
The second main event between UFC athletes, Aljamain Sterling and Chase Hooper was a fair clash to follow, but it was not close to the entertainment put forth by co-main eventer Ffion Davies. The Essential Jiu-Jitsu representative faced a UFC fighter, strawweight Luana Pinheiro who currently ranks #10 in the MMA’s world standings and holds a black belt in both judo and BJJ. Although Pinheiro has shown a good level of grappling in the cage, this clash was a one-way street for Davies who dominated the bout from post to post. Aggressive as always, Ffion started with a standing front headlock, changing to an underhook which she used to take Pinheiro’s back—a win via RNC from there in less than 1 minute.
Another athlete who was representing Essential BJJ, Gabriel Sousa, had one of the matches of the night against Marcelo Garcia’s pupil, Yuta Shimada. Despite Sousa’s more extensive resume, this was a highly competitive bout with lots of eventful moments. Yuta is an accomplished judo black belt and although he doesn’t usually show it in a BJJ context, he certainly used it to his advantage last night, forcing the dangerous passer that is Gabriel to play guard throughout the match.
For the rest of the ADXC2 results, check below.
PRELIMS
– Mohammed Al Suwaidi def. Seonghyeon Joo via points
– Emily Fernandez Ferreira def. Yara Kakish via armbar
– Matus Arpas def. Ahmed Amir via decision
– Shay Montague def. Omar Al Suwaidi via split decision
MAIN CARD
– Pouya Rahmani def. Denzel Freeman via decision
– Gabriel Sousa def. Yuta Shimada via decision
– Sidney Outlaw def. Terrence McKinney via short choke/neck crank
– Talison Costa def. Ali Monfaradi via split decision
– Rinat Fakhretdinov def. Douglas Lima via decision
CO-MAIN EVENT
– Espen Mathiesen def. Pablo Lavaselli via split decision
– Ffion Davies def. Luana Pinheiro via RNC
MAIN EVENT
– Bruno Lima def. Manuel Ribamar via decision
– Aljamain Sterling def. Chase Hooper via split decision
