NOVEMBER 23, 2019 – Liverpool, England. What was once a smaller super-fight based grappling promotion in the northwest of England has slowly but surely become a global event, challenging some of the larger submission-only shows on a larger scale, as presented by the latest GrappleFest card, the 7th of the organization.
With an undercard of local talent matches, the promoters turned to a few international stars for the main show, a great balance of rising talent such as Jeremy Skinner and teenage sensations, the Ruotolo Twins as well as key players in the world stage such as Craig Jones, Adam Wardzinski, Dante Leon and Márcio André. Below are the full results of the main card.
KADE RUOTOLO (Atos) def. JEREMY SKINNER (Absolute MMA) via Darce Choke
Fantastic under 70kg match between teenage phenom Kade Ruotolo and Skinner, one of Australia’s rising grappling stars.
A very creative heel-hooker, Skinner played the bottom game from the get-go with Kade playing a long-range passing style, always seeking the darce choke as his own finishing maneuver. After a few close attempts at choking and a solid positional dominant first half of the match, Ruotolo finally locked up the winning submission.
TYE RUOTOLO (Atos) def. TOM HALPIN (Fight Sports) via Decision
After his run at the 66-kilogram ADCC strap, 16-year-old Tye Ruotolo showed up much larger to this 73 kg bout against fellow ADCC veteran Tom Halpin, in what looked like a much healthier weight for the growing athlete.
With a style very similar to his brother (Kade) who competed in the previous match, Tye implemented a strong distance passing stance, favoring head control to threaten the neck of the Irish leg-lock specialist. Ruotolo passed Halpin’s guard repeatedly, dominated the match from start to finish getting the win by decision.
DANTE LEON (GFT) def. MÁRCIO ANDRÉ (NU) via Decision
Not an easy fight for André, who was severely outmatched in the power department against Leon at 85kg. The difference in size was very noticeable as Dante made great use of all the tools at his disposal.
Well known for his back taking abilities, a tool he used to defeat the legendary Lucas Lepri in September 2019 at the ADCC, Leon threatened with his strongest game on 3 occasions, getting pretty close to Márcio André’s neck. Leon’s aggression throughout the match earned him the judge’s nod.
CRAIG JONES (Absolute MMA) def. ADAM WARDZINSKI (Checkmat) via Reverse Triangle
Not a lot of information to process here as this was the quickest submission on the main card. Craig Jones snatched another title for his collection, this time the GrappleFest 100 kilogram belt by way of a reverse triangle choke in under 1 minute. Very impressive.
