OCTOBER 03, 2020. A very fun Flograppling’s Who’s Number 1 professional jiu-jitsu event took place last night, which featured a talent dense card with many of the sport’s main stars, including Danaher Death Squad’s top athletes: Nicky Ryan, Craig Jones, and Gordon Ryan, as well as Brazilian Fight Factory’s William Tackett and Kody Steele, GFT Toledo’s Dante Leon, 10th Planet’s Geo Martinez, Alliance’s Gabrielle Garcia and more.
Set in Austin, Texas, all matches provided solid entertainment. Everyone came in to find the submission and in excellent shape, putting tons of movement throughout, even with the majority of the matches being set for 15 minutes (except the main event, which was set for 30 minutes).
If we were to single-out one Match Of The Night award, we would point out to Dante Leon vs Kody Steele. The number of full exchanges and fun scrambles between those two was off the charts, fantastic gas tanks between these two grapplers, and not an ounce of “quit” in them. As for the upset of the night, we possibly reference Geo Martinez’s flawless performance against Paulo Miyao. Perfect strategy and perfect execution. More details on that and all the other matches below.
WHO’S #1 RYAN X MATHEUS RESULTS
– William Tackett def. Jason Rau via reverse triangle/armlock
Both athletes went through a 2 minute feeling out period, once that passed, William went from a guard pass straight on to a reverse triangle. Excellent performance by Tackett. Composed yet ferocious when the opportunity arose.
– Nicky Ryan def. Tony Ramos via outside heel-hook
A lot went into trying to make this look like an even match, it wasn’t. We wrote on our preview that the only way Ramos would delay the submission was if he adopted the famous Brendan Schaub tactic of running from the fight. To his credit, he didn’t. Tony Ramos moved forward and engaged Nicky in the center of the mat. Therefore, the match lasted 22 seconds.
Ryan used his butterfly hooks to elevate Ramos and enter a leg entanglement, and that was a wrap. Very clean work by Nicky Ryan.
– Nathalie Ribeiro def. Luiza Monteiro via split decision
This was a very even match, tough to call either way. Nathalie was more dominant, positionally, getting the mount on Luiza at one point in the match, but that exchange aside it was truly close. Both athletes attempted submissions, particularly with foot-locks. Monteiro was busier with the sub attacks, but not by a lot.
A good bout overall. Both competitors did their best to finish before regulation, but their games were very evenly paired.
– Geo Martinez def. Paulo Miyao via decision
In, arguably, the upset of the night, 10th Planet Freaks (Oceanside) standout Geo defeated one of the most accomplished light-featherweights in the sport.
The match was high paced, with plenty of leg entanglement exchanges, but passing-wise, neither was able to get even close to side control or to a dominant position. Martinez had a dangerous guillotine attempt from the bottom, which, likely, sealed the deal for him.
– Dante Leon def. Kody Steele via decision
A dominant performance by Dante, who surprised us by winning the wrestling exchanges. Leon played most of the match from a top position, passing the guard and doing extremely well from that stance, pressing Steele and beating him at his own game.
The match went everywhere, from sweeps to takedowns, to guard passes and submission attempts, most of which conquered by the Canadian. Superb performance, very high pace, and one of the matches of the night, no doubt.
– Gabi Garcia def. Elisabeth Clay via decision
We had mentioned in our preview that this could be a soul-sucking defeat for the Alaskan prodigy and indeed it was.15 minutes of relentless pressure. Although very strong from the top, getting to half-guard and forcing Clay to turtle on a number of occasions, Garcia was not able to stabilize a pass or secure the half-guard position for long enough to find her trademark Kimura/Americana combo, yet, she was never in any danger and definitely in a dominant stance for the entire 15 minutes. Solid win for Garcia,
– Craig Jones def. Roberto Jimenez via inside heel-hook
The match went as most expected, with Jones on the bottom, playing his famous Z guard and butterfly, Jimenez trying to use his speed and blast through Crag’s legs. In these dynamics, Jones was very much the aggressor.
Jones had 3 close leg controls during the 4 minutes of match time, Jimenez escaped the first 2, but that 3rd one was too deep for the 20-year-old grappler. A methodical and crisp performance by the Australian grappler. A real pleasure to watch.
– Gordon Ryan def. Matheus Diniz via inside heel-hook
Another dominant performance by Gordon Ryan who got the submission around the 17-minute mark. Much like Craig and Nicky had done in their previous matches, clean, crisp jiu-jitsu performance by the John Danaher student.
Ryan started the match with a sweep, later hitting a guard pass and mount on the 88-kilogram ADCC champion, Matheus. After a few minutes trying to fend off Gordon’s mount attacks, Diniz was able to scramble his way to the top position, but, using his patented butterfly hooks elevation to a leg entanglement, Ryan was able to secure a solid leg control and advance for the tap.
