OCTOBER 06, 2019 And the World Jiu-Jitsu Festival has just ended its first-ever event, a professional grappling set up that brought forward a few of the sport’s main stars for a submission-only, no-gi super-fight style show over the course of 2 days, day one being headlined by Rafael Lovato Jr. vs Richie Martinez and day 2 with the promising super clash between ADCC open weight champ Gordon Ryan and the feared MMA veteran Rousimar Palhares (Toquinho). These headliners were supported by a fair amount of top talent, which stacked the card even higher.
The event showed good grappling matches all-round, albeit with some miss-matches that surely made a case for a decent future highlight reel. With regards to the headliners, both were reasonably easy victories for both Rafael Lovato (day 1) and Gordon Ryan (day 2). In Lovato’s day, a solid passing performance by the legendary American grappler, which ended in a kimura lock submission from north-south, a position we have seen plenty of times from the Ribeiro JJ representative.
Gordon Ryan vs Toquinho started out with a fast exchange in which Palhares tried to attack Gordon’s feet. Ryan remained calm and seamlessly took control of Rousimar’s back, locking the triangle control on the Brazilian’s waist and never unlocking again for the rest of the match. A few RNC attempts sprinkled throughout the match, but Toquinho’s good defense and awkward body type (hardly any neck and short limbs) made the choking task very hard. Decision win for the American.
Below are the results from day 1 and day 2 of the show.
DAY 1 RESULTS
– Felipe Fogolin def. Kendal Grove by choke from the back
– Diego Ramalho def, Bill Cooper with a “Botinha”
– Mikey Musumeci def. Joseph Lee with an Omoplata
– Edwin Najmi def. Mathias Luna by RNC
– Rafael Lovato def. Richie Martinez with a Kimura
DAY 2 RESULTS
– Rodrigo Freitas def. Ruben Riviera by decision
– Cleber Luciano def. Tony Lopez by armbar
– Johnatha Alves def. Kauan Barboza with a “cachecol” (scarf) choke
– Diego Oliveira def. Paulo Gabriel by decision
– Gordon Ryan def. Rosimar Palhares by decision
