What We Learned From UFC BJJ 1

The UFC is trying to dive deeper into the world of grappling by increasing the number of FPI shows and now they are launching a new reality TV show tournament to crown their first champions. This event will have 2 teams and 8 people in each tournament. These tournaments will crown the first light weight and welterweight champions and I'm assuming the weights will be the same as their MMA counterparts. The finale will also feature a match between coaches Mikey Musumeci and Rerisson Gabriel for the bantam weight belt. This seems to be the UFCs first big push into pro grappling and I hope it will be successful so we can enjoy more great matches in the future. I'll be covering all the episodes here and doing a quick recap as well as providing stats, which you can see down below. 

Format

The matches will be using the new FPI rules which consist of three 5 min rounds and scored using a 10-point must system. This is almost exactly the same as the format CJI used last summer. Another thing they brought over is the pit or at least a version of it. The one use here has 8 sides instead of 4 and appears to be more of a bowl shape(I think that is what they're calling it). So far I don't have any info on penalties, stalling, etc so we'll see once we get into the matches.

 

Competitors

Mikey's team will be in blue and Rerisson's in green.

Lightweights

• Keith Krikorian — Polaris champ, ADCC Trials Winner

• Gianni Grippo — 2-time IBJJF No Gi World Champion

• Isaac Doederlein — 2022 IBJJF World Champion

• Josh Cisneros — 2024 ADCC Bronze Medalist

• Carlos Henrique — 2023 IBJJF No Gi Pans Champion

• Danilo Moreira — 2023 IBJJF No Gi Worlds Bronze

• Mauricio Rios

• Kyvann Gonzalez

Welterweight

• Andrew Tackett — 2024 ADCC Trials Winner

• Jason Nolf — 3-time NCAA Wrestling Champion

• Andy Varela — PGF Champion

• Davis Asare — 2024 ADCC Trials Silver

• Elijah Carlton - Multiple Time PGF Champion

• Aaron Wilson

• Austin Oranday

• Nathan Haddad

Daily Summary

Day 1

The first day starts with the coach introductions and then Mikey flow rolls with the competitors to get a feel with them and talks to them. I really wish we could get the raw footage of this instead of seeing it cut up. Ressison chooses to have them spar each other to evaluate everyone. 

They did some weird system where they rank everyone and the first person to choose gets their choice and the other person gets their counterpart. It starts and Rerisson chooses Gianni Grippo and then Mikey gets Carlos Henrique. Mikey chose Issac Doderlien and so Rerisson gets Keith Krakorian. Rerisson chose Josh Cisneros, so Mikey got Kyvann Gonzales. Mikey chose Danilo Moreira, so Rerisson got Mauricio Rios. Rerisson chose Andrew Tackett and so Mikey got Aaron Wilson. Mikey chose Davis Asare, so Rerisson got Austin Oranday. Rerisson chose Andy Varela, so Mikey got Nathan Haddad. Mikey chose Jason Nolf, so Rerrison got Elijah Carlton. It didn't really like this team making process, but it is what it is. I think Rerisson came out on top with this one. 

It doesn't look like there will be much drama this season as so far it seems like everyone likes each other. The first fighter up is Aaron Wilson and they do a quick little montage showing a bit about his background and then cuts to him training with Mikey and going over strategy. He's going against Andrew Tackett, so they show a bit about his life.

They got into the match fairly quickly. They start hand fighting for a bit until Andrew gets the takedown. Aaron manages to get back up, but Andrew takes him down again and gets the RNC. This all happened in about a minute. I don't know if anyone will be able to beat that action or watachability score. That was pretty much a perfect performance. Andrew Tackett def Aaron Wilson via RNC.

This was a pretty strong first episode. It seemed a bit short, but the action was amazing. 

Day 2

Day 2 gets started with the announcement of the days match. Isaac Doderlein vs Keith Krakorian is up and the show the background of each. They then show Mikey taking people to his house for training and dinner. There is a random argument about Eco BJJ, but it seemed friendly enough. Not much drama so far.

The match starts with Isaac pulling guard and trying to work K-guard. Keith is trying to dive over his guard with guillotines and kimura traps. The pace is high and they are going back and forth with leg attacks but neither is close as the round ends. The second round starts the same way, but half way through Isaac starts running out of gas as Keith starts passing his guard.In this last round it looks like Isaac has faded and just falls down as Keith goes for a single. Keith tries to get his passing going again, but Isaac gets a second wind and starts attacking this legs. Isaac keeps going for ankle locks and Keith is trying to counter with heelhooks, but both of their defenses are on point. It ends up going to the judges. Isaac Doderlein def Keith Krakorian via dec

I don't know if I agree with the decision, but it was a good match and it was close. 

Day 3

Day 3 starts and today we have Davis Asare vs Austin Oranday. Just like last week they go and eat together, but this team it is Rerisson's team. They start arm wrestling and Rerisson is surprisingly strong. They show the backstories of the fighters as always along with some highlights. I wish they would show more of the training and cut things up less. 

Thy weigh in and get things started. Austin goes for a hand shake and Davis double legs him. I don't know if he was trying to be tricky or it was an accident. Davis moves around the outside and then drips back for a leg lock, but can't get it. Davis comes back up and Austin tries a false reap. Davis shrugs it off and then drops back for an outside heelhook. Austin tries to spin, but Davis is too far ahead of him and Austin screams and appears to have been injured. Davis immediately apologizes, but wins the match. After watching it from another angle I see it was actually an anklelock(a side ankle lock to be exact). Davis Asare def Austin Oranday via Ankle lock.

This was a great match, but it couldn't quite beat the first one in terms of action and watchability. 3 great matches isn't bad though. This is a promising start to the season. 

Day 4 

Day 4 starts and we are coming back to the lightweights today. We have Carlos Henrique vs Gianni Grippo. This should be a close competitive match. This time they mixed things up and did some bowling. I didn't like how the edited things with the bowling so much and they all did look like terrible bowlers, but it was fun enough. They cut back to the training and back stories and show us more about Gianni and Carlos. They weigh in and we get to the match. 

They start out and Gianni pulls guard. He seems to be looking for bolos and leg attacks. Carlos doesn't seem to have any problems with them and trades leg locks with him. They go back and forth and at the end of the round Gianni tries to do his signature smash pass from outside ashi, but can't get it. 

Gianni pulls guard again in the 2nd round and almost hits a sweep from DLR guard, but Carlos shows a good base. Gianni is moving to butterfly ashi now and working an ankle lock. Carlos is standing and long steps out of it into north-south position. Carlos secures the pass and starts to work. Gianni turns to try to recover his guard and Carlos catches him in an anaconda choke and that's all she wrote. 

Carlos Henrique def Gianni Grippo via Anaconda choke.

This was another good match. There were no dry spots and it ended in a sub. I don't think anything will beat Andrew Tackett's first match, but all of these matches have been really good so far. Tomorrow's show looks to be a double header, so be sure to come back here for Day 5.

Day 5

We're back with Day 5 and today we have 2 matches. They cut the fat and didn't really show any of the house stuff. They show a little bit of training and then go into the back stories of Jason Nolf and Elijah Carlton. They get into the strategy for each briefly and then we are underway. 

The match starts with Nolf getting a takedown and Carlton not doing much to stop it. Carlton is looking to attack the legs, but Nolf is doing a good job avoiding it. Carlton goes for a choi bar and it looks pretty good, but Nolf eventually escapes. Carlton goes for it again, but this time uses it to take the back. Carlton stays there until time runs out. 

Round 2 starts the same way and Carlton goes back to the choi bar, but Nolf escapes  and is looking like the fresher man. Nolf starts opening up more and is getting a little closer with his passes. With a min left Nolf starts cranking on an estima lock, but can't get it. Mikey is yelling that he won the round and Carlton looks frustrated. 

The 3rd round starts with Nolf hitting another takedown and almost passing. Nolf is starting to turn up and Carlton looks gassed. Carlton's guard is holding up, but he can't really get anything going. With about 10 sec left Nolf really starts to turn up the heat, but gets caught in an armbar while trying to pass. Nolf tries to slam out of it, but can't quite escape, but time runs out and he doesn't get tapped. 

Elijah Carlton def Jason Nolf via dec.

Next up is Kyvann Gonzales vs Josh Cisneros. As they are preparing for the match and cutting weight Cisneros almost passes out. The doctors come in and inform Josh that he can't continue. I'm disapointed to see this as Josh is super exciting, but they bring in an alternate to replace him named Cobey Fehr. I'm not familiar with him, but I hope he puts on a good show. They give a brief background of each and then get into the match. 

Things start off with Kyvann pulling guard and Cobey working from the outside to pass. Kyvann is trying to pull him in, but Cobey is staying safe and disengaging when he feels danger. Kyvann switches strategies and works his RDLR guard and immediately spins for a kiss of the dragon sweep. Cobey sits down to avoid it and then Kyvann starts attacking the legs. Kyvann catches him in reverse closed guard and Cobey doesn't have a good answer for it. After about a min of handfighting Kyvann isolates a leg and attacks. He gets the tap. Kyvann Gonzales def Cobey Fehr via Abe lock. 

Day 6

Today we have the last 2 matches of the first round. First up we have Andy Varela vs Nathan Haddad. They do just a bit of back story on these 2 and get right into the match. They really didn't add much of the house stuff in here at all this episode. 

The first round starts and they are just handfighting throughout the round. Andy hits a single leg at the end of the round to take it. The second round starts and Andy starts to pick things up a bit. He hits a beautiful duck under and takes Nathan down and lands on his back. Andy has the arm trapped and goes for the choke. Andy Varela def Nathan Haddad via RNC.

After the match they show them going to a restaurant and all eating together. They have an arm wrestling contest between them and Rerisson easily beats Mikey. He attributes this to doing more gi although that doesn't really make much sense. After a bit more talk they announce the last match which is Mauricio Rios vs Danilo Moreira. They get into the backstories and then go to the weight ins.

The first round starts are Rios is mostly playing from top and Danilo is working his guard from bottom. Danilo is able to hit a few sweeps from DLR, but afterward he isn't able to hold position. He gets a guard pass at one point, but loses the position as he goes for a kimura. Rios looks like the fresher man after the round. The second round looks about the same with Rios picking things up a bit and he has a very close heelhook, but can't quite finish it. 

The 3rd round starts and Danilo pulls guard right into a tornado sweep. He get on top and is in side control. From there he moves to the mount and attempts to get the back after a while, but as he does he loses position and ends up on bottom. The rest of the round is Danilo playing guard and Rios trying to pass or get into a leg entanglement as time runs out. It was a good, even back and forth match between the 2. Danilo Moreira def Mauricio Rios via dec. 

With Day 6 over with, we are now moving to the semi-finals. Let's look at the matches.

Welterweight

Elijah Carlton vs Andrew Tackett

Andy Varela vs Davis Asare

Lightweight

Kyvann Gonzales vs Danilo Moreira

Isaac Doederlein vs Carlos Henrique

Day 7

Day 7 starts and we are about to kick off the semi-finals. As we kick things off we see Elijah Carlton got injured in the final min of his last match and has to pull out. Jason Nolf is back in and he'll be facing Andrew Tackett. The green team gets the news and starts strategizing. The blue tea, does the same and they are trying to give Jason some good advice to avoid submissions. 

The match starts and they start handfighting. Nolf goes for a single leg and finds a way to drive Tackett out of the pit. I think they would have actually stayed in, but the ref stops the match just in case. They get back into it and Nolf is using some vicious snapdowns that almost cause Tackett to face plant. After a few of those Nolf goes for a fireman's carry. He gets in deep and lifts Tackett, but as he does Tackett twists and takes his back. As Nolf completes the takedown Tackett already has his back and starts working the choke in. Andrew Tackett def Jason Nolf via RNC. 

Andrew Tackett is now in the finals and tomorrow we'll see who he's facing. Now we move to the next match which is a lightweight match between Danilo Moreira vs Kyvann Gonzales. Mikey gives both a bit of advice and then sends them on their way. They will each have a teammate coaching them. 

They start out and get right to it with Danilo going for a chain of takedowns that he eventually gets. He tries to pass and Kyvann gets back up. Kyvann almost hits a duck under, but can't quite get it. Danilo then takes him down. Danilo is looking to pass and eventually hits a cross leg/crazy dog pass to side control. He tries a north-south choke, but he he on the edge of the pit and can't laydown flat and Kyvann spins, which allows him to almost take the back. Danilo comes back on top. The passing sweep game continues and Kyvann comes on top. He tries a tripod pass, but easily gets swept. They both stand up and Kyvann hits a nice duck under, but after hitting the ground Danilo reverses him and soon after the round ends. 

Round 2 is about the same, but with more time on the ground. It is very back and forth with each of them having their moments, but neither able to control the match for any long period of time. The round ends and we come to the final round. The last round is more of the same with Danilo getting the takedown and trying to pass. Kyvann sweeps at some point and tries a bodylock pass, but can't get it. Danilo gets back on top and tries a pass. The pass causes Kyvann to try to turtle and Danilo catches him in a darce. Kyvann is showing good defense and Danilo can't tighten the choke and they ride out the last min with Danilo trying to get the finish and Kyvann hanging on. 

Danilo Moriera def Kyvann Gonzales via dec

Day 8

Here we are at what I assume is the final day. This will determine who is going to fight in the finale for the new UFC BJJ titles. First we have Carlos Henrique vs Isaac Doderlien and then Davis Asare vs Andy Varela. The show starts with Mikey doing some non-specific coaching with Isaac and trying to be fair and not coach against his other team member. He does the same thing with Carlos next. After a short time they get straight into the match. 

They start off and Isaac pulls guard. Isaac is aiming for the legs and gets a pretty good bite at one point on an ankle lock, but can't finish. Carlos later ends up passing the guard, but can't hold Issac. Issac tries inverting and spinning under into a crabride. Carlos stands to get away and Isaac follows him and they fall to the floor. Carlos slips away and they go back to Isaac looking to sweep and leglock and Carlos looking to pass until the round ends.

The second round starts and it is more of the same. Isaac inverts into a berimbolo position, but Carlos sees it coming. He blocks it and Isaac gets a bit stuck. Carlos starts looking to isolate an arm while Isaac is stuck in an inverted position and after a few seconds he does. Carlos drops back into an armbar and Isaac scrambles to defend, but it is getting deeper. Carlos cranks it and it looks really bad, but Isaac doesn't tap. After a few more seconds Isaac screams and the match is stopped. 

Carlos Henrique def Isaac Doderlien via armbar.

Afterwards Isaac and Carlos are both screaming and Carlos seems to feel really bad about it and Isaac is obviously in bad shape. Carlos Henrique will be facing Danilo Moreira in the finale.

Next up we have Andy Varela vs Davis Asare. Andy talks about having faced Davis before and won't be surprised by what Davis throws at him. Mikey is coaching Davis and seems to be coming up with a new gameplan for him, so we'll see how that works out. 

The first round starts and Davis immediately jumps guard which seems to suprise Andy. Davis locks on an inverted armbar that looks pretty good, but Andy escapes. Davis goes for it again and it looks even tighter this time, but Andy doesn't tap and manages to escape. Davis is working his closed guard, but can't really get started, but Andy isn't doing anything. Davis tries to go for a flower sweep, but Andy shuts it down. Davis switches to a triangle that looks good, but Andy shrugs it off and then tries a double under pass, but can't get it. After that the round ends. 

The second round was much less eventful, with neither man really getting anything done. Davis pulled guard again, but couldn't really get any sweep or sub attempts. Andy didn't do much better though, with only 1 or 2 pass attempts that weren't close. 

In the 3rd thing start off just like the other 2. Davis is playing from bottom and suddenly Andy drops back on a leglock and has a good bite, but Davis easily defends the entanglement. Davis starts working some butterfly guard and it looks fairly effective, but then Andy shoves him down. Andy turns up the heat and his passing pressure causes Davis to turtle. As he does Andy catches him in a front headlock, which he converts into an anaconda choke and that is all she wrote. 

Andy Varela def Davis Asare via anaconda choke.

Andy Varela will face Andrew Tackett in the finale. 

Stats

 

• Most Action Packed Match - Andrew Tackett vs Aaron Wilson (35)
• Most Watchable Match - Andrew Tackett vs Aaron Wilson (84)
• Most Action Packed Fighter - Andrew Tackett (20.83)
• Most Watchable Fighter - Andrew Tackett (48.66)

Overall

This was a really good season and actually much better than I expected. If you're looking for drama you're not really going to get it here, but if you want grappling action you'll get all you can ask for. I think it did a good job investing people in the athletes, but more importantly showed the BJJ can be entertaining. Perhaps I'm just the target audience, but I thought the matches were exciting and there wasn't really a bad match the whole season. Many of the matches were really good and the submission rate was 66.6% which is amazingly high. Everyone came out to fight and for the most part showed their skills and heart. I can't wait for the finale and hope those matches are as good as these were.