Quintet is the world’s most popular team grappling ruleset and it regularly attracts some of the biggest teams in the sport. Each team has to be able to field 5 elite grapplers of varying weights in order to put together a strong team, and for many smaller academies this might not be possible. That’s why the promotion has historically invited large affiliations like 10th Planet, teams built around sponsors like Reebok, or even other grappling promotions like Polaris. Although the promotion has been staging events since 2018, there are still a lot of major teams who haven’t competed and there are several that would make for fantastic additions to the lineup.
Or click here for the ultimate guide to the rules that teams compete under at Quintet events.
5 Teams We’d Love To See Compete At Quintet
Kazushi Sakuraba invented the idea of Quintet in the first place and he’s competed in more of their events than anyone else, often building teams around himself. The other three teams competing in the tournament bracket are more of a mystery and they’ve varied massively between each event. That has left a lot of room for fans to think of dream matchups, and there are dozens of options available if the promotion ever wants to change things up. These are 5 teams that we’d love to see compete at a Quintet event, and some of the competitors that they might be able to field.
ATOS Jiu-Jitsu
Quintet has often attracted older competitors like Sakuraba to join teams in order to compete and with that in mind, ATOS Jiu-Jitsu would be a fantastic team to invite. There’s potential there to coax founder Andre Galvao out of retirement for some fun matches, but even without him there’s some incredible options available. Naturally the first choices would be multiple-time ADCC world champions Kaynan Duarte and JT Torres, both of whom are dominant forces on the mats. Then for pure entertainment value alone, there really aren’t many options better than the Ruotolo brothers, Kade and Tye. Those 5 would make an incredible team but there’s plenty of other accomplished competitors representing ATOS too, like Josh Hinger, Lucas ‘Hulk’ Barbosa, and Andy Murasaki.
Pedigo Submission Fighting
Heath Pedigo has built something fantastic at Pedigo Submission Fighting and he’s garnered a lot of attention from both the BJJ media and the wider fanbase as a result. They have some great talent who are used to winning at a high level like Jacob Couch and Andrew Wiltse, although the latter has been absent from competition for some time. Even if their most successful competitor can’t make it, they have so many promising up-and-coming grapplers like Bird Wiltse and Alejandro Wajner. They originally focused on developing their own team but PSF have managed to attract some top talent to join them over the years too, like ADCC veteran Dante Leon.
Melqui Galvao Jiu-Jitsu
Melqui Galvao has built up a fantastic group of young competitors in Brazil, and Quintet has never actually had any fully Brazilian teams competing before. His son Mica Galvao would be the most obvious pick for the captain of the team, but it would be incredible to watch ADCC 2022 under 66kg world champion Diogo Reis take on some bigger opponents. They have plenty of exciting young competitors to help beef up the team too, like Kaua Gabriel and Nikolas de Souza. The only real issue would be that all of their best competitors are on the lighter side, but that also means that they’re able to come in without cutting any weight and spread the weight-limit available around everyone equally.
Caio Terra Academy
The Caio Terra Academy is a fantastic affiliation that has some of the sport’s top competitors, but the main attraction to having them field one of the teams at a Quintet event is similar to ATOS. Caio Terra might be retired from competition but he’s actually not that old at all, and hasn’t even hit his 40s yet. It’s easy to imagine a fun tournament like this tempting him out of retirement for a special appearance, and the rest of his team would be pretty impressive too. Mason Fowler is an ADCC veteran and Yuri Simoes has won multiple ADCC titles over the years, but these two alone would count for a big chunk of the weight limit. CTA has plenty of lighter competitors to choose from to fill the final two spots and ensure they’d stick within the weight allowed.
ONE Championship
Not all of the teams at a Quintet event are created out of an existing BJJ team, and ONE Championship would be the ideal organization to join a future lineup. Not only is the MMA promotion also based in Asia, but they are actually putting a huge amount of effort into building a submission grappling roster. Not only do they have access to Japanese legends like Shinya Aoki and Masakazu Imanari, but they’ve also brought over Garry Tonon and Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida to develop their MMA careers. Mikey Musumeci is one of the main attractions in their submission grappling division, along with the Ruotolo brothers and Tommy Langaker too.
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