This article is part of our week of ADCC 2022 coverage. To get live results, play by play, and commentary, we’ll have a live updates article running all weekend.
Shortly before the best grapplers on the planet hit the mats for the 2022 ADCC World Championships, the promotion had staged an open tournament to allow anyone the opportunity to compete and although the event was a fantastic one featuring a number of high-level competitors, a fight unfortunately broke out during one match. The physical altercation initially broke out between two athletes competing against one another but quickly escalated and eventually involved a legend of the sport and one of their respective coaches, Unity head coach Murilo Santana.
The match in question took place between Ty Freeman from Checkmat and Jeferson Guaresi, who was representing Unity under Santana. During the match the two men were exchanging collar-ties while standing and several of them landed pretty hardly, although nothing was against the rules of competition or even particularly out of the ordinary. After Santana’s student Guaresi landed one too many of these collar-ties, Freeman reacted badly to the impact and immediately decided to start striking Guaresi. He was obviously disqualified from the match as a result of the strikes but showed no signs of stopping and several people around the match rushed over to intervene, including Murilo Santana.
While the majority of the people intervening were attempting to separate the athletes and de-escalate the situation, footage from the event shows Santana lifting his shirt and displaying an object that caused those around him to immediately back away. Early reports have alleged that the object in question was a knife, but it is important to note that nothing has been officially confirmed as yet and the quality of the footage makes it impossible to identify for certain. ADCC Head Organizer Mo Jassim has revealed that both Ty Freeman and Murilo Santana have now received lifetime bans as a result of the fight at the ADCC Open, but did not elaborate on the questions surrounding Santana’s actions.
As the head coach for Unity Jiu-Jitsu, Murilo Santana was due to be a cornerman for his students Mayssa Bastos and Devhonte Johnson at ADCC 2022 after the open tournament and it appears as though he will no longer be allowed to fulfil those duties.
