Dan Manasoiu will be facing off against Victor Hugo in a superfight at UFC Fight Pass Invitational 5 on December 10th, 2023. As a true testament to just how stacked with elite talent that this card is going to be, this match will be serving as just one of the main card matches when it could easily be a main or co-main event on any other night. The promotion has already announced both of the final two matches taking place at UFC Fight Pass Invitational 5 though, and it’s set to be a fantastic event already.
Manasoiu isn’t the only New Wave Jiu-Jitsu representative competing at the event and in fact, both of the other confirmed matched will be featuring his teammates. Gordon Ryan will be facing Mason Fowler in the main event and this represents an interesting new challenge for Ryan despite the fact that he has spent the last few years establishing himself as the best no gi grappler on the planet. Shortly before that John Danaher will be busy cornering Nicholas Meregali as he returns to no gi competition, where he will be coming up against former ADCC world champion Felipe Pena.
This was also supposed to be the event that would see Georges St-Pierre return to professional grappling competition for the first time in almost 20 years. Unfortunately that proposed bout fell through and St-Pierre will not be stepping onto the mats, but he’s still attending the event and working as a commentator instead. Although the rest of the card has yet to be confirmed, if the prior announcements are anything to go by then there will almost certainly be more exciting matches to come.
Victor Hugo announced the news that he would be competing against Dan Manasoiu at UFC Fight Pass Invitational 5 in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
