Felipe Pena has just been booked to compete against Haisam Rida at the upcoming Who’s Number One 19 event on August 10th, 2023. It’s a superb matchup that joins an already stacked card, even though only two other matches have been confirmed so far. The main event for the night will see Nicholas Meregali return to no gi competition against Kaynan Duarte, with both men looking to get the upper hand in a series of matches between them that currently sits at 2-2. Shortly before that, Ffion Davies will be defending her 125lbs title against Jasmine Rocha in the co-main event.
Every Who’s Number One card so far has been packed with top talent and it should come as no surprise that their latest event is just as exciting on paper. There are always elite grapplers in every single match on their cards, and so far there are 5 ADCC veterans in just 3 matches. Felipe Pena and Haisam Rida both competed in the over 99kg division at ADCC 2022, although they never crossed paths as they were on opposite sides of the bracket. Rida made a huge statement in the opening round by submitting Roberto ‘Cyborg’ Abreu, but couldn’t make it past the quarter-finals after losing on points to Roosevelt Sousa.
Pena managed to make it a little further, as he defeated Josh Saunders by a wide points margin in the opening round and submitted Max Gimenis in the quarter-final. Pena lost on points to Nicky Rodriguez in the semi-final and then elected not to compete in the bronze medal match. Both Pena and Rida competed in the absolute division although neither one of them made it out of the opening round, losing to Tye Ruotolo and Giancarlo Bodoni respectively. It’s definitely an interesting match and a win here would show that Rida is ready for the toughest challenges possible in his division.
FloGrappling announced the news that Felipe Pena had been booked to compete against Haisam Rida on Who’s Number One 19 in a recent post to their official Instagram account: