Yesterday, the four legendary Jiu-Jitsu competitors working as coaches for PGF World Season 6 chose their teams through an auction draft. Each coach has 10,000 PGF points to spend in an auction draft to assemble their five-competitor teams. Most coaches spent more than half their budget on their first picks. But by the end of the auction, every team was full and they were ready to start the PGF World 6 regular season in earnest.
PGF Season 6 Draft Results
The four PGF World 6 coaches truly are legends of Jiu-Jitsu. Roger Gracie is a 10-time IBJJF world champion. He’s the only person to double gold at ADCC in his weight class and in the absolute category, finishing every opponent with a submission. Rigan Machado was an undefeated champion from age 14-21. He racked up more than 365 competition wins, medaling in the ADCC and was a IBJJF Pan champion in both his weight class and open weight divisions.
Jean Jacques Machado is the instructor for both Joe Rogan and Eddie Bravo. In competition, he won an ADCC championship, then won silver in subsequent years both in his weight class and in the absolute division. He was inducted into the ADCC Hall of Fame in the 2024 class. Finally, Dean Lister was the first American to be inducted into the ADCC Hall of Fame. He won what many consider the triple crown, having won his weight class, the absolute division, and the super fight in the ADCC World Championships. These legends all attempted to assemble the best teams possible with their 10,000 PGF point budgets.
First Round – The Budget Busters
Many considered the top tier of competitors to be the best bet for garnering guaranteed points for teams. The PGF World 6 coaches agreed, with most spending more than half their budgets on their first pick. When top-ranked PJ Barch took the stage, the bidding started hot and heavy. Very quickly, they surpassed the anticipated 4,000 mark, but then they hit 5,000. Eventually, Dean Lister and his Black Rifle Coffee Company Team secured ‘The Butter Panther’ for their squad, with a 5,200 PGF Point bid.
Not to be outdone, the next two picks went for even more than Barch. The Epic Roll Team, helmed by Roger Gracie, picked up Andy Varela for 5,300 points. Rigan Machado and his 1st Phorm team drafted world champion Renato Canuto for 5,300 points as well. To round out the first round, Jean Jacques Machado and the XMartial Squad were able to pick up multi-season PGF Champion Elijah Carlton for 4,400 points – a bargain by comparison to the other first round picks.
Steals of the Draft
While fans may disagree on which one was the biggest, most concur on the top three steals of the PGF World Season 6 draft. In only the second round, Rigan Machado and the 1st Phorm team might have made the pick of the draft by winning the ATOS product, black belt Daniel Sathler. Sathler, a young up-and-coming competitor who has multiple wins over other PGF World 6 competitors, went for a serious bargain at 1,100. By getting Sathler at such a bargain, Rigan Machado set the 1st Phorm team up to pick exactly who they wanted from the rest of the draft.
While Sathler was truly a bargain, Jean Jacques Machado and his XMartial Team got Ben Eddy for even less at 1,000 to fill their third roster spot. Ben Eddy has one of the most dangerous guards in Jiu-Jitsu. While other rule formats allow competitors to stay at a distance or dance around Eddy’s guard, the PGF World ruleset, with it’s bias towards offense and engagement, will not. Eddy has guaranteed at least four hindulotines (a rubber-guard guillotine) which would add 24 points to his team’s totals and set him up nicely for a post-season berth.
Finally, many long-time PGF World fans believe Jean Jacques and XMartial scored yet another steal of the draft in season 6, by winning defending PGF World 170lb Champion David Evers for only 200 PGF Points. While not active on the national Jiu-Jitsu competition scene, Evers submitted all opponents on his way to his PGF Championship. He has freakish strength to be able to threaten opponents even when the should be safe, but he also has the intelligence (former NASA rocket scientist/engineer) to maneuver his opponents into positions where he can finish them.
The Full Team Rosters
Fans wanting to see all the drama, bidding action, and interviews with the athletes and coaches can catch all the action on YouTube here. After all the dust settled from the bidding, here are your rosters:
Team Epic Roll – Coach Roger Gracie
- Andy Varela – 10th Planet Las Vegas
- John Combs – Sapateiro Top Team
- AJ Agazarm – Gracie Barra
- Matt Elkins – 10th Planet Birmingham
- Kevin Sherrill – Atlanta Top Team/LHM
Team Black Rifle Coffee Company – Coach Dean Lister
- PJ Barch – 10th Planet South Bay / 10th Planet Freaks
- Max Hanson – Adamas/Pedigo Submission Fighting
- Mike John – 10th Planet Orange
- Samson Phommabout – Sierra MMA
- Jamie Carnall – Avila BJJ
Team 1st Phorm – Coach Rigan Machado
- Renato Canuto – Hybrid Jiu Jitsu
- Daniel Sathler – ATOS
- Kevin Beuhring – 10th Planet Atlanta
- Cam Hurd – Silver Back/Ascend Nova
- Jett Thompson – The Forge BJJ/Watkins Wrecking Crew
Team XMartial – Coach Jean Jacques Machado
- Elijah Carlton – 10th Planet Atlanta
- Davis Asare – New Wave Jiu-Jitsu
- Ben Eddy – 10th Planet Austin
- David Evers – Flux MMA / Mushin Jiu Jitsu Academy
- Nathan Haddad – Combat Core Sports / Helio Soneca BJJ
With the teams set, the live action will begin today at 4pm Pacific Time. Fans can check out the regular season here. Each night over the next four days, fans will have a chance to watch 30 matches. Competitors will have three matches a night in a bid to earn the most points for their teams and themselves. The regular-season championship team will win $100,000. The top eight point scorers will make the post-season tournament. Hosted on UFC Fight Pass, the post-season tournament will decide who is the overall PGF World 6 Champion, earning both the title and an additional $20,000 for themselves. Fans can check out the regular season schedule here. With the stage fully set, all that remains, as they say, is to play the game.
