Jits Pro League 1 is scheduled for November 8th, 2025 and we’ve now announced the full lineup for our inaugural event. The event is being held at Newport MMA Academy in Newport, Wales and the main event is a 5-man middleweight league tournament with a £1,000 grand prize. There’s also 4-person teenage (14-17) leagues for both male and female competitors, both with a £350 prize courtesy of one of our key sponsors: Soultaker Fightwear. They’re also providing a £250 bonus for ‘Submission of the Day’ and a pair of £250 bonuses for ‘Match of the Day’, while BJJ Fanatics have provided everyone with a FREE instructional to celebrate our inaugural event here.
There’s a series of 7 preliminary card matches featuring a range of blue, purple, and brown belts from around the UK; leading right into the teen tournaments. The male bracket features Travis Hern from Amos Martial Arts, Caius Davies from UGrapple, Matheus Galdino from De La Riva Leigh, and the unaffiliated Muhammad Ramazanov. Then in the female bracket Lillian O’Leary is also coming in from Amos Martial Arts, Lucia Ford is representing Newport MMA, Iman Basit is flying the MAT Academy banner, and Leia Dawson is representing Renowned Jiu-Jitsu York. Between these 8 young prospects is multiple titles from all around the world in both MMA and Jiu-Jitsu, and each one of them has a very bright future ahead.
Then in the main event, some late replacements just a matter of days before the event shook things up a little but every man is still a top contender. They have multiple Polaris appearances and ADCC British titles between them, and they’re all right on the verge of the highest level in Europe. American transplant Tom Cellamare is the most experienced man in the bracket with competition appearances on both sides of the Atlantic, representing Draig under Ashley Williams. Lake District BJJ’s Will Kaye is the only other member of the original lineup for Jits Pro League 1, and he also happens to be the youngest BJJ black belt in the UK.
Then the first replacement who came in on just a few days’ notice is Flo Martial Arts’ Franck Takoudjou, a 20 year-old brown belt who is already one of the top BJJ competitors to ever come out of Cameroon. Then Slovakian purple belt Hugo Dvorecky joined the bracket and although he’s going to be the lightest man competing, he’s an incredibly exciting grappler training with some of the best in the country at London Grapple. Finally, Carson Coles stepped in to replace his teammate at Roger Gracie Bristol just a few months after facing Owen Jones at Polaris 32 and took him all the way to a decision.
Tickets for Jits Pro League 1 are available here, and the full event will be streamed on the Jits Magazine YouTube channel.
