The full lineup has just been revealed for the upcoming absolute grand prix that’s set to take place on Submission Underground 24. The 8-man tournament has been devised by the promotion in order to seek out the most worthy challenger for the current reigning absolute champion, Mason Fowler. This was pretty much the same procedure that they put in place the last time they found themselves with an incredibly dominant champion, Craig Jones. That’s actually how Fowler himself got his shot against Jones that ended up with him winning in EBI overtime and walking away with the promotion’s title.
After Fowler made his seventh successful title-defense against Kyle Chambers at SUG 23, he’d effectively ran out of clear-cut deserving challengers and the return of the absolute grand prix seemed like the best approach. Perhaps the strongest favorite to win the grand prix will be Roberto Jimenez, as he comes into the tournament with the experience of making it to the finals of the first edition before falling short against Fowler. Pedro Marinho and 10th Planet’s resident EBI OT expert Kyle Boehm also feature in the event and the pair will likely be the most likely out of the remaining competitors to emerge victorious.
There are also a number of lower-profile competitors who will be more than capable of providing the upset, just as Fowler did back at SUG 15. CTA’s Renato Tagliari and Tanner Weisgram are two comparatively unknown BJJ black belts, but both of them will represent difficult challenges for whoever they come up against in the opening round. As is customary for Submission Underground, the lineup also features a number of experienced MMA fighters like Adam Smith, and a pair of UFC veterans in Jim Alers and Ronny Markes.
The full Submission Underground 24 event including the absolute grand prix will be available to watch live on UFC FightPass on June 27th, click here to subscribe and watch.
