Gabriel Sousa put his title on the line against Gianni Grippo at Toro Cup 24 on March 4th, 2023 and he put on an incredible performance to retain it. Although Sousa was the reigning champion, Grippo is actually the more accomplished of the two grapplers. Sousa has won several AJP Tour events and an IBJJF European no gi championship, but Grippo is a two-time IBJJF no gi world champion and a six-time Pan champion with three titles in both gi and no gi. The pair served as the main event for Toro Cup 24 and after plenty of action across several matches, the crowd was eager to see these two elite competitors face off.
Gianni Grippo acted first and sat to guard as soon as he made contact with his opponent. Gabriel Sousa walked straight into half-guard and after a brief gripfighting exchange, he disengaged and started to work passing open guard instead. Sousa tried a knee-slice and ended up in half-guard again, before returning to standing after a few seconds. He got much closer to a pass on his next attempt and even managed to get both of Grippo’s legs to one side of his body, but Grippo showed excellent guard retention to force Sousa back to standing again.
Grippo’s inversions were making life hard for Sousa and he got a little bite on an armbar attempt but it wasn’t close enough to cause any real concern. Grippo worked from the knee-shield position briefly before transitioning to closed guard in order to cope with Sousa’s relentless pressure. He kept attempting a hip-bump sweep and even came close on one occasion but Sousa was very heavy on top and shut it down every time. Grippo attacked an arm off a reaction to the hip-bump and tried to transition to the legs when Sousa stood to defend, but he couldn’t get a good enough grip to stop him escaping.
Sousa launched into a pass right to north-south before transitioning to side control on the opposite side in order to secure the position. Gianni Grippo threw up a few buggy choke attempts but Gabriel Sousa was keeping a block against his hip and staying high to defend while maintaining control. Grippo was slowly making space and Sousa tried to use it to step into mount but ended up being pushed all the way off instead. Sousa tried another knee-slice pass and ended up battling against Grippo’s knee-shield half guard once again, before he managed to get back to closed guard.
Grippo shot up a triangle choke attempt but Sousa was already halfway out by the time he connected his legs, so he stood up to shake him off. A brief return to knee-shield saw Grippo attempt an armbar, with Sousa disengaging again to defend before rushing back in this time, stacking his opponent. After Grippo turtled and re-guarded, Sousa found himself back in the knee-shield position once again. Sousa tried to pass heavily for a while but returned to standing after he couldn’t find success.
Gabriel Sousa dived in for another pass from standing but Gianni Grippo was there to shut it down and drag him into the knee-shield with just a few minutes left on the clock. After inverting, Grippo got close to a leg attack but Sousa disengaged to escape. Sousa turned up the intensity and tried to pass left and right, before getting sucked into Grippo’s knee-shield and having to fend off another inversion. He tried to pressure through it but Grippo locked up closed guard to contain him.
Grippo went back to working the hip-bump but Sousa secured an arm-triangle grip to counter it. Grippo threatened a buggy choke from inside closed guard to force him to give up the grip, before transitioning to a shoulder-crunch attempt. Sousa freed his arm and remained in Grippo’s closed guard for the dying seconds of the match. The pair had fought to the end of the time-limit and now they would be going to sudden-death overtime to decide a winner.
Grippo shot in quickly but Sousa kept his distance, before trying a shot of his own. Grippo prevented the takedown from being scored but decided to stay seated and play off his back. Sousa tried to pass straight away but was forced to disengage when Grippo inverted to attack the legs. He didn’t waste a second though and was straight back to blast knee-slice passing, attempting to burst through Grippo’s guard in one attempt. After a few unsuccessful passes, Sousa got very far on one and managed to pressure his way through Grippo’s last hook to secure side control and score points to win in sudden-death overtime.
In the end, Gabriel Sousa was declared the winner by decision and he successfully defended his title against Gianni Grippo at Toro Cup 24.
