Kenta Iwamoto has just saved the day for Who’s Number One 22 by stepping in to replace Nicky Ryan in his welterweight title-fight with Mica Galvao on February 9th, 2024. It’s a huge opportunity for Iwamoto and it’s definitely a hard-earned one, as he’s established himself as one of the most exciting grapplers in his weight class over the last few years. He’s an ADCC veteran just like Galvao and although he didn’t manage to make it as far as Galvao did at ADCC 2022, he was very impressive against JT Torres.
Mica Galvao hasn’t been the welterweight champion at WNO for that long either, and it’s not hard to imagine that Kenta Iwamoto might be able to spring a surprise on him. He first claimed the belt by putting on an electric performance across two matches in a tournament at Who’s Number One 20: Night of Champions, which took place just 3 months ago. Despite the short amount of time since he became the champion Galvao has already made his first title-defense, beating Kody Steele by decision at WNO 21. Galvao didn’t waste any time planning the next match of his time as the welterweight champion either.
Nicky Ryan stepped on the mats immediately after that match to announce that he was going to be the next challenger for Galvao. Unfortunately that wasn’t meant to be, as Ryan has suffered an undisclosed injury and will no longer be able to make the date. This might have been his last chance too, as Galvao has already revealed that he will be moving up in weight after this match and competing at middleweight instead. That’s one more reason that it’s a huge opportunity for Iwamoto too, as it might be the last chance he gets to add Galvao’s name to his resume.
FloGrappling announced the news that Kenta Iwamoto was stepping in to replace Nicky Ryan against Mica Galvao at WNO 22 in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
