UFC FightPass Invitational 3 is set to take place on December 15th and the promotion has just confirmed the full lineup of elite grapplers who will be battling it out in an absolute tournament for the grand prize of $25,000. The eight talented men who have been announced will no doubt produce a ton of exciting matches, but that’s not all. The event will also feature a pair of exciting superfights to headline the card as well. Former UFC Bantamweight world champion Miesha Tate will be taking on BJJ legend Beatriz ‘Bia’ Mesquita and Gordon Ryan will be looking to avenge one of only a tiny handful of losses that he has in grappling competition when he faces Vinny Magalhaes for the second time.
The first two events that the promotion staged were both under team grappling rulesets and this time they’ve decided to shake things up a little by allowing athletes to compete solo instead. One of the favourites to take home the grand prize will be Nicky Rodriguez, the silver medallist from the over 99kg division at ADCC 2022. His first matchup will be against someone he defeated in the absolute division of that same event, 10th Planet black belt Andy Varela. On the same side of the bracket, fellow 10th Planet star Richie Martinez will be facing the smallest man in the tournament, New Wave Jiu-Jitsu’s Oliver Taza.
The other side of the bracket will continue the theme of featuring ADCC veterans as Haisam Rida will be coming in fresh off his breakthrough performance to take on Patrick Gaudio. The final matchup of the opening round will see one of Caio Terra’s most talented students, Mason Fowler, facing off against an exciting young prospect in Pat Shahgholi.
UFC FightPass Invitational 3 Absolute Tournament Lineup
Haisam Rida
Patrick Gaudio
Mason Fowler
Pat Shahgholi
Nicky Rodriguez
Andy Varela
Richie Martinez
Oliver Taza
The full lineup and bracket for the absolute tournament set for UFC FightPass Invitational 3 was announced in a post to the promotion’s official Instagram account:
