The next Quintet event is on the 27th of October, and Fight Night 5 is a lightweight tournament. Where different from the usual (combined weight) 430kg weight limit, the teams total at 360kg.
Going by how Fight Night one played out, the lesser difference between the combatants’ weight predicts fast exchanges and more evenly matched bouts.
For someone who enjoys watching no-gi but is new to Quintet, this event might provide a gentler entry into the world of five on five tag-team grappling.
In anticipation, I met up with the captain of ‘Team Wolf’ Michihiro Omigawa. He told me about his the athletes he picked to join him at the fight night in Tokyo, his current plans and what his hopes for the future are.
He picked one of his regular training partners Ito Seeichiro first.
‘Ito has an entertaining style. He is very acrobatic and is always looking for the finish. He might look cute on the outside, but inside he is a real wolf.’
Omigawas second pick was Shinji Morito. The current JBJJF top-ranked adult black belt.
‘My good friend Shuichiro Katsumura told me about Morito. I did not know much about him at first, but I trusted Katsumuras advice and invited him to the team. After meeting him, I realised that his trainer was a senior (senpai) at my university’s judo club. That means we have the same judo DNA.’
The third pick was Grant Bogdanove.
‘Grant messaged me directly and asked to be on the team. I saw his performance at the ZST GTF4 grappling tournament. He was one of the lighter heavyweights but still managed to go all the way to the final where he lost to the bigger Igor Tanabe. Grant is athletic and has a strong standup game. He is also very submission oriented.’
The final ‘mystery’ member who was the last Quintet Fight Night5 participant announced was the two-time Olympic gold medalist Masato Uchishiba.
‘I have a long history with Uchishiba. He actually got the medal that I wanted (Athene’s gold). I lost to him in the qualifiers, he ended up going to Athenes, and I became a fighter. He started training jiujitsu a few years ago. We talked about doing the Quintet together before, so here he is.’
After introducing his team, Omigawa told me that his preparations are going great and that he is looking forward to the 27th.
‘I am happy to face team ‘Carpe Diem’ in the first round. Beat them and then win the finals.’
The other teams are Hideo Tokoro’s ‘Tokoro Plus α 2nd’, Caol Uno’s ‘ONEHUNDRED’ and the past lightweight tournament winners ‘Carpe Diem’.
But wait, there is more.
Igor ‘Fatninja’ Tanabe is facing one of the most impressive prospects in BJJ, Haisam Rida in a ‘Special single match’.
Tanabe right now is the hottest thing on the Asian Bjj circuit. Rida gained a lot of fame with his Quintet debut two years ago. Since then he has only gotten better with wins over 10th planets Kyle Chambers and Tanabe’s teammate Sergio Rios.
There is also a ‘Special Iron Man Match’ between former MMA fighter and pro wrestler Takashi Sugiura and the Big Boss himself Kazushi Sakuraba. The match will be an exhibition match under Greco-Roman wrestling rules.
The full Quintet Fight Night 5 event is available on UFC FightPass, click here to subscribe and watch.
