Kazushi Sakuraba has just announced that the entire New Wave Jiu-Jitsu team have pulled out of Quintet 4 and will no longer be competing in the event. It’s unfortunate news for the fans looking forward to the event, as the promotion announced a stacked lineup with New Wave as one of the four elite teams. While it’s not uncommon for single competitors to be forced out of Quintet events due to injury or other commitments, it is rare for whole teams to have to withdraw. Sakuraba confirmed that he got the news directly from the team’s coach though:
“Hello, this is Sakuraba. I’ve got an announcement to make. I just got word from John Danaher about New Wave, Team New Wave told us they can’t make it to the event. To all the fans that were looking forward to seeing them, I offer my sincere apologies.”
Sakuraba didn’t make the announcement that New Wave Jiu-Jitsu were withdrawing alone though as he was actually alongside one of the Quintet commentators, Stewart Fulton. Fulton added a little more context to the announcement by explaining that the teams withdrawal actually did come down to a single member:
“John Danaher tells us Team New Wave can’t participate, or one of their members can’t… Yeah, it’s five people but one of their team couldn’t make it so the whole team is out.”
While it’s a shame that the first Quintet event in two years has hit a speedbump during the preparation, it shouldn’t be too hard to find a top team to compete in such a prestigious event. Sakuraba and Fulton even confirmed that they have already had several applications from teams full of high-level competitors and they will be announcing the replacement shortly.
The footage of Kazushi Sakuraba announcing the news that the New Wave Jiu-Jitsu team had pulled out of Quintet 4 was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Quintet:
