Another great matchup has just been added to Who’s Number One 19 on August 10th, 2023 as Nicky Ryan will be facing off against Rene Sousa on the main card. While Ryan definitely has more experience at the highest level of competition than Sousa, he’s been significantly less active in recent years. He became the youngest athlete to compete at the ADCC world championship at the age of just 16 back in 2017, and has competed there twice more again. The last time at ADCC 2022 also marked the last time he stepped on the mats at all, losing in the first round to Renato Canuto.
While Rene Sousa has never competed at that level before, he’s had plenty of matches against top opposition since the last time Nicky Ryan stepped on the mats. Sousa became a 10th Planet black belt earlier this year, and a win over someone like Ryan would likely be a clear signal that he’s going to make an impact in the next cycle of ADCC trials events. This is actually just the latest in a series of excellent matches added to the lineup, and a battle between these two top competitors wouldn’t look out of place as the main event on any other night. The main event this time around will feature the return of Nicholas Meregali to no gi competition as he looks to settle the score with Kaynan Duarte.
The co-main event is another exciting matchup and it will actually see one of the Who’s Number One titles being put on the line, as Ffion Davies defends the 125lbs belt against Jasmine Rocha. There will undoubtedly be more announcements about the rest of the card in the coming weeks, but we already have another main card fight confirmed anyway. Felipe Pena will be taking on Haisam Rida at the event, which means that B-Team Jiu-Jitsu are going to be out in force.
FloGrappling announced the news that Nicky Ryan and Rene Sousa are due to compete at Who’s Number One 19 on August 10th, 2023 in a post to the official Instagram account:
