PGF World Season 8 has just begun with the promotion’s customary draft and the four coaches selected their teams on June 25th, 2025. There was a twist this year, as the bidding now has a direct impact on the competitors themselves. Whatever amount the coaches ended up bidding on them would be their base salary for the season, meaning that there was a huge incentive to sell yourself well. Each of the four coaches had $15,000 to spend on their entire team of five grapplers, meaning an average of $3,000 per competitor with a guaranteed minimum of $1,000 put in place before the bidding started.
PGF World Season 8 Draft Results
There are several different elements in play when the PGF draft takes place, and they all work together to determine how much each grappler goes for. Obviously every coach wants the best grapplers in the 20-man lineup, but beyond the favorites they might have differing opinions on who the other contenders are. They also tend to drive up the price on competitors they don’t actually want, and that can end up backfiring. Then once the draft reaches the later stages, the money is drying up and some teams are left with competitors they may not have chosen if they had managed their money better.
Who Broke The Bank?
The biggest purchase of the day was the early favorite, PGF veteran Jett Thompson. He went for over half the total budget that Robert Drysdale had, and that massively limited his remaining options early on. After spending $7,700 on Thompson, Drysdale was left looking for as many bargains as he could after that. Not far behind him was JJ Bowers, who clearly impressed everyone at the CJJ lightweight world championship late last year. Mica Cipili spent $6,600 on him and although he’s pretty underrated in general, he may well end up being a real contender as the season progresses over the coming weeks.
Raphael Ferreira went for $6,400 after sparking another tense bidding war, and it was a surprisingly high amount for the young prospect. He has relentless pace and is a natural submission-hunter though, so he could end up being a real threat for Team Renato Canuto despite the experience advantage his opponents will have. The final big buy was another veteran competitor, Christos Papadelos, who did a great job of selling himself before the bidding ban. It clearly worked well for him too, as he was the final member of Team Andy Varela and he took up their entire remaining budget of $5,300.
The Biggest Bargains
Everyone loves a good bargain but it was clear that the coaches all did their research, as there weren’t many to be found during the PGF World Season 8 draft. Renato Canuto stole the show in this area though, as he got two competitors for way less than they were worth. Top prospect Matt Masch went for just $2,500 despite being one of the ones to look out for on most people’s early predictions, while Canuto also managed to get the craziest bargain of the day in Jordan Wirth. Wirth is an unorthodox grappler who hunts for the finish non-stop and is dangerous from everywhere, but Canuto only had to spend $1,100 to get him.
Andy Varela got another young prospect for a surprisingly low price, as it only took $1,600 for him to secure the services of New Wave Jiu-Jitsu representative Landon Elmore. He’s pretty underrated right now and was clearly flying under the radar for the coaches too, but Elmore will be someone everyone else might regret letting go for so little. The fourth coach Mica Cipili got a pair of great bargains in Zack Schneider and CJ Murdock, two strong grapplers who are going to be almost impossible to finish. Schneider went for $2,300 and Murdock went for $1,100, both a little less than what most people would have predicted.
PGF World Season 8 Team Lineups
Team Robert Drysdale
Jett Thompson – $7,700
Anthony Gojani – $1,000
Anthony Molina – $1,500
Juan Martinez – $3,800
Dominic Lobo – $1,000
Team Renato Canuto
Matt Masch – $2,500
Jordan Wirth – $1,100
Kris Olivo – $3,500
Raphael Ferreira – $6,400
Brady Hylton – $1,500
Team Andy Varela
Brady Branscum – $3,500
Mike John – $3,200
Armin Bruni – $1,400
Landon Elmore – $1,600
Christos Papadelos – $5,300
Team Mica Cipili
Zack Schneider – $2,300
JJ Bowers – $6,600
Robert Blackledge – $1,200
CJ Murdock – $1,100
John Chandler – $3,800
The full PGF World Season 8 draft is available to watch on the promotion’s official YouTube channel:
