Submission Hunter Pro 81 took place on January 22nd, 2023 and the event saw New Wave Jiu-Jitsu deliver some fantastic results as a team, led by Dan Manasoiu and Luke Griffith. There was several fun matches spread throughout the card and John Danaher took a pretty big competition team to the event, with six athletes flying the New Wave flag. Landon Elmore, Reese LaFever, and Davis Asare all put in great work during their matches and represented their team well, while Bri Robertson looked sharp after recovering from an ACL reconstruction last year. All four of these competitors will definitely be ones to watch over the next few years.
All of this was building up to the final two New Wave competitors in the main and co-main event. Both Dan Manasoiu and Luke Griffith delivered solid results at Submission Hunter Pro 81, coming off both of them making their ADCC debut at ADCC 2022 last year. They’re used to competing together as well, as they actually won their place at ADCC 2022 at the same edition of Trials. Griffith won the under 99kg division and Manasoiu won the over 99kg division of the ADCC European, Middle-Eastern, and African trials in 2022.
Although both men lost their opening match at ADCC 2022, that experience proved invaluable coming into their matches at Submission Hunter Pro 81. Griffith took on Hunter Newton in the co-main event and managed to submit him with a heelhook while Manasoiu faced UFC veteran Roger Narvaez at the end of the show, submitting the MMA fighter with a nasty-looking rear-naked choke. It’s clear that both men are aiming for big years as they’ve gotten back into competition immediately in 2023, and it’ll be interesting to see how they fare as they gear up for the next wave of ADCC Trials.
Submission Hunter Pro 81 gave fans a night full of exciting results and some action shots of Dan Manasoiu and Luke Griffith securing their big wins were uploaded to the promotion’s official Instagram account:
