Submission Hunter Pro 87 is scheduled for October 15th, 2023 and we’ve put together a full preview of each black belt match on the main card of the event. This is the second event that the promotion is going to be streaming on UFC Fight Pass, after the huge success of Submission Hunter Pro 84 earlier this year. That event featured an 8-man absolute grand prix tournament whereas this event will instead consist of a series of superfights between exciting and talented grapplers. There are 6 black belt matches on the main card, shortly after several colored belt matches on both the main card and the preliminary card.
Submission Hunter Pro 87 Full Preview
Ricardo Evangelista v Bruno Bastos
Ricardo Evangelista is an experienced competitor who has won several IBJJF majors and experienced a ton of success on the AJP Tour circuit over the years. Bruno Bastos on the other hand is a veteran of the sport who has stood on the podium of the IBJJF World Championship over a decade ago, and gone on to have a great career as a Masters competitor after that. Evangelista is several years younger and should be able to come away with the win in the main event of Submission Hunter Pro 87 thanks to having youth and a little more recent high-level success on his side.
Austin Oranday v Michael Esquivel
The co-main event features two game competitors and Submission Hunter Pro veterans who will definitely be putting on a show for the fans. Austin Oranday has been in good form lately whereas Michael Esquivel went out in the opening round of the absolute grand prix at Submission Hunter Pro 84. It should be a tough match and either man could win, but Oranday should be the favorite here.
Damion Oranday v Cameron Graves
Austin Oranday’s brother Damion will also be competing at the event and as a previous medalist from the IBJJF No Gi World Championship, he’s always going to be a difficult opponent for anyone. He will be taking on veteran professional MMA fighter Cameron Graves and although Graves is going to be very tough to submit, Oranday should be able to come away with the win here.
Jake Heffernan v Alex Black
Gracie Barra Woodlands coach Jake Heffernan is also a professional MMA fighter and he’s been able to show his submission skills off in the cage multiple times in the past. Alex ‘Bet On’ Black has a little more experience and has competed for a number of different regional MMA promotions over the years, racking up twice as many submission finishes as Heffernan. This match could really go either way, but it’ll produce some fireworks regardless of who wins.
Ruben Alaniz v Thomas Mancha
Ruben Alaniz and Thomas Mancha are both exciting grapplers with a ton of experience under their belt, and both men have appeared on the Submission Hunter Pro stage prior to meeting one another. Alaniz is the head coach at Wolf’s Den MMA and both men have shared the mats with some of the best competitors around. Although it’ll be close, Alaniz stands out as the most likely winner here.
Roger Narvaez v Nonso Ebede
There’s another experienced head coach competing at Submission Hunter Pro 87, as No nso Ebede takes the lead at Haven Jiu-Jitsu. He’s a Judo brown belt and it’l be interesting to see how his standing grappling game fares against UFC veteran Roger Narvaez. Although he retired from MMA in 2019, Narvaez has still kept active in grappling and should end up winning this match against Ebede.
Colored Belt Matches
Brock Wagenaar v Michael Olivares
Danielle Guevara v Esther Garwood
Anthony Narvaez v Mike Medina
Josh Leonard v Dominic Bailey
Lynnette Villanueva v Hope Holmes
Sabrina Lourenco v Mia Grawe
The full Submission Hunter Pro 87 live event will be broadcast on October 15th, 2023 on UFC Fight pass, click here to subscribe and watch.
