Grapplefest is one of the fastest-growing professional grappling promotions in Europe and they’ve put together a fantastic card for Grapplefest 15 that will see two title-fights on April 1st, 2023. The main attraction for the night is a four-man tournament for the newly-vacated under 70kg title that will see Sam McNally, Jeremy Skinner, Keith Krikorian, and Gianni Grippo battling it out. Outside of this tournament another two titles are up for grabs in the women’s under 70kg division and the men’s under 100kg division, but whoever walks away with those titles will only have to win one match instead of two.
The women’s under 70kg title-fight was announced first, and the current Grapplefest champion Rosa Walsh will be defending her title against one of the toughest opponents available for her in Europe. Magdalena Loska is the woman challenging for the belt and she’s already established herself as one of the top female competitors in the continent after winning ADCC trials in 2021.
Loska isn’t the only ADCC trials winner who’s competing for a belt either, as both of the men who have a chance of walking away with the under 100kg title have won that prestigious event. Both men won the second European ADCC trials in different divisions, with Luke Griffith winning the under 99kg division and Santeri Lilius winning in the under 88kg division. Although Lilius will be a little undersized in the matchup, he’s an incredibly tough opponent for New Wave Jiu-Jitsu‘s Griffith and this match really could go either way.
These two title-fights aren’t the only matches announced for the lineup at Grapplefest 15 though, as Griffith’s teammate Dan Manasoiu will also be competing in a match against Mark McQueen. Kaya Rudolph will also get the chance to prove why he’s such a highly regarded prospect when he takes on Ben Bennet, and there’s an exciting match lined up between Ellis Younger and Chris Wojcik.
The news that Grapplefest 15 would feature a men’s under 70kg tournament and two separate title-fights on April 1st, 2023 was announced in a post to the promotion’s official Instagram account: