UFC FightPass Invitational 3 took place on 15th December and the promotion brought together eight elite grapplers to compete in an absolute tournament that delivered some fantastic results. Alongside that, there was also three superfights headlining the card that brought even more action. Mason Fowler put on an impressive performance in the absolute tournament by submitting both Pat Shahgholi and Patrick Gaudio in regulation time to meet Luke Griffith in the final. Griffith did very well too, defeating Andy Varela in EBI Overtime before submitting Oliver Taza in the regulation period. The final was a tough match between the two but in the end, Fowler won by fastest escape time in EBI overtime.
In the superfights, UFC FightPass Invitational 3 continued to deliver the same level of exciting results. Dan Manasoiu was up first against Ricardo Evangelista and he made incredibly short work of the more experienced grappler, submitting him in less than a minute. Next up was a battle between an former UFC world champion and a multiple time IBJJF world champion, Miesha Tate and Bia Mesquita respectively. Mesquita ended up winning relatively soon after the match entered EBI overtime, locking up a rear-naked choke. The main event was originally set to be Gordon Ryan and Vinny Magalhaes, but unfortunately Magalhaes was forced to withdraw just a matter of days before.
Magalhaes was replaced by Nicky Rodriguez, and it was clear from the start that Rodriguez was much better prepared for Gordon Ryan than he was when they last met at ADCC 2022. The pair battled it out for practically the entire length of regulation time in Ryan’s guard before moving on to EBI overtime. After the first two rounds of overtime there was still no decisive finish, and Rodriguez had a bit of time to work in his final attempt. He ended up securing a very tight choke that was over Ryan’s lower jaw and started wrenching hard as the time counted down. Ryan pointed to the timekeeper and said something before tapping, and it was clarified that he was alerting the referee to the fact that the time had run out. As a result Ryan was declared the winner due to fastest escape time in EBI overtime, as the available time had already expired prior to him tapping.
UFC FightPass Invitational 3 Full Results
Gordon Ryan defeats Nick Rodriguez via Decision – Fastest Escape Time in EBI Overtime with 0:45 Time Difference
Bia Mesquita defeats Miesha Tate via Submission – Rear-naked Choke at 1:18 of EBI Overtime
Dan Manasoiu defeats Ricardo Evangelista via Submission – Pressure at 0:56 of Regulation Time
Absolute Tournament
Quarterfinals
Patrick Gaudio defeats Haisam Rida via Submission – Triangle Choke at 6:14 of Regulation Time
Mason Fowler defeats Pat Shahgholi via Submission – Armbar at 4:58 of Regulation Time
Luke Griffith defeats Andy Varela via Submission – Rear-naked Choke at 0:25 of EBI Overtime
Oliver Taza defeats Richie Martinez via Submission – Heel Hook at 5:36 of Regulation Time
Semifinals
Mason Fowler defeats Patrick Gaudio via Submission – Triangle Choke at 2:32 of Regulation Time
Luke Griffith defeats Oliver Taza via Submission – Rear-naked Choke at 7:08 of Regulation Time
Final
Mason Fowler defeats Luke Griffith via Decision – Fastest Escape Time with 0:21 Difference in EBI Overtime
The full UFC FightPass Invitational 3 event replay, including all of the above results, is available to watch on UFC FightPass, click here to subscribe and watch.
