The UFC is reportedly preparing to announce a brand new grappling league, sources close to the situation have confirmed to Jits Magazine. The world’s biggest MMA promotion has already been investing in professional grappling for quite some time now, broadcasting a number of major promotions like Quintet and Polaris on their own streaming service. The success of UFC Fight Pass really can’t be understated, and a large part of that is down to the grappling events that it offers. Seeing the opportunity for growth, the promotion decided to take a more direct approach by creating the UFC Fight Pass Invitational in 2021 and putting on grappling events themselves.
The UFC Fight Pass Invitational started out as a Quintet-style team grappling event initially, but it wasn’t long before they pivoted to becoming a superfight event. By the time their third event came around, they were already featuring some of the best grapplers in the world against one another. While UFC Fight Pass Invitational has already established itself as one of the biggest grappling promotions around, it seems like the UFC might not be content with simply being one of many. According to our sources, they’re positioning themselves to rival the biggest no gi grappling organizations in the sport like ADCC and now the Craig Jones Invitational.
The new grappling league is expected to be announced during the live broadcast of UFC 309, where Jon Jones returns against Stipe Miocic in the main event. Our sources were able to confirm that some of the world’s best competitors have been offered exclusive contracts to compete in the new league, with several of them already accepting. So far, Mikey Musumeci is the only one that has been publicly confirmed by Dana White as signing an exclusive contract with the UFC. It’s not clear yet when the promotion’s first event will take place, but it sounds as though it’s going to be one that people won’t want to miss.
