Urijah Faber has just got a huge submission win in his Combat Jiu-Jitsu match against Jeff Glover in the main event of A-1 Combat 21 on May 25th, 2024. It was a surprising match that seemed to come out of nowhere, and nobody expected it to happen at a regional MMA event. Originally, Faber was going to face his old MMA rival Jeff Curran under CJJ rules as the headline match of the same event but unfortunately Curran had to withdraw at the last minute. Then on just a little over five week’s notice, BJJ legend Glover took the opportunity to replace him and compete in his first grappling match in around 7 years.
Glover started the match in the same fashion he was known for throughout his career, turning his back and lifting a leg in the air to set up an entry to donkey guard. He then successfully baited Faber into committing to a takedown and immediately countered it with a D’arce choke. It was a deep attempt and Faber was in trouble, but Glover loosened his grip when adjusting and Faber was able to force him to bail and stand back up. Faber drove Glover against the cage and he managed to shut down the threat of the D’arce counter this time, before taking him down and scrambling quickly to try to secure top position.
Jeff Glover worked his way back to standing but Urijah Faber jumped on his back as he did so, landing a few strikes in the process. Faber kept control and tried to bring Glover down, before eventually finding his way to full back control with both hooks in. That gave Faber the opportunity to land a few more strikes but Glover used the space to get his back to the mat and recover open guard. Faber tried to use heavy hips to pass while landing more strikes but Glover was able to catch an arm, battling against Faber’s grips to finish an armbar.
Faber did escape pretty soon after and got back to passing, quickly forcing Glover to turtle and opening up the chance for more heavy strikes. Glover rolled through to recover guard but Faber quickly forced his way into half-guard and was able to sit there to continue striking. He got close to a pass at one point but Glover turtled again, allowing him to get one hook in and transition to mount as Glover defended the back-take. Faber brought Glover’s arms high and transitioned to S-mount in order to set up an armbar, but Glover slipped his elbow free at the perfect moment to escape.
Glover took hold of one of Faber’s legs and tried to come up on the single leg but Faber sprawled very heavily to shut that down. He transitioned to attack Glover’s turtle again but this time he trapped an arm in the process and was able to set up the crucifix instead. He wrapped his arm around Glover’s neck and started squeezing on the choke immediately, before locking it in with the second arm in order to get the finish. Urijah Faber got the win by rear-naked choke from the crucifix, a rare finish after a solid performance against a fellow veteran grappler.
A-1 Combat shared the footage of Urijah Faber getting the submission win over Jeff Glover in their Combat Jiu-Jitsu main event match at A-1 Combat 21 in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
