Flograppling put on their biggest Who’s Number One event ever featuring the biggest names in both men’s and women’s BJJ, and the results speak for themselves. The card started quickly with two bright, young athletes making big statement performances against more experienced opposition. William Tackett continued his recent streak of wins by locking up a Kimura over Jason Rau and he was quickly followed by Nicky Ryan, who was facing off against an NCAA Champion Tony Ramos in a battle between Wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu. The open ruleset that Who’s Number One employed was a lot more open than Ramos was used to and it showed as Ryan locked up a Heelhook to force him to tap in under 30 seconds.
Next up was a pair of women who narrowly missed each other at Third Coast Grappling Kumite 7, Nathalie Ribeiro and Luiza Monteiro. Both this match and the next one between Geo Martinez and Paulo Miyao were gritty back-and-forth battles where both competitors had moments of success sprinkled throughout. In the end, Ribeiro and Martinez did enough to get their hands raised in two matches that really could have gone either way. William Tackett’s long-time training partner Kody Steele got a big step up in opposition when FloGrappling set him up against IBJJF World Champion Dante Leon. Leon put on a clinical display en route to winning a Unanimous Decision against the Brazilian Fight Factory coach.
Elisabeth Clay was up next against one of the most intimidating women in BJJ, Gabi Garcia. There wasn’t much in the way of submission attempts from either woman but Garcia was awarded the victory, seemingly down to her maintaining top position for the majority of the fight. Craig Jones took on Roberto Jimenez in the Co-Main event and showed the difference in outcome when his opponents are forced to engage with his guard, further justifying his potential absence from Submission Underground events. Jimenez found himself defending several entries into his legs from Jones and the third time proved the charm when he succumbed to an Inside Heelhook after around two and a half minutes.
The final match saw a meeting of two men who took home three ADCC 2019 gold medals between them. It was a long match that saw Gordon Ryan pull guard right off the bat, with Matheus Diniz staying low to work his passing game. Diniz worked to half-guard and negated Ryan’s Kimura-grip to try and pass through his knee-shield. Around the 5-minute mark, Ryan got underneath him and started attacking a leg but Diniz escaped quickly. He turtled up and Ryan started attacking the back, but Diniz managed to recover quarter-guard, but Ryan passed to mount relatively quickly. He spent what felt like forever preventing Diniz from escaping and working to isolate an arm before the referee reset them in the centre after getting too close to the edges of the mat.
Ryan was working for a head-and-arm choke but Diniz finally managed to escape and initiate a scramble that resulted in the pair standing. Diniz returned to trying to pass low, but gave up a leg during another scramble and Ryan took full advantage by locking up a quick heelhook in a match he was winning from start to finish.
Who’s Number One Full Results
William Tackett defeats Jason Rau via Submission – Kimura
Nicky Ryan defeats Tony Ramos via Submission – Heelhook
Nathalie Ribeiro defeats Luiza Monteiro via Split Decision
Geo Martinez defeats Paulo Miyao via Split Decision
Dante Leon defeats Kody Steele via Decision
Gabi Garcia defeats Elisabeth Clay via Decision
Craig Jones defeats Roberto Jimenez via Submission – Heelhook
Gordon Ryan defeats Matheus Diniz via Submission – Heelhook
The full Who’s Number One event replay is available to watch on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch.
