When Third Coast Grappling first came onto the scene, they emphasized that they wanted to make Texas its own jiu-jitsu hotspot like California or New York. With the coronavirus shutting down competitive grappling across the world, Texas has been among the states to loosen some restrictions early, and for better or worse, the “third coast” has indeed become the place to host BJJ events. Fight 2 Win has already hosted multiple events in Dallas, and Who’s Number One is also planning a Texas-based event. But Houston locals are also looking forward to the return of their hometown promotion, which will be coming back with a bang.
On June 6, 3CG will be hosting their first event since the pandemic put a temporary halt on contact sports. The competition will be a kumite-style event with a few superfights thrown into the mix (including a kids’ tag-team match!), and the promotion has done the work to include up-and-coming locals and black belt world champions in the bracket.
Having undergone a few changes — most notably including the loss of Lucas Valente and addition of Gabriel Arges — the bracket is finally finalized, and we can look forward to a stacked event worthy of a comeback tournament. The final list of competitors for the eight-man -180lb bracket includes Roberto Jimenez, Jaime Canuto, William Tackett, Gabriel Arges, Gustavo Batista, Manuel Ribamar, and Jake Watson.
The inclusion of Arges, a multiple-time world champion takes this card to the next level and adds another level of intensity to the right side of the bracket. He has a solid chance of meeting Batista, another highly decorated world champion, in the second round of the tournament. On the other side, all eyes will be watching to see if young upstarts Tackett and Jimenez (who has had a very successful black belt career so far) will be able to win their first matches against the accomplished Ribamar and Marinho to face each other in the next round.
Promotor Ryan McGuire expressed his feelings about 3CG’s big return. “Emotions are high but all positive. We have a lot of great energy around us and I know personally, I feel like I did when we first started this thing. We have a lot of new challenges ahead with these run of shows due to COVID-19 and the ever changing climate around that, but we are confident we can do what’s needed to be done to throw a safe but FUN show come June 6th. Long story short #jiujitsuisback and we are happy to just be a part of it.”
The winner of the tournament will receive $10,000, and there will be a limited live audience present for the event.
Third Coast Grappling: Kumite will stream live on FloGrappling on June 6 from Houston, Texas.
