The first-ever Medusa Jiu-Jitsu event is set for this weekend, with a number of some of the best grapplers in the world set to compete for the honor of becoming the first-ever Medusa Jiu-Jitsu champions.
The event will consist of two brackets, one of which will take place under Combat Jiu-Jitsu (CJJ) rules and one under EBI rules.
The CJJ bracket will be for the bantamweight belt, with EBI bantamweight champion Beatriz Mesquita coming in as the likely favorite for the division. However, she’ll have to contend with a number of tough opponents if she wants to make it to the top, including CJJ flyweight champion Brianna Ste-Marie and UFC flyweight fighter Gillian Robertson. Also in the running for the title are 2021 Pans bronze medalist Nikki Sullivan, Laurah Hallock, April Parks, and Sophia Nordenö.
The competitors in the strawweight bracket will be competing under EBI rules. In this division, we’ll get to see 2020 Master 1 Euros champion Rita Lynne DeAlba, along with 16-year-old standout Trinity Pun. There’s the opportunity for a rematch here as well — Pun faced off against fellow strawweight competitor Fatima Kline, the latter of whom won their match at the Emerald City Invitational earlier this year. The UFC’s Vanessa Demopoulos will also be in the running for the belt, along with Brittany Way, Celine Haga, and Samantha Villarreal.
The card will also feature a special match between 2019 ADCC silver medalist Ffion Davies and 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu brown belt Jennifer Rivera. We last saw Davies compete (and win) in a superfight against Magdalena Loska at Polaris Squads in 2020, and though she’ll be the clear favorite to win this match, anyone in the jiu-jitsu community should know better than to completely count out a hungry underdog. Rivera, a U.S. Marine veteran, took home silver in her division at No-Gi American Nationals earlier this year and bronze in the open weight class. We’ve been seeing more and more of her recently at events like Subs on the Shore and Fight 2 Win, and though a win against Davies won’t come easily, it would give a huge boost to her career.
Medusa Jiu-Jitsu will take place on Saturday, October 2 in Cancun, Mexico and can be streamed live on UFC FightPass.
