The stacked 99kg division at ADCC has taken its first step to finding its champion, and, fear not, Gordon Ryan is in the mix.
While some victors in this round were expected (a first-round defeat for Ryan, Vinny Magalhaes, or Lucas Barbosa would have been a huge upset even at this level of competition), some were surprised by James Puopolo’s victory against Tex Johnson. Puopolo, though a very formidable grappler, was a late add to the event along with Dan Martinez after Keenan Cornelius and Dillon Danis pulled out at the last minute. With just a few days to prepare, Puopolo managed to defeat Johnson, who has submitted both Felipe Pena and Craig Jones in competition.
You can view the original brackets here. Below are your winners for round 1 and the matches you can expect to see in the quarter-finals:
Ryan defeats Hodgkinson via submission; Spriggs defeats Andrew via submission.
Quarter-Finals: Ryan vs. Spriggs
Barbosa defeats Tepponen via points; Gaudio defeats Avdoyan via points.
Quarter-Finals: Barbosa vs. Gaudio
Magalhaes defeats Martinez via points; Puopolo defeats Johnson via points.
Quarter-Finals: Magalhaes vs. Puopolo
Sousa defeats Barauna via referee decision; Gazola defeats Ardila-Ibarra via points.
Quarter-Finals: Sousa vs. Gazola
We’ll continue to provide you with ADCC updates live from Anaheim, CA, but you can watch the action yourself live on FloGrappling!
