Over the weekend, Third Coast Grappling held a qualifier competition for their second big event in July (which has recently gained even more hype following an announcement that it will be moved to a massive 2,000-person venue in the heart of downtown Houston). Although this particular event didn’t have any “BJJ celebrities” on the card, it was innovative in other ways — most notably, providing 500 free tickets and slashing VIP table prices in half.
The move proved to be a success, and promoter Ryan McGuire was pleased with the end result, saying, “We wanted to make jiu-jitsu exciting and fresh, and with our ruleset and structure, we are raising the bar in terms of grappling becoming a spectator sport. If you make it compelling, if you make it exciting, people will tune in. You can check out the replay and other info on our official Facebook and Instagram pages.”
The blue belt +180 lb category saw Douglas Hernandez vs Nathan Garlike in the finals. Hernandez ultimately won in overtime by taking his opponent’s back.
The purple belt -180 category featured Austin Oranday and William Tackett, with Tackett winning the category with a rear naked choke.
The results for the superfights were as follows:
Iesha Alladin defeats Mackenzie Manteris in OT via points
Kody Steel defeats Justin Renick via submission
Andrew Tackett defeats Josh Walker via points
Diego Almeida defeats Dinko Bektic via points
You can watch a replay of the whole event here.
