MAY 16, LAS VEGAS, NEGADA, USA. The return of the grappling event – Fight Pass Invitational (FPI) – brought some of the bigger names in jiu-jitsu to the UFC-backed event. The 7th edition of FPI had some of the best matchmaking of the year in matches like Jonnatas Gracie x Jay Rodriguez, Helena Crevar x Aurelie Le Vern, Luke Griffith x Kaynan Duarte Nick Rodriguez x Mason Fowler, while also having a few oddball mismatches like Giancarlo Bodoni x Gabriel Arges or Renato Canuto x Aaron Wilson.
Overall, the event was fun to follow, particularly thanks to matches like Jay Rod x Jonnatas Gracie, an excellent and technical bout on both sides. Constantly looking to move to advantageous positions, Rod from a passing stance and Jonnatas from the butterfly guard, these two put on a show for the fans. Despite Jay’s many attacks, Gracie looked like the superior competitor with many sweeps accomplished on the B-Team product and even obtaining mount.
Another big match was that of South African grappler Luke Griffith and Brazilian Kaynan Duarte. We saw lots of hand fighting from the collar ties from the get-go with Griffith winning the majority of those and eventually getting double under-hooks on Duarte, which was the beginning of the end for the Brazilian. Luke took Kaynan down, straight to the back and finished with the RNC for the upset.
The main event saw a fantastic clash between two of the best in the game. Mike Fowler & Nicky Rod. The CTA athlete, Fowler, opted against wrestling with Rodriguez and instead pulled guard early, looking to find Rod’s legs from the half guard to wrestle up. Sadly for Mason, although he got close to scoring on a number of occasions, Nicky’s scramble ability was too much to handle. Very even up until the end, Nicky Rod’s score came from top half-guard, when he got the underhook and used it to pass to the mount. Mason Fowler ended up recovering his guard but was not able to overturn the score difference obtained from the pass.
UFC FIGHT PASS INV. 7 RESULTS
– Helena Crevar def. Aurelie Le Vern via decision
– Oliver Taza def. Pedro Henrique Rocha via penalty (1) after 0x0 pts
– Piter Frank def. Rafael Domingos via armbar
– Raquel Canuto def. Aislinn O’Connell via 12×0
– Jonnatas Gracie def. Jay Rodriguez
– Renato Canuto def. Aaron Wilson via Kanibasami to inside heel hook
– Giancarlo Bodoni def. Gabriel Arges via RNC
– Luke Griffith def. Kaynan Duarte via RNC
– Renato Moicano def. Cristian Guzman via 7×0
– Nick Rodriguez def. Mason Fowler via 6×0
