Fight to Win 142 is Stacked With Elite Black Belts
Fight To Win 142 remains in Dallas Texas for another week following F2W 139,140, and 141 that were also held in Dallas. The 142 card is loaded with talent including matchups between Gabi Garcia and Kendall Reusing, Lucas Valente Versus Mateus Gabriela and Dante Leon versus Johnny Tama. Below we dive into each fighters resume and why these matches are worth tuneing in for.
Gabi Garcia Versus Kendall Reusing
Gabi Garcia has taken time off from competition since her historic 4th ADCC title in the woman’s +60kg division back in September of 2019. The 4* time weight and absolute IBJJF world champion looks to return to the Fight to Win stage after nearly 8 months since her last appearance. In her last Fight to Win victory at F2W 112 she defeated Hillary Vanornum via choke, going 1-1 in the promotion in 2019. Garcia ended 2019 with a Kimura victory over Carina Santi in the finals of ADCC 2019. Gabi has a position first game, although she has shown that she can submit opponents at the highest level making her Black Belt debut in 2008 Garcia has 11 years of Black Belt competition expirence entering this matchup.
Kendall Reusing is the current (2019) IBJJF No-Gi Super-Heavyweight and Absolute champion and closing out both divisions with her teammate Jessica da Silva Oliveira. She is the +60kg 2017 ADCC North American Trials silver medalist, and placed second at the UAEJJF Grand Slam, in LA in 2019. Reusing has amateur college wrestling expirence and won a state title in high school while living in California. Reusing has routinely shown off her Judo in matches at the ADCC trials, opting to counter body locks with Harai Goshi. Although the smaller fighter going into this matchup Reusing has shown that she works at a consistently high pace for the Super Heavy division, this could possibly play a factor under the Fight to Win ruleset.
Lucas Valente Versus Mateus Gabriela
Lucas Valente the 2019 IBJJF Lightweight Silver Medalist takes on Mateus Gabriela the the 2019 IBJJF Featherweight Champion on this card as well. Mateus Gabriela has been in rare form since earning his black belt in 2018 winning a Black Belt World Title his first year at Black Belt. These two have never faced each other in their short time at Black Belt, with Lucas also being promoted in 2018. This matchup much like the Leon Vs Tama matchup previewed in the next section of this article pits world medalists from a weight class apart against each other. This style of matchmaking is something that we have been seeing more frequently with the rise of frequent superfight cards. It gives fans special matchups that we typically do not see during regular (Season) matchups in the majors at IBJJF, or AJP.
Both athletes have amassed impressive Black Belt resume to date with Lucas having no recorded submission losses at Black Belt. Gabriela also has been nearly impossible to submit at Black Belt only having one recorded submission loss at Black Belt to Cobrinha Junior. A submission loss he would later avenge in spectacular fashion, with an armbar that took Cobrinha Junior out of competition for some time at the IBJJF Pans in 2019. Also at 2019 Pans he would defeating then IBJJF World Champion Shane Jamil Hill-Taylor in the finals of the event. This is a matchup that is sure to move the rankings.
Dante Leon Versus Johnny Tama
Dante Leon and Jhonny Tama are both current (2019) IBJJF No-Gi world champions. Both men won their respective weight divisions at the 2019 event with Dante taking gold over fellow GFT member Jaime Canuto at Middleweight, and Tama taking Lightweight over Ygor Rodrigues the weight class below. These two men have history at Black Belt with Tama taking a referees decision over Dante at World Series of Grappling 2 in 2018.
Since his first match, Dante Leon has submission wins over Mateus Lutes and Edwin Najmi, at Kasai and a decision victory over Renato Canuto also at Kasai Pro. A Guillotine win over Isaque Bahiense at Leon’s most recent Fight to Win appearance (129). Back to back wins at GrappleFest over Marcio Andre, and the 2019 -66kg, 4th place, 17 year old, Atos prodigy Tye Ruotolo. Dante also earned 4th in the -77 kg division at ADCC 2019.
Last time we spoke to Dante at Kasai Pro 7 in Dallas (You can view the interview here) he talked about his preparation for specific professional superfight matchups versus tournament style matches. How winning a Black Belt world title opens up more fun matchups for him, and his willingness to move up in weight classes to take interesting matchups.
With the back takes and kneebar game of Dante as seen in the photo below and the kneebar victories secured by Dante in his King of The Mats Championship run this matchup is sure to bring action to Dallas.
Johnny Tama has jumped back onto the Fight To Win stage quickly only taking a one week break from Fight to Win events. After his impressive back and forth leg lock battle that saw him take a decision victory over Ethan Crelinsten at Fight to Win 139. The No-Gi Lightweight IBJJF 2019 World Champion is no stranger to the Fight to Win stage with 5 appearances in the last ~18 months. Known for his leg lock game and infamous Tama lock nearly 50% of Tama’s submission wins at black belt come by way of leg lock. Tama has no losses via leg locks at the Black Belt level showing that Tama is no stranger to the leg lock game, especially after his performance against Crelinsten less than two weeks ago.
Fight to Win 142 Preview in Closing
This card is stacked with world class level talent. These matchups are sure to influence and shift the rankings of each respective athlete in their ranked division. With the recent cancellation of all IBJJF events until further notice professional BJJ events such as the one in this preview and ones previewed this week on the Grappling Rewind Podcast #133 (Available on all platforms and at the link below) will be the most consistent way for athletes to fight up in the rankings and shoot for the number #1 ranked slot.
Written By: Maine Miller