-
Michael Liera Jr. vs Gianni Grippo
Michael Liera received his black belt recently and shows a
lot of promise in the division. He is a student of Andre Galvao and trains with
some of the best jiu-jitsu athletes in the competition scene today, namely; JT
Torres, Keenan Cornelius, and the Mendes Brothers.
Gianni Grippo is a Marcelo Garcia black belt but had spent
most of his time until that point training with Renzo Gracie in New York.
Gianni has been very active in the last year, fighting to an hour-long draw
against Joao Miyao in Copa Podio later in 2014.
These are two of jiu-jitsu’s rising American stars. They are
about the same size - Liera is slightly larger - but this match would be, with
a doubt, high intensity.
- Felipe
Preguica vs Keenan Cornelius
This is a match that will happen soon enough, most likely in
the absolute division of the Worlds or Pan-Ams.
Felipe Preguica is the current heavyweight world champion
after beating Keenan’s coach, Andre Galvao in the finals. He is about the same
age as Keenan and has been on a roll in 2014 with a win at the Copa Podio
Heavyweight Grand Prix, beating savvy competitors like Claudio Calasans and
Luiz Panza.
Keenan Cornelius is one of today’s most exciting grapplers
with one of the weirdest styles and guards. It’s going to be interesting to see
how Preguica will match up against the flexible and long-legged Cornelius.
- AJ
Agazarm vs Lucas Lepri
AJ Agazarm and Lucas Lepri are two of the top lightweights
in the game today. Although Lucas Lepri is the more experienced athlete, AJ’s
speed and energy would make the match very entertaining. It would be a more
evenly matched fight in no-gi, so hopefully, if this does happen at some point in
2015, it will be in rashguards. Perhaps it would make for a nice super fight at
any of the big invitational events like Metamoris, Copa Podio or even the new
Polaris.
- Lucas
Leite vs Andre Galvao
This would be a match for the legends, but both are still
very active. Lucas Leite is a world champion in both gi and no-gi. Andre Galvao
has captured some of the best titles in gi and no-gi as well. Since they are
both still often competing, it makes sense to have these two face each other
before they choose to slow down. This would make for a great super fight and
would be interesting to see who would have the better technique and
conditioning. Andre Galvao is naturally larger but Leite has competed in the
heavier divisions for a while now and would not really feel the effects of
the size difference.
- Yuri
Simoes vs Rodolfo Vieira (no-gi)
These two giants have fought before in the gi with Rodolfo
coming out on top. However, with Yuri’s recent success in no-gi, it would be
interesting to see the two test each other under those conditions. Rodolfo has
mentioned in the past that he actually does not enjoy no-gi nearly as much as
gi, which would really even the playing field for Yuri. Hopefully, this can
happen at either a super fight event or even the ADCC.
