Bangkok Breakdowns

  A million dollars is life changing money, money that is scarcely seen in bjj competitor’s purses. You can win an IBJJF world championship and still be down $150 just on entry fees. With 10k just to show up Craig Jones has given his athletes a great opportunity to showcase grappling to the general public. Be it hobbyist practitioners looking to get into watching the sport or mma fans dipping their toe into the sport, the fact that the event is free to watch (unlike the egregious flograppling sign up price) means that anyone is able to watch the biggest and baddest competitors on the planet scrap it out for the possibility of a million dollar prize. With so many competitors it can be difficult to keep track of who is competing and who to watch, so I am writing this article as a guide for would be watchers to give them an idea of the stars, what they will be looking to do, and how they match up with each other. For this momentous event in grappling history I present to you a complet...

  Shamil Gaziev served as a good litmus test to see which fans actually follow prospects and which ones just check their tapology records. With the whole “Dagestani takeover” narrative many fans were touting Shamil Gaziev as a potential future heavyweight champion. With a record full of first round and early second round finishes, it would seem like the predictions of future title contention were warranted. However, when most people actually watched his fight in his main event with Rozenstruik they realised that he was lacking in the technical side of the sport, but more importantly, his cardio was atrocious, eventually quitting on the stool due to exhaustion. While his performance at the ufc apex did not live up to the hype, his severe lack of cardio actually brought a lot of new fans in his support. Shamil Gaziev had become immortalised as a fighter fans could unanimously rally behind, his terrible gas tank and sloppy technique providing endless entertainment for viewers.  S...

  The ufc is incredibly inconsistent on its criteria for getting a contract. Some fighters will have to battle through a gauntlet of regional opponents just for a chance to fight for a contract on the contender series, while others will just get a call because they happen to be in the area when they need to fill in for a fight. When it comes to hard done prospects there are few examples more prolific than Jordan Vucenic. Jordan “the epidemic” Vucenic has been at the top of the stacked cage warriors featherweight division since 2019. He has beaten a multitude of ufc calibre fighters just for a chance to secure the ufc contract, but due to a loss to an equally hot prospect in Paul Hughes he was abandoned by the ufc. Now, after picking up another impressive win streak of all finishes, the ufc have decided to finally give Vucenic his shot, under the caveat that he makes the near suicidal decision to fight up a weight class one week after his previous fight against the ever dangerous Gu...