Combat Jiu Jitsu Worlds Featherweights Preview

Combat Jiu Jitsu Worlds is back! For Eddie Bravo’s first event of 2020 he will be bringing together sixteen of the best Featherweights who are brave enough to risk getting slapped into submission. The event will feature a wide variety of competitors as some newer competitors are joined by last year’s Combat Jiu Jitsu Bantamweight World Champion Richard Alarcon and two legends of Japanese MMA, Hideo Tokoro and Masakazu Imanari. Below is the countdown show going through some of the highlights for each and every competitor at this year’s big event:

This is probably one of the closest editions of The Combat Jiu Jitsu Worlds we’ve ever seen. First there’s the ex-MMA fighters with a wealth of experience like Masakazu Imanari, Hideo Tokoro, Eddie Fyvie, Pablo Alfonso. They’re not the only competitors with MMA records but they’re the only ones with ten or more fights, where that level of experience can play a factor during the tournament. Realistically, Imanari and Tokoro are the ones that have a decent chance of making it through this bracket and with them both being on the wrong side of 40, they might make it through a round or two but are unlikely to take home the title.

Some of the lesser-known competitors have a surprisingly good chance of making an impact here too. Gabriel Daffron might not be a household name but he had a good run at last year’s Combat Jiu Jitsu Worlds that included beating Nick Pace and Ben Eddy and if he can replicate that performance, he might do even better now. Tom Halpin is also pretty unknown outside of Great Britain but the Irishman is no joke. He might have lost out to Pablo Mantovani in the first round of ADCC 2019 and to Tye Ruotolo at Grapplefest 7 last year, but he should be able make it through at least the first round here.

The real favorite here is still Richard Alarcon however. He did it last year and he stands a good chance of doing it again this year to become the first Two-Weight Combat Jiu Jitsu World Champion. He had an unfortunate end to 2019 when he lost his chance to become Polaris Lightweight Champion to Ashley Williams in a short match, then shortly afterwards he was knocked out early on at No Gi Worlds by Joao Miyao. Alarcon has already proved himself welcome among elite competitors though by beating the likes of Jon Calestine and Gianni Grippo, this field of competitors should have more than a little trouble keeping up with him.

Full Competitor List

  • Richard Alarcon Jr.
  • Jordan Holy.
  • Gabriel Daffron.
  • Eddie Fyvie.
  • Pablo Alfonso.
  • Sheridan Moran.
  • Tom Halpin.
  • James Partridge.
  • Victor Galdon.
  • Elias Anderson.
  • Geoff Real.
  • Demian Balderrama.
  • Hideo Tokoro.
  • Masakazu Imanari.
  • Sam Hardy.
  • Kevin Berbrich.

Combat Jiu Jitsu Worlds Superfights

Luis Quinones vs Cody Owens
Jm Holland vs Samson Phommabout
Elvira Karpinnen vs Brooke Mayo

For tickets to the live event in Los Angeles, California on March 8th, click here.

Alex Lindsey

Alex Lindsey is the managing editor here at Grappling Insider. Originally starting training in MMA in 2008, injuries and university slowed progress until he decided to put on a gi for the first time back in 2015.

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