Grapplefest 16 Full Results and Highlights: Prelims and Main Card

July 4, 2023July 4, 2023 Lucy Wynne

Grapplefest 16, hosted at its home venue in Liverpool, Fusion Nightclub, was back with a bang on its latest show on July 1st. 32 superfights took place on the show’s 16th edition, with a title match between British IBJJF World Champion black belt medalist Vanessa English and Australian ADCC trials champ Adele Fornarino.

Grapplefest is a promotion whereby you get more than enough submission jiu jitsu matches to be worth your money; with explosive match ups from the prelims right up until the main card displaying grappling matches from blue belt up to black belt.

There was of course some standout matches on the card such as powerlifter Mark Macqueen choking MMA legend James Thompson unconscious, Nadine Tavares and Peyton Letcher’s skilled back and forth full of submission attempts and the U60kg title match between Vanessa English and Adele Fornarino; where the two black belts high skill-level really shone through, with English getting herself out of some crazy positions and sub attempts which the whole crowd thought would end the match. Fornarino’s forward aggression took the edge on English, giving her the title via a decision win.

The match between upcomer Bart Dubbledam and veteran Kev Corkhill was also a highlight of the show with the purple belt Dutch IBJJF No-Gi World Champion silver medalist getting the decision win on the black belt grappling veteran. From the same team, Haven BJJ, head coach Daniel Degroot also had a highly anticipated match against Grapplefest vet Tommy Yip; both black belts are super technical so it was a strategic back and forth in which Degroot took home the decision win back to the Netherlands.

Lastly, American prodigy William Tackett took on British veteran Bradley Hill and got the win via a standing closed guard ezekiel, a finish no one saw coming. Then the main event saw a nail-bitingly close battle between ADCC silver medalist Gabriel Sousa and B-Team’s Damien Anderson, where Sousa came out with the decision win.

Main Card Results:

Gabriel Sousa defeats Damien Anderson via Decision
William Tackett defeats Bradley Hill via Ezekiel Choke
Adele Fornarino defeats Vanessa English via Decision becoming the under 60kg Grapplefest champion
Daniel Degroot defeats Tommy Yip via Decision
Nadine Tavares defeats Peyton Letcher via Decision
Mark Macqueen defeats James Thompson via Rear-Naked Choke
Jack Grant defeats Taylor Pearman via Decision
Tom Bracher defeats Phillipe Geyer via Decision
Paul Lukowski defeats Dave Weston via Decision
Bart Dubbeldam defeats Kev Corkhill via Decision
Saul Rogers defeats Danny Hughes via Decision
Jack Cronin defeats Luke Johnson via Decision

Prelim Results:

Sean Stewart defeats Jordan Cooper via Heel Hook
Paul Webb defeats James Bland via Decision
Martin Wong defeats Gary Priestly via Decision
Joel Amador defeats Asher Mirsadeghi via Decision
Amy Derwanz defeats Bianca Rosca via D’arce Choke
Jordan Kirk defeats Andrew Heseltine via Triangle Armbar
Evan Reid defeats Lewis Pennie via Triangle Armbar
Ross Widdup defeats Jo Foy via Triangle Armbar
Mark Hibbard defeats Graham Mealand via Rear-Naked Choke
Fraser Clarke defeats Matt Fitz-James via Kimura
Ashley Wagg defeats Adam Bennett via Armbar
Marco Bryden defeats Gary Morris via Decision
Christian Amador defeats Afif Khan via Heel Hook
Kieran Fletcher defeats Declan Williams via Decision
JJ Ekubia defeats Ryan Graham via Arm-Triangle Choke
Lily Wayman defeats Lana Corina via Decision
Youssef Boukassem defeats Ali Khan-Murphy via Decision
Connor Edwards defeats Jamie Wright via Rear-Naked Choke
Chris Jelf defeats Ryan Brady via Rear-Naked Choke
Rob Lynskey defeats Barry Munro via Toehold

The Grapplefest 16 replay is available to watch now on Glistrr.