Video: Rene Sousa taps UFC middleweight contender Andre Petroski at Fury Grappling 7
Elite no-gi competitor Rene Sousa submitted UFC middleweight Andre Petroski with a straight ankle lock at Fury Grappling 7.
Fury Grappling 7 took place on Saturday, May 27, and featured a number of top MMA fighters and no-gi grapplers competing in submission-only matches.
Notably, in the co-main event, 10th Planet black belt Rene Sousa picked up an impressive win over UFC middleweight contender Andre Petroski, who had previously been undefeated in Fury Grappling.
Sousa pressed the action early and often, leaping into guard pulls and immediately looking for his attacks and constantly trying to enter into the MMA standout’s legs. Through the first several minutes, though, Petroski was largely able to avoid danger by disengaging and backing out of Sousa’s guard.
Eventually, Sousa was able to invert under his opponent and enter into a matrix-style leg entanglement. Typically, Sousa would have latched onto a heel hook, but because the rules prohibited any twisting leg locks on current UFC athletes, he transitioned to a straight ankle lock to secure the tap.
Check out video highlights from that match below.
Sousa first made waves in 2022, thanks to his appearance on FloGrappling’s competition reality show “Who’s Next.” The 10th Planet product impressed in his qualifying match, submitting future ADCC Trials winner Jay Rodriguez with a buggy choke. Sousa would go on to score the first-ever buggy choke in IBJJF black belt competition.
In February, Sousa earned arguably the biggest win of his career when he submitted veteran submission hunter Kieran Kichuk at Who’s Number One.
Petroski, though still a purple belt in BJJ, is nonetheless a talented and powerful grappler. A contestant on season 29 of The Ultimate Fighter, he has compiled a 4-0 UFC record since his promotional debut in August 2021, and two of those wins have come via submission.
In the evening’s main event, hometown hero Joe Pyfer picked up a decision win over longtime MMA and UFC veteran Gerald Meerschaert. That victory comes just several weeks after Pyfer knocked out Meerschaert in a middleweight MMA bout at UFC 287.
