Watch Quintet Ultra: Craig Jones v Fredson Paixao

Quintet Ultra took place on December 12th 2019 and saw four teams of five MMA-based grapplers representing four of the biggest MMA promotions to ever stage a fight. Teams from the UFC, WEC, Strikeforce and Pride all clashed on one of the biggest stages for professional grappling in a bid to be crowned the champions.

The team representing the UFC were led to victory by the most experienced professional grappler in the tournament, Gilbert Burns. They were aided in their march to the finish line by a stellar performance from a purple belt in BJJ, Sean O’Malley. O’Malley has his next fight booked for March 7th, 2020 against Jose Albert Quinones at UFC 248. Shortly afterward, Burns will also be making his return against another of MMA’s best grapplers, Demian Maia has been set for March 14th, 2020 at UFC Fight Night 170.

The event was marred somewhat by Cub Swanson’s very unfortunate injury when facing Jake Shields. As Shields went to reap the knee, Swanson stood his ground and his knee bent at a horrific angle. He’s currently expecting a relatively long lay-off in order to recover fully. This was only two months after Cub Swanson started to experience a resurgence in his career when he outclassed Kron Gracie on the feet to win a Decision and earn his first victory in five fights.

Prior to the finale of the event, Quintet Ultra also featured three superfights including Gordon Ryan v Aleksei Oleinik, Danielle Kelly v Cynthia Calvillo and the above matchup between Craig Jones and Fredson Paixao. This was shortly after Quintet Fight Night 4, when Kazushia Sakuraba debuted his groundbreaking Ironman rules format, although none of these matches took place at Quintet Ultra.

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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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