It wasn’t the tidal shift in BJJ that Dana White had initially promised, but Fight Pass Invitational 5 was a solid night of grappling with a lot of entertaining matches.
The event was originally set to be headlined by a Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz grappling match, but injuries to both fighters scrapped that. Then Gordon Ryan was set to face Mason Fowler, but an injured rib took him off too. St-Pierre and Ryan still showed up for commentary duties over the night.
Make sure to check out our UFC Fight Pass Invitational 5 play-by-play and results post for all the nitty gritty detail from the night. We’ll just set things up and let the video highlights do the rest of the talking.
In the main event, three time IBJJF world champion Nicholas Meregali submitted ADCC absolute champion Felipe Pena in overtime with a rear-naked choke. Pena was so tired by the end that he immediately tapped after Meregali got a hand under his neck.
In the co-main, Nicky Rodriguez aka Nicky Rod beat Yuri Simoes via points, and the main note from this match was how strange the Fight Pass Invitational scoring system is. Inactivity was heavily penalized with point deductions, but pretty erratically and unevenly. Even the commentary team noted that the negative point system didn’t make much sense. After being down on points early, Rodriguez would mount Simoes multiple times for the win by a 3 to -2 score.
He then called out Gordon Ryan, suggesting the two men put up $50,000 each with the winner taking the $100,000 spoils. The callout (and match highlights) below:
Check out all the finishes from further down the card:
Fowler def. Rida by submission (kimura)
Hugo def. Manasoiu by submission (americana)
Clay def. Monteiro by submission (heel hook)
From the undercard:
Rocha def. Silverio by submission (rear naked choke)
Wilson def. Guzman by submission (triangle armbar)
Goldy def. Mazza by submission (triangle armbar)
