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Renzo Gracie To Face Matt Hughes in Grappling Superfight at ADCC 2017

Renzo Gracie To Face Matt Hughes in Grappling Superfight at ADCC 2017

 

The much awaited grappling superfight that was supposed to happen at ADCC 2015, will finally be held at ADCC 2017 in Finland: Matt Hughes vs Renzo Gracie.

This won’t be the first time Gracie and Hughes competed against one another, as the two fought UFC 112 four 6 years ago in a 170-pound match up that saw Hughes outclass Gracie and finish with a third-round technical knockout.

Hughes has already competed in ADCC, as the former UFC champion placed fourth in the U99KG category at ADCC 2000, where he beat Ricardo Almeida and Jeremy Horn, before losing to Jeff Monson.

Renzo Gracie had to pull out of the 2015 superfight due to a serious knee injury.

The news was announced on ADCC’s Official website:

ADCC is proud to announce one of its next superfights of the Worlds 2017. Two legendary MMA fighters will meet again, but this time in ADCC event.

Renzo Gracie and Matt Hughes who fought each other at UFC back  in 2010, will face again at the upcoming ADCC World Championship on 22-24 Sep. 2017 in Espoo Metro Areena, Helsinki, Finland.

 

ADCC Federation has announced its upcoming 2017 World Event is going to be held on 22-24 September, 2017 in Helsinki, Finland. The event will take place at the famous Espoo Metro Areena.

ADCC also stated that the next 2019 World Event will most probably be in Tokyo, Japan and is yet to be confirmed.

The ADCC (Abu Dhabi Combat Club) Submission Wrestling World Championship is the most prestigious grappling competition in the world involving professional athletes who have been successful at the highest levels of jiu-jitsu, wrestling, judo, sambo, shooto and mixed martial arts. The rules of the event disallow strikes while promoting grappling and submissions.

 

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The competition was created by Sheik Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the son of the former United Arab Emirates president Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, together with his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor Nelson Monteiro. Royler Gracie characterized this as the beginning of “the modern era of submission grappling”.

Thousands of Submission grappling tournaments around the world use elements of the ADCC format and rule structure. To date, the great majority of ADCC champions have had experience studying the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, whose rules are the most similar to. However, there have been notable exceptions to this, such as Japanese Sanae Kikuta (Judo/Shoot Wrestling), South African Mark Robinson (who was a champion in judo, Greco-Roman and Freestyle wrestling, Sumo, and power lifting), and American Mark Kerr (Collegiate/Freestyle Wrestling).

ADCC Events

Year Venue
1998 United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi
1999 United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi
2000 United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi
2001 United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi
2003 Brazil São Paulo
2005 United States Long Beach
2007 United States Trenton
2009 Spain Barcelona
2011 United Kingdom Nottingham
2013 China Beijing
2015 Brazil São Paulo

 

The venue in Finland:

Länsi_auto_areena_-_Espoo_Blues