Fight to Win 138 The Deepest Card in the Promotions History

With less than a week until showtime, Fight 2 Win finalized and announced its deepest card in promotion history. Fight 2 Win 138 will take place Saturday March 14 in Dallas, Texas. The stacked megacard will feature a main event matchup between Gianni Grippo and Matheus Gabriel. The night’s co-main event features IBJJF World Champion and former Bellator Champion Rafael Lovator Jr. vs 2019 ADCC silver medalist Vinicius “Trator” Ferreira.

Major Cancellations Across the Sport 

In a week with sports organizations from the NBA, NCAA, MLB and NHL, all the way down to youth recreational leagues cancelling and postponing events, sport jiu-jitsu has not been entirely immune. The IBJJF has canceled multiple events over the next few weeks including its 2020 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship. In the world of professional grappling, 3rd Coast Grappling will continue with its card this weekend, but with local competitors only. 

In the midst of these cancellations, Fight 2 Win as a promotion plans to remain operational in Dallas for its March 14 card. Now, with many more eyes on Fight 2 Win 138 this weekend, the promotion could potentially deliver its biggest show in front of a larger than average audience.

Main Event: Matheus Gabriel vs Gianni Grippo for the F2W Black Belt Lightweight Gi Title

After collecting IBJJF Pan and World titles in 2019, Checkmat’s Matheus Gabriel will look to kick off 2020 with a new title to add to his collection. The 22-year-old Brazilian will take on Marcelo Garcia star pupil Gianni Grippo. 

Gabriel will compete for the Fight 2 Win Black Belt Gi Championship after collecting 4 F2W titles as a brown belt in 4 separate categories. After being promoted to black belt in June 2018, Gabriel has registered notable wins Edwin Najmi &Johnatha Alves at the Spyder Invitational, and Geo Martinez at ADCC 2019. In IBJJF action, Gabriel defeated Jamil Hill-Taylor on penalties to win 2019 Pans gold and submitted Marcio Andre with an arm lock to capture his black belt world championship.

Grippo has been very active in early 2020, competing at IBJJF European Championships, as well as the Atlanta and Miami Open. Grippo is undefeated competing for F2W, but has not competed for the promotion since October 2017 where he claimed a decision win over Justin Rader in a thrilling main event matchup. Since then, Grippo has won gold and bronze at Kasai Pro, but a majority of his competition has been with IBJJF.

Co-Main Event: Rafael Lovato Jr vs  Vinicius Ferriera for the Black Belt Gi Light Heavyweight Title

Another Marcelo Garcia black belt will be in action in the night’s co-main event, as Vinicius “Trator” Ferriera takes on former jiu-jitsu and MMA champion Rafael Lovato Jr.

Lovato Jr has become increasingly active once again on the jiu-jitsu scene since he revealed in 2019 a rare brain condition will prevent him from fighting in MMA for the foreseeable future. He has since relinquished the Bellator Middleweight Championship and has taken on big names in professional grappling -- defeating Jake Shields at Polaris and Geo Martinez at the Jiu Jitsu World Festival before falling to Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu in an epic match at the final SubStars event in February. With his MMA title gone, Lovato hopes to reclaim F2W gold with a win in Dallas on Saturday.

Meanwhile, “Trator” Ferreira had an incredibly busy 2019, winning gold at IBJJF nogi pans with a 4-2 win over Keenan Cornelius and nogi worlds where he submitted Eliott Kenny with an Estima lock. Aside from his two championship runs, Trator put on an impressive showing as a 2019 ADCC finalist before running into Gordon Ryan. Ferreira is looking to rebound after dropping a decision to ADCC gold medalist Kaynan Duarte at F2W 136.

 

Other Big Matches on the Card

Also featured on this card are Vagner Rocha vs Mike Perez, Geovanny Martinez vs Ethan Crelinsten , Yago Desouza vs Jaime Canuto.  The cards features total of 30 superfight matches, of both international champions and local talent.