Hulk Shows Why He is Still At the Top of His Division

Barbosa Ends Jimenez Black Belt Undefeated Streak

Lucas “Hulk” Barbosa submitted Roberto Jimenez by armbar in the main event of Fight 2 Win 137 Friday night in Denver, Colorado. 

With the win, Barbosa put an end to a hot streak Jimenez has been riding in early 2020. Jimenez, who earned his black belt at the end of 2019, began his year with a superfight win against Keenan Cornelius at Who’s #1 and a submission victory over Felipe Andrew in the IBJJF Kansas Open where he earned double golds. But the 19-year-old Alliance Prodigy was outmatched by the Black Belt World Champ and Atos powerhouse.

The match was pure action from start to finish, earning the pair fight of the night honors. To kick off the match, the two engaged in an aggressive battle for control, with grip fighting, takedown attempts by each competitor, a guard pull attempt by Jimenez and eventually a successful takedown by Barbosa. Hulk began trying to work a North-South choke, but Jimenez scrambled out and after the two ended up standing again, Jimenez pulled closed guard and began working submission attempts from bottom before Hulk passed his guard. Hulk applied heavy pressure from top, but Jimenez was able to regain closed guard after another scramble. While in guard this time, Jimenez turned up the submission attempts including an very close loop choke attempt which had Barbosa scrambling this time. Hulk then took Jimenez down one more time after this final scramble. Once on the ground, Barbosa isolated Jimenez’s far side arm with a kimura lock before sitting back and transitioning to an armbar finish.

On a night that saw the highest submission rate in the history of the promotion at 76.2%, the main event culminated in an established competitor submitting a rising phenom for his first loss  under the Fight 2 Win promotion and his first since recently earning his black belt.

Michael Liera defeats Marcio Andre by Decision to win Fight 2 Win Welterweight Gi Championship

Michael Liera Jr improved his undefeated record to 6-0 with a decision victory over Marcio Andre to become the Fight 2 Win Welterweight Gi Champion. 

The two almost flew off the mat in the first 10 seconds of action, with Andre closing the distance to attempt a take down, and Liera using that momentum to pull guard and attempt to sweep Andre as they almost went off the side of the stage. After the reset, Liera and Andre battled for position. Liera eventually settled back into single-leg x guard, which he used to control Andre for a majority of the match. He also used the position to set up leg attacks -- submission attempts which contributed to his judge’s decision victory. Andre had a difficult time passing Liera’s guard, who seamlessly transitioned from single-leg X to lasso and back. But while he was able to stave off Liera attacking from bottom, Andre was unable to advance his position, let alone attack submissions of his own leaving him visibly frustrated at the end of the match as the judges ruled in favor of Liera. In the end, his relentless offense and multiple submission attempts earned Liera a unanimous decision win.

Other Fight 2 Win 137 Results

In other Fight 2 Win action from Denver, Marcus Wilson submitted Noah Thomas by D’arce Choke earning submission of the night for the black belts.  Eric Coe earned submission of the night for the brown belts with a Clover Leaf. Also, Ricky Furioso Johnson’s decision win over Casey Pratt earned the pair fight of the night honors for the brown belts. Former Bellator fighter, and EBI competitor Brooke Mayo became the F2W Purple Belt Nogi champion with a heel hook win over Jaidyn Mueller.