While the crossover freakshow between Mikey Musumeci and Bryce Mitchell naturally got more attention, the real UFC BJJ 11 main event for grappling fans and practitioners was the co-main event title bout between Nick Rodriguez and Mason Fowler.
The CJI champ vs. UFC BJJ champ super-fight went back and forth, and ended in an extremely controversial decision. While most onlookers and even the UFC commentators had “Nicky Rod” winning two rounds to one, judges somehow ended up giving this a split draw
and allowing Fowler to keep UFC BJJ light heavyweight title.
Fowler won the opening round, using rubber guard and omoplata threats to get near back-takes and an eventual sweep to end on top. From the second round though, Rodriguez faired much better and eventually solved those tricky and flexible rubber guard entries. He passed his guard a couple times, kept top position, and ended the match with a nice arm triangle choke attempt. Nicky Rod seemed to have clearly won two rounds to one, but judges didn’t see it the same way as most viewers.
I personally scored it for Rodriguez, but with the split draw, Fowler gets to retain his UFC BJJ title. Both grapplers seemed to have laughed in disbelief after.
The pair first faced off at UFC Fight Pass Invitational 7 in 2024, with Nicky Rod winning by points. They are now technically 1-0-1 against each other.
Nick’s brother Jay Rodriguez also competed on the card, winning his UFC BJJ debut with a modified head and arm choke or inverted darce. He predicted he’d pull off this submission before hand and did exactly that against PGF champ Kevin Beuhring.
Full event results and more highlights from UFC BJJ 11 are here.
FOR THE LATEST BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU (BJJ) AND GRAPPLING-RELATED NEWS CLICK HERE. FOR ADDITIONAL GRAPPLING CONTENT, FOLLOW @BJJBEAT ON INSTAGRAM.
