Quintet 5 reignited old PRIDE rivalries, and had “Big Nog” Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
’s team win over Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) squads led by fellow stars from that iconic time in Japanese MMA.PRIDE stars
Nogueira, Bob Sapp, Renzo Gracie and Kazushi Sakuraba each fielded teams of five for a Quintet team grappling tournament in Dubai, UAE.
Sakuraba and Gracie’s teams opened up the BJJ event, and much like their original rivalry, it was Team Sakuraba that got key submissions and eliminated Renzo’s team. Neiman Gracie led Renzo’s team, but was mostly manhandled by B-Team standout Haisam Rida in his only match of the tournament. Taisei Sakuraba was on his father’s line up, but the biggest standout for the team was “The Fat Ninja” Igor Tanabe, who notched two triangle choke wins to eliminate Team Renzo Gracie.
On the other side of the bracket, Sapp was the figurehead for Team Bangtao, which had the likes of longtime UFC star Dong Hyun Kim and BJJ champs PJ Barch and Lucas Barbosa. On paper, Team Bangtao were the favorites, but Team Nogueira found a way to deal with that adversity and find a way to win. Although it went back and forth, each match went to double elimination. With the final match between Pouya Rahmani and Lucas Barbosa not ending by submission either, judges ended up awarding the decision to Team Nogueira.
The finals had a more clear cut victory. Haisam Rida was able to get a submission for Team Sakuraba, but Team Nogueira ended up with more finishes, thanks to Nikolay Vetrov and Pouya Rahmani. Rahmani’s final kimura on MMA vet Daisuke Nakamura that clinched the tournament was particularly brutal too.
With the final submission, Big Nog’s roster of Pouya Rahmani, Abdelraouf Mido, Nikolay Vetrov, Thiago Sa, and Zelimhan Kasaev won the tournament successfully defended their home turf, as they were also representing Team Nogueira’s Dubai gym.
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