Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fans were gifted a grapple-heavy featherweight scrap on Saturday night’s UFC Vegas 55 prelim card between BJJ black belts, American Chase “The Dream” Hooper and Brazilian Felipe Colares. Hooper grappled his way to mount where he ground and pounded Colares and the referee stopped the match; earning himself Performance of the Night and a $50k bonus.
Hooper, now 22-years-old, received his BJJ black belt last year when he was 21, and has been training the martial art since he was eight-years-old. However, his opponent Felipe Colares was no easy feat; the Brazilian fighter has never been finished… until Saturday night.
After having nearly a year out of the Octagon since his decision loss to Steven Peterson at UFC 263, Hooper came back with tenacity on his side proving why he is still a highly touted young prospect, with a new record of 3-2 in the UFC and Colares octagon record drops to 2-4.
Hooper was relentless with his takedowns and submission attempts throughout all three rounds, showing real dominance on the ground. After 10 minutes of exhausting grappling, “The Dream” capitalized on a worn out Colares in the third round, mounting him and landing ground and pound to pick up his first promotional victory via strikes with two minutes left of the fight.
The other $50,000 bonuses of the night went to Chidi Njokuani for Performance of the Night, as well as Michel Perieia and Santiago Ponzinibbio for Fight of the Night.
Read: 5 Fundamental Takedowns Every Grappler Should Know
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