Meregali and Lo. Carol Haber/BJJ Stars
With 14 matches slated — eight pitting Brazilians against foreigners — BJJ Stars is returning for its third Black Belt edition with the promise to, once more, rock the competition scene.
Scheduled to take place on April 25 in São Paulo, the superfight-only event will feature a true constellation of talent across men’s, women’s and masters’ duels.
Graciemag talked earlier this week to Fepa Lopes, the organizer, and he highlighted two international duels between Brazil and Japan: ten-time world champion Bruno Malfacine versus Tomoyuki Hashimoto, the sitting roosterweight European champion; and Marco Barbosa, the leader of B9, against Yuki Nakai, the pioneer with a hand in popularizing BJJ in Japan.
And there’s the highly anticipated main event, after which either Kaynan Duarte or Nicholas Meregali will be able to brag about having more wins than losses against the other in the black belt.
Other confirmed battles include Leandro Lo against Poland’s Adam Wardzinski, the clash of world champions that will be Romulo Barral vs. Claudio Calasans, as well as Felipe Preguiça vs. Gustavo Batista and Sabatha Lais vs. Thamara Ferreira.
“BJJ Stars went out of its way to make this an edition with mostly international matches,” said Fepa. “This way, the Brazilian public will be able to watch, from up close, high-level duels like the ones that occur outside Brazil.”
Even with the card being confirmed to be 14 fights long, only eight have been made official by BJJ Stars. Fepa explained:
“Some fights have already been announced by the athletes. However, even though these duels are already verbally arranged, it’s up to the organization to confirm them only when both contracts are signed.”
Information about tickets and pay-per-view packages will be divulged soon at BJJStars.tv and on Instagram at bjjstarsoficial. Check out below the partial line-up for BJJ Stars 3 and check back with us here and on Instagram for our coverage.
BJJ Stars 3
Clube Hebraica, São Paulo
April 25, 2020
Kaynan Duarte vs Nicholas Meregali
Felipe Preguica vs Gustavo Batista
Leandro Lo vs Adam Wardsinsk
Bruno Malfacine vs Tommoyuki Hashimoto
Romulo Barral vs Claudio Calasans
Marco Barbosa vs Yuki Nakai
Thamara Ferreira vs Sabatha Laís
Ffion Davies vs Bia Basílio