It’s not an exaggeration to say the brainchild of Kazushi Sakuraba, Quintet, has revolutionized grappling events. Sakuraba has gone full-steam ahead since the initial event was a resounding success in April 2018. There’s been three full events and three fight-nights with a fourth due at the eighteen-month mark. The unique structure of the team-based event adds tension to the matches and is responsible for some truly memorable moments. The structure has even been adapted by other grappling events since.
Daniel Strauss came out strong in the first event and lead the British-based Team Polaris to victory. The second event was even more impressive with highlights like Haisam Rida’s multiple finishes in the opening round, or Geo Martinez being the giant-killer by beating Rida and playing Satoshi Ishii to a draw. Gordon Ryan then led Team Alpha Male to victory in Quintet 3 with four wins and two draws against some of the best grapplers on the planet.
Quintet Ultra Announcement
The special Quintet Ultra was announced at UFC 244 and is clearly geared towards creating more memorable moments. There’s a twist this time, as four MMA-based teams from UFC, WEC, Strikeforce and PRIDE will compete together. There’s so many great grapplers to choose from to represent any of these teams but sadly, no final lineup has been revealed as yet. Up until the next announcement for Sakuraba and co. we’ll have to make do with hopes and dreams of fantasy matchups instead.
I’ve already started imagining some of the possibilities and the matchups I’d truly love to see. Thinking of quality I’d want Jacare v Werdum, or maybe Anthony Pettis v Luke Rockhold. A part of me also loves the ludicrous and wants to see Urijah Faber getting slammed by Fedor. The possibilities really are endless, but there’s only one person I’d really put my money on appearing and that’s PRIDE’s obvious choice for Team Captain:
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