Who’s Number One 22 was headlined by Victor Hugo and Nicholas “Nicky Rod” Rodriguez and featured a stacked main card as well as what turned out to be an impressive undercard. Here’s a look at the full results:
MAIN CARD:
Heavyweight – Victor Hugo def. Nicky Rod by Decision
Welterweight Championship – Mica Galvão def. Kenta Iwamoto via Choke from Back
Lightweight Championship – Diego “Pato” Oliveira def. Dante Leon via Heel Hook
Middleweight – Tainan Dalpra def. Oliver Taza by Decision
Flyweight – Adele Fornarino def. Amanda “Tubby” Alequin via Aoki Lock
Middleweight – Jacob “The Hillbilly Hammer” Couch def. Sebastian Rodriguez via Heel Hook
PRELIMS:
Men’s Welterweight Match – Elijah Dorsey def. Ivan Herrera via Shoulder Crank from Back
Men’s Lightweight Match – Daniel Sathler def. Max Hanson via Triangle/Arm-Bar
Women’s Strawweight Match – Ashlee Funegra def. Marilyn Cruz by Decision
Men’s Middleweight Match – Dory Aoun def. Kyle Chambers by Decision
I want to highlight three of the most memorable moments from this card as well as some honorable mentions. I believe three results from this card have weighty implications on the future landscapes in their respective divisions and I am excited to see the direction FloGrappling will take for future iterations of WNO.
Hugo Delivers, Who’s Next?
Coming into his match vs. Nicky Rod, Hugo was (to my surprise) considered a betting underdog. Not that I was completely flabbergasted by the betting odds given Nicky Rod has seen growing success not only on the WNO platform (where he lost a community-dividing split decision to Felipe Pena on only days notice) but on the UFC FightPass Invitational scene (winning a Grand Prix against elite competition on one occasion and nearly submitting Gordon Ryan with a toe-hold on another).
In his second headlining endeavor at The Hangar, Nicky Rod was given a unique test in comparison to his recent opponents. Victor Hugo of Six Blades Jiu-Jitsu, who recently scored a victory against Dan Manasoiu at the UFCPI, demonstrated an improved athleticism and signature fluidity to get the judges’ nod.
Hugo and Duarte have a long history of matches between each other, the majority of which Duarte won in the colored belts, but Victor has the most recent victory in the gi in their last match. They met once in competition without the gi, at the Third Coast Grappling 6 bracket finals, where Duarte was victorious. With Duarte rebounding after a loss to Meregali at Polaris 25 in late 2023, I’d say a matchup with a storied rival is an easy sell for fans.
Meregali is another animal altogether. At the 2023 IBJJF Absolute Grand Prix, both Hugo and Meregali were on a war path and met in the finals. Meregali won by points, but not without a competitive effort by Hugo. With Meregali taking his interests away from IBJJF entirely and focusing his efforts on superfights and ADCC, no-gi superfights are going to become more commonplace in his future. This is supported by Nicholas recently scoring back-to-back victories versus Kaynan Duarte and Felipe Pena.
The Double Champ Does What He Wants
Diego “Pato” Oliveira is a monster with or without the gi. The recent AOJ convert moved up in weight from his kingship at Featherweight to give his shot at dethroning the now-former champ Dante Leon. Leading up to this event, I was most excited about this matchup, and though I knew “Pato” could get the job done, I didn’t expect him to submit Dante.
The question is, where does he go from here? Oliveira has the responsibility to steward two different WNO titles now, and that means his schedule is going to fill up a bit quicker as FloGrappling releases more fight cards. For him to successfully defend one of those titles would be a feat in itself, but to defend both would be something special. It may sound crazy and I doubt Flo or the coaches would go for it, but I think Diego could even give Mica Galvao a problem or two.
Tainan Gets Past Taza
Tainan Dalpra made the internet-fracturing announcement that he would be throwing his hat into the No-Gi arena after his dominant victory over Yan Pica-Pau at 2023’s IBJJF/FloGrappling Grand Prix. Since then, he has now secured two victories in his new mission and both were on the WNO stage. His first match was a victory over Troy Russell, presumably to get his feet wet as he enters the pool of absolute monsters in his weight category.
Oliver Taza would be his next test, and the way he would perform against someone as savvy with the modern progressions of the No-Gi landscape. Taza has had incredible matches with some of the sport’s best, but competitors with a similar approach to control (such as Jonnatas Gracie) were stifling for him on the WNO stage.
To my pleasant surprise, Oliver Taza mostly looked a bit more comfortable in the wrestling exchanges than Tainan even though he was giving up an official weight of over 10 pounds. Tainan managed to get the match to the ground more with superior explosiveness and good timing on the shot, but Taza definitely showed competence in this regard. Similar to the struggles found in the Gracie match, Tainan was able to apply intense pressure and positionally frustrate the New Wave athlete to earn a hard-fought Unanimous Decision.
Now, Tainan is poised to potentially make a run at the vacant WNO 185 lbs. title, but I don’t think he is a shoo-in, not when you have athletes like Jacob Couch and Izaak Michell on the roster. I would love to see Vagner Rocha, Tainan Dalpra, Jacob Couch and Izaak Michell in a 4-man GP to crown the Middleweight champ.
I was very excited to be a part of this event and I hope you all enjoyed the show! Let me know what you would like to see content-wise on this website, thank you for reading!
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