It’s safe to say, the United Kingdom has its first grappling star.
After a dominant spell on the domestic scene, RGA Gym Box’s Ross Nicholls has made 2018 his breakout year. Following a successful performance against 10th Planet black belt Nathan Orchard at Polaris and winning ADCC Europe, Nicholls scored the biggest scalp of his career on Saturday night when he defeated Gianni Grippo.
Grippo,a black belt under Marcelo Garcia, was himself on form in the build up to Grapple Fest 3 and was a heavy favourite against Nicholls. Grippo seemed to struggle with the rule set which favoured submission attempts over positional dominance and focused on trying to pass Nicholls’ guard.