If you’ve been paying attention to the UK Grappling scene for the past 6 months or so, you’d be aware that at the tail end of 2016, an eight-man submission only, no time limit tournament was arranged by UFC competitor and BJJ brown belt, Tom Breese, with a £250 buy in and the winner getting the full purse. Needless to say, the tournament was a resounding success, with the stream being posted live on Facebook fans got to watch their team mates or favourite competitors compete against the UK’s best. The winner that day was BJJ Brown Belt (recently promoted to Black Belt by Braulio Estima) Bradley Hill, who submitted Breese in the final after a gruelling match that lasted 25 minutes.
As a result of the success of that tournament, a new promotion has been born – Densetsu – it’s first event is due to take place on April 25 and once again features some of the best talent in the U.K. Due to other commitments, Densetsu has had to change its list of competitors from its original line up, with Lew Long having to withdraw as he’s facing Che Mills on Cage Warriors in May. However, the line up confirmed so far contains plenty of talent that’ll keep the crowd on their feet throughout.
The list of talent confirmed so far is as follows:
Tim Newman: NAGA UK champion and Pedro Bessa Brown belt
Lloyd Cooper: European brown belt champion
Ash Amos: British champion and Welsh sub only over 80kgs champion
Sean McDonagh: 3x British Open No-Gi champion and European No-Gi champion
Leeroy Barnes: Cage Warriors fighter and BJJ Purple belt
George McManus: British Champion Gi & No-Gi and NAGA UK champion
Steven Henshall: BJJ purple belt & Head coach at Aspinall BJJ Manchester
Lee Simpson: BJJ brown belt & European No-Gi bronze medalist
As well as the male tournament, Densetsu are looking to host a female tournament featuring four of the UK’s toughest female competitors for the chance to win £1000 in prize money.
Confirmed so far:
Ffion Davies: CF24 Purple belt, multiple time European & British Champion and Judo Black Belt
Jennifer Killeen: BJJ Blue Belt, European Silver and Bronze medallist.
Maia Holmes: BJJ Blue Belt and European champion
Karolina Wojcik: Amateur MMA fighter for BCMMA
Both of these tournaments are filled with stacked competitors and should provide an excellent night of matches that showcases UK BJJ. This is not to be missed.
