Many teams have made their presence known at Fight to Win events, but this Friday Gracie Barra will bring some serious star power to Huntington Beach. Fight To Win 24 will feature seven athletes from the prestigious association, with stars Edwin Najmi and Gabriel Arges leading the way. 


 
Najmi (view profile) was originally slated to go up against Grappling Pro champion DJ Jackson (view profile), but when Jackson unexpectedly pulled out a few days ago, Nathan Mendelsohn stepped in to replace him. 

Mendelsohn has had an extremely busy couple of weeks, first putting on an impressive performance at the Euros and then submitting Igor Estrella at Fight To Win 23 just last week. 

Still, he's going to have to put in some serious work if he's going to beat Najmi, who last year was a champion at Pan Ams and came in second at Worlds. In a ridiculously short amount of time, Najmi has become one of jiu-jitsu's brightest stars, but just how brightly he'll shine during his first Fight To Win performance remains to be seen.

• Inside Rafael Dos Anjos' UFC Training Camp With Jiu-Jitsu Star Edwin Najmi
• Nathan Mendelsohn vs Isaque Bahiense IBJJF 2017 European Championships
• Legacy: Edwin Najmi 


 
Gabriel Arges (view profile) is another Gracie Barra team member who's been generating a lot of chatter for this event. Just a couple weeks ago, he plowed through the competition at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam, and on Friday, he'll be going up against four-time EBI champion Garry Tonon (view profile) for the middleweight black belt no-gi title. 

Tonon was submitted on Sunday by Antonio Carlos Jr. at Submission Underground 3, but he's stated that he'll be going into F2W 24 with "fire in his eyes." 

Neither man will come away with an easy victory; both have done more than enough to earn their chance at such a prestigious title fight, and Arges in particular is on a serious winning streak after spending very little time as a black belt. 

Arges made huge waves in the BJJ competition scene in 2016 when he won gold not only at Euros, but also at the Abu Dhabi World Professional Championship. His 2017 is off to a great start so far, and claiming a Fight To Win Pro title on Friday would only further solidify his name as THE guy to watch out for wherever he shows up.

• Garry Tonon vs Antonio Carlos Jr Submission Underground 3
• For Gabriel Arges Being Ranked #1 Is About The Professionalism Of Jiu-Jitsu


 
AJ Agazarm (view profile) did not have a great year. He was partly responsible for one of 2016's most shocking jiu-jitsu controversies, an incident that happened last time he competed at Fight to Win. 

The image of him being kicked "this is Sparta"-style off the stage by Vagner Rocha is forever burned into the minds of many fans, but on Friday, Agazarm will be aiming to get people talking about a win over EBI 7 runner-up Bill Cooper (view profile). 

Agazarm was defeated by Dillon Danis last week at SUG3 and will surely want to notch up a win to make up for his lackluster performance. 

• Watch AJ Agazarm vs Dilon Danis
• Vagner Rocha Kicks AJ Agazarm Off Stage 

"Organized like a Team, Fighting like a Family"

Gracie Barra has a solid group of athletes on the undercard as well. 185 lb black belt Ryan Robinson (who also fought at F2W 5) will be competing against Carlson Gracie's Jason Youseph. Purple belts Connor Donaldson, Tyson Blair, and David Fraser will also be representing the academy. Donaldson competed at Euros this year, and both Blair and Fraser fought at 2016 Worlds, but this is the first Fight To Win appearance for all three rising athletes.
 
Gracie Barra's seven-man presence at Fight To Win 24 would be impressive just for the number of fighters alone, but given the serious amount of talent and prestige in each of the fighters representing the gym, they've easily established themselves as the event's standout academy.

Make sure you watch these athletes and many more during our live stream of the event on Friday, February 3 starting at 6:00 pm Pacific time.