Biggest Upsets From Who's #1!
Biggest Upsets From Who's #1!
These are some of the upsets rankings-wise from Who's #1.
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Who’s #1 was a great success this past weekend, with the top-ranked athletes showing up and putting on spectacular matches in Costa Mesa, California. The #1-ranked athletes in the FloGrappling rankings defended their top spot in nine of the night's bouts, with #1 only losing in three of those nine matches.
Official FloGrappling Rankings
While all of the athletes at the event were top-level, and regardless of the rankings it is tough to call some of these upsets, here are your biggest upsets from 2020 Who’s #1.
Unranked Roberto Jimenez defeats #2 Keenan Cornelius
By far the biggest upset of the night, not many people were picking Roberto to win this one. This was Roberto’s first match as a black, and it was against a Pans and Euros champ in Keenan Cornelius. Roberto didn’t approach the match like he was the underdog, attacking from start to finish and even attempting a berimbolo in the opening minute. Roberto made a big statement in his black belt debut and entered the black belt rankings for the first time.
Watch: Roberto Jimenez vs Keenan Cornelius
#4 Victor Hugo defeats #1 Nicholas Meregali
Victor Hugo has been on a tear in no-gi recently, submitting Cyborg and defeating Nicky Rod as well. Victor had one of the best colored belt careers in the gi of all time, winning six world titles between purple and brown belt. This win against Meregali was by far the biggest of his career, though, taking out the two-time black belt world champ and former P4P #1. Victor enters the P4P top five after this big-time victory.
Watch: Victor Hugo vs Nicholas Meregali
Jansen Gomes defeats #1 P4P Rui Alves
Sort of a stretch calling this one an upset, as Jansen recently had the P4P #1 spot held by Rui heading into Euros. Jansen suffered two losses there in Lisbon, though, including a submission in the open class, and needed a good performance here. He stepped in on less than 24 hours notice and took back the top P4P spot with a great performance under the lights at Who’s #1.
Watch: Jansen Gomes vs Rui Alves
Tye Ruotolo defeats #1 Jhonathan Marques
Jhonathan Marques came in ranked #1, after winning by submission in the Euros final. He was matched up with a juvenile who has been more closely associated with no-gi competition lately, but one of the best jiu-jitsu athletes in the world in Tye Ruotolo. Rankings-wise this was an upset, since Tye had never competed in the gi at purple belt and was unranked. The 0-0 match didn’t show us much. I’m sure we will see this match again in the future, but Tye stepping up and taking out the #1 in his first purple belt match was remarkable.
Watch: Tye Ruotolo vs Jhonathan Marques