Oliver Taza will return to FloGrappling’s Who’s Number One mats on Friday, May 28, defending his newly-earned no.6 position in the welterweight rankings against Art Of Jiu-Jitsu’s Johnatha Alves.

The Danaher Death Squad’s Taza, now 1-0 on the WNO mats following his victory over Johny Tama earlier this year, has been hyperactive this year in no-gi competition, already logging 14 matches in 2021. He’s a rookie black belt, but has been considered among the toughest no-gi competitors for years. He’s never been submitted in competition, and has won more than 70% of his 50 career victories by submission.

AOJ’s Alves, who will make his WNO debut on May 28, has been equally as active as Taza; he’s had 16 matches in 2021. But Alves, a 2020 Pan champion, has not had a no-gi match since earning his black belt in 2019. Though he’s unranked in no-gi competition, he’s the top-ranked lightweight in the gi, and is paving the way toward a stellar career. In gi competition, he’s 33-6, with 18 submission victories and no submission losses.

Taza is best known as a leg locker, and he may feel he has an advantage in that sphere against a primarily gi-oriented opponent. But both of the represented teams, DDS and AOJ, are widely renowned as attack-oriented. As neither of these men have been submitted in competition, we could witness a first in this match, which is scheduled for 15-minutes.

The main event, Gordon Ryan vs Luiz Panza, is scheduled for 30-minutes, and will be preceded by seven 15-minute matches on the main card to be announced later this week. There will also be three undercard matches, free to watch on FloGrappling’s Facebook and YouTube channels.

You can watch FloGrappling’s Who’s Number One: Gordon Ryan vs Luiz Panza live in person in Austin, TX. Tickets are on sale now.

As always, the weigh-ins and press conference will be live on FloGrappling on Thursday, May 27, at 5:30 p.m. ET.

Stay tuned all week for more match announcements for this event.