Thaynara Victoria and Kade Anastasios win the submission bonuses at UFC BJJ 12
The Brazilian submitted Danielle Kelly in her debut, and the American went from the UFC BJJ Opens to a win in the Bowl; 19-year-old Raphael Ferreira also finished in the first round
UFC BJJ gave two submission bonuses after its card this Thursday, October 8, at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas. Brazil’s Thaynara Victoria and American Kade Anastasios won the submission of the night awards, the organization announced after UFC BJJ 12. Both were making their debut. The announcement did not say how much the bonus is worth.
The night had five submissions in eight matches, all of them in the first round. Besides the two bonus winners, Gabriel Almeida submitted Gilbert “Durinho” Burns, and Landon Elmore and Raphael Ferreira, both 19 years old, also finished before the end of the round.
Victoria taps Danielle Kelly in under three minutes
UFC BJJ presented Victoria as a leg lock specialist, and that is how she started. She went to the mat early and attacked an ankle lock, which Danielle Kelly defended. Both athletes then attacked each other’s legs at the same time, nobody could finish, and they stood back up.
When the match went back to the mat, Kelly tried to get on top. Victoria isolated her arm, adjusted her legs and finished the armbar at 2:53 of the first round. Kelly had won her own UFC BJJ debut in August, at UFC BJJ 10.
Anastasios goes from the Opens to a win in the Bowl
The other bonus went to an athlete who took a different road to the card. Kade Anastasios was scouted at the UFC BJJ Opens in Las Vegas. The Opens are open tournaments where the expert divisions compete for cash prizes and a chance to sign with UFC BJJ.
In his first match in the Bowl, the UFC BJJ competition area, he faced Brazil’s Ataide Rafael, a fourth-degree black belt who lives in Arkansas and trains with Bryce Mitchell. Anastasios set the pace from the start and attacked the knee in the middle of the round. Rafael freed his leg and escaped for a moment, but the American stayed active from the bottom, controlled the right heel and locked in the heel hook in the final minute of the first round.
The next UFC BJJ Opens are in Indianapolis on October 24 and in Denver on November 21 and 22.
Raphael Ferreira, 19: “This puts me where I’ve always been”
In the second match of the night, Raphael Ferreira needed 3:14 to submit Kyle O’Hare with a heel hook. The 19-year-old brown belt fights out of South Jordan, Utah, and now has two wins in three UFC BJJ matches.
His body covered the lock, and not even the broadcast could see which attack it was. In his interview in the Bowl, Ferreira said he had a different plan. “I wanted the flying submission. He saw it coming,” he said. “The leg just happened to be there. He gave me his foot and I took it.”
Ferreira shared the win with his team. “This win, it’s not just mine. I have training partners, mentors, coaches, friends. It’s not just my win. It’s everybody behind me,” he said. Asked where the win puts him in UFC BJJ, he answered: “I think this puts me where I’ve always been. I’ve been fighting the best in the world since I was 15 years old.”
His only loss in the organization came in June, at UFC BJJ 9, when John Chandler caught him in a triangle choke in the final seconds. Chandler also competed this Thursday. He opened the card with a unanimous decision win over Raphael Gomez and is now 2-0 in UFC BJJ.
Elmore is back in the win column
Landon Elmore, also 19, came in after two decision losses in a row at featherweight. In his first match at lightweight, he swept Max Livingston from a body triangle, controlled one of his legs and finished with an ankle lock at 3:42.
In the title matches, Cassia Moura beat Adele Fornarino and Renato Canuto won the lightweight belt. All the results are in the UFC BJJ 12 play-by-play.
