The US BJJ Pro NY, which goes down tomorrow, is shaping up to be an incredible event. The completely stacked 74kg division presents a wealth of high-level matches, and while less populated, the 94kg division has three of the most exciting heavyweight competitors in BJJ: Mahamed Aly, Luiz Panza, and Abraham Marte. Be sure to catch the live stream and event replay, only on FloGrappling!

Mahamed Aly has been on tear since he got his black belt in October. The Team Lloyd Irvin standout took second at the NoGi Worlds in November and absolutely starched ADCC veteran Jared Dopp for gold at the Houston Open in February.

All three of these heavyweights are incredible off their back, but Mahamed may have the most dynamic guard of them all. In his matches with Jared Dopp (weight and absolute), Mahamed did his best featherweight imitation -jumping guard, inverting, and generally just being impossible to pass. His sweeps were on point as well, he ended up going 11-0 against the very tough Dopp. Check out the whole match below -it’s a thing of beauty.



Mahamed’s strength isn’t limited to the guard though- he also posses some of the nastiest passes seen in recent memory. This kind of movement shouldn’t be legal for heavyweights.



It’s always a treat to watch Mahamed in action and we can’t to see him on the mats tomorrow.

Luiz Panza, a Marco Barbosa black belt and current Checkmat competitor, has won the Pan Ams (gi and nogi), and the Brazilian NoGi Nationals employing modern style of jiu-jitsu. Despite competing in the heaviest division where the victor is typically decided by who ends up on top first, Luiz is a guard player- he especially favors the closed guard, 50/50, and he’s not afraid to invert to prevent a pass or set up a submission. Panza's match with Claudio Calasans is a succinct example of how versatile his game truly is.



Extremely comfortable in 50/50 guard, Luiz is constantly hunting for foot locks, securing 10 submission wins with the straight ankle lock against competitors like Claudio Calasans, Joao Asis, and Travis Stevens.

Notice the economy of movement – a quick bump in one direction allows Panza to roll over the opposite way, enabling him to to set up and finish the straight ankle lock. A very smooth submission over one of the best athletes in bjj.



Panza is equally deadly in traditional positions – while his match with Ricardo Evangelista saw many of techniques mentioned above, Panza ends up winning the match with a textbook armbar from guard.

Abraham Marte is another ultra heavyweight that doesn’t mind playing guard –though he tends to stay away from 50/50 and inverting in favor of spider or half guard. Overall, the Dominican has a very well rounded game, with multiple triangles and armbar finishes from a variety of positions in competition.

Unlike Panza, though, Marte is happy to grip fight and work for takedowns; he values the importance of being on top and bring the pressure, arguably making him the more well-rounded strategist between Panza and himself. In his match with Alexander Trans, Marte is constantly fighting for the top position. Here we see him score a slick single leg takedown initiated by using a trip feint to scoop Trans’ leg up.




Marte is also clever off his back- employing what might seem like a lazy open guard leads to a very technical armlock on Leo Nogueira. Note how Marte uses his closed guard to splay Nogueira’s legs part, restricting the movement of Nogueira’s hips and give him to opening to finish. Fancy stuff.

Like Panza, Marte is well-versed in the basics. Tanner rice got a little too comfortable with Marte and was rewarded a tight cross choke as a result.





At the end of the day it's tough to call who is going to come out on top. Each athlete has the tools to dismantle the other should they come face to face at the US NY Pro. What we do know is that every match is guaranteed to be an absolutely barn-burner. Tune in tomorrow for the full live stream of the US BJJ Pro Ny!