Andrew Tackett and Fabyury Khrysthyan are set for a welterweight tilt at WNO 27, going down April 18th in Round Rock, TX. Both grapplers are coming off of great years where they had match-of-the-year contenders and now they will face off in on the Duarte vs Rodriguez card.

Andrew Tackett will face Fabyury Khrysthyan on WNO 25: Duarte vs Jimenez in main card welterweight action between two of the most exciting young black belts in the sport. This marks Andrew's first WNO action in over one year, when he had to withdraw from the finals of the welterweight championship tournament. This is Fabyury's first WNO match and the exciting Brazilian grappler is fresh off of a gold medal performance at the IBJJF European No-Gi Championships.

One of the most interesting parts of grappling is seeing how it continues to evolve, even in small positions. Professional athletes and coaches are constantly looking for new and novel ways to initiate or counter existing techniques or strategies, and the moves trickle outward through jiu-jitsu from there. For a good recent example, we can look at the leg lock position that Nicky Ryan used recently at WNO 23 - and how Deandre Corbe answered that position with a counter at WNO 24 against a B-Team athlete.

No-gi grappling stars JT Torres and Nicky Ryan are set to face off at WNO 23 in a welterweight clash. Both men have recently been invited to compete in the -77kg division at ADCC Worlds later this year, and both are ranked in the top-15 in the world at 170lbs. This will be the first meeting between the two grappling stars.

The 170lb division will finally have a new champion as Tezos WNO 20: Night of Champions will feature a 4-man tournament to crown a titleholder for the vacant championship. The bracket will feature all WNO veterans, ADCC medalists and Trials winners, and 4 of the top-ranked 170 athletes in grappling.

Rene Sousa has risen to the top of submission grappling as one of the most effective buggy choke artists in the game, beating successful, skilled athletes with a modern move that many are still trying to figure out. While they are still focusing on the buggy, however, Rene Sousa has been quietly rounding out his game with more weapons to finish fights against tough competition, including a sharp leg locking game that has shown noticeable improvement in the last few years.

Nicky Ryan will return for his first competition of 2023 when he takes on WNX and WNO veteran and rising contender Rene Sousa at the Tezos WNO 19: Meregali vs. Duarte presented by Fat Tire in Austin, TX. The two young black belts will face off at 170 lbs in one of the August 10th card's feature bouts.

Kade Ruotolo defeated Tommy Langaker to retain the ONE Fighting Championship Lightweight Submission Grappling World Championship on June 9th, with the judges favoring his top work and aggression in the 10-minute unanimous decision victory to defend his 170lb. title.