The Rise of Fight To Win

To say that Fight to Win Pro has had a successful breakout year would be a huge understatement.

The promotion virtually exploded in all the best ways possible since its inception, featuring not only top-level athletes (such as Mackenzie Dern, Rafael Lovato Jr., Garry Tonon, and more) but also hundreds of local rising stars of all ages and backgrounds.

But if that's not enough to convince you that Fight To Win Pro is the jiu-jitsu event you should be watching (and competing for) in 2017 and beyond, let the numbers spell it out for you.

Since January 2016, Fight to Win has gone to 16 cities in 11 states.

They visited Texas the most out of any state, with events being held in Dallas (twice), San Antonio, Austin, and Houston. Denver was their most frequented city, hosting four events including the Submit Cancer charity show. 

Speaking of Submit Cancer, the August charity event -- which was a collaboration with MusclePharm -- raised $63k for Children's Hospital.

Fight To Win Pro also paid out a total of over $400k to its athletes, which was placed in their hands the second they stepped off the stage.

Over 30,000 fans and supporters came out to watch the events live, and countless people watched the events here on FloGrappling.

Of course, all those fans had plenty of shows to choose from.

The Fight To Win Pro crew put on 20 events this year and featured a total of 520 fights.

Of those, 56 were female matches, and 68 featured teens or kids.

The sub-only format enabled us to see a lot of incredible finishes, the most popular of which was the armbar, which was successfully executed a whopping 47 times; the second-most popular submission was the triangle choke, which left 31 fighters tapping out.

Of the hundreds of athletes who competed, teens Jaidyn Mueller and Nick Gamez-Ramos, brown belt Isiah Wright and black belt Chris Hoddy stepped onto the stage most frequently; each added four Fight To Win Pro matches to their jiu-jitsu resumes during 2016, and chances are we'll see them and many more of this year's fighters on the stage in 2017.

Despite all of the amazing things that were achieved this year, the Fight to Win crew isn't about to stop grinding.

Their highly anticipated 2017 lineup promises over 40 shows and will include visits to the east coast for the first time (starting in the spring). CEO Seth Daniels has stated that their biggest goal is to reach $1 million in fighter payout.

Based on how far this tiny team has come in such a short amount of time, it shouldn't surprise anyone if -- or rather, when -- they achieve all their goals and more in the coming year.

Text by Averi Clements, Photos by Mike Calimbas