Pantheon 001: The Start of Something New

Pantheon 001: The Start of Something New

By Kieran Cobley 

On February 2nd, Pantheon Grappling will be hosting their first ever event at the Stylus venue in Leeds, with the promotion introducing a brand new discipline of grappling; “Submission Fighting”.

“Submission Fighting” is a twist on the more traditional “No-Gi” grappling bouts fight fans are used too, but the twist is closed fist strikes are allowed.

The introduction of this twist means those in attendance are going to witness fast paced grappling action, as the tactic of sitting back and waiting for your opponent to fall into a triangle choke that we see in “No-Gi” matches won’t be able available, unless the fighter in question wants to be hit repeatedly with heavy hammer fist strikes.

Spectators should expect frenetic action throughout these bouts, where top control will be vital in winning the fight as it allows the competitor on top to throw heavy shots, so don’t expect to see a fighter on their back for long.

This new discipline has attracted a few big names for Pantheon’s first event, with British MMA legends Brad “One Punch” Pickett and Paul Reed set to go head-to-head in one of the four “submission fighting” bouts on the card.

Yorkshire’s premiere grappling promotion has also manged to draw in legendary grappler Daniel Strauss to be a guest commentator on the event.

But it’s not just established names getting in on the action, as the promotion looks to showcase some of Yorkshire’s finest grapplers as well, with AVT fighter Danny Stirk taking on another talented grappler in Danny Missin, as well as: Jabeed Rahman versus Richard Mearns and Harry Etridge versus Mohammed Azeem.

In total, there are a whopping 25 bouts on the card, with the remaining 21 bouts being a mixture of “Gi” and “No-Gi” matches.

On the “No-Gi” side of things, there are some very, very interesting looking bouts, including Bradford’s Mark Spencer versus Sheffield’s Mark Bottom, and Ross Nicholls versus Bradley Hill, with the winner set to become the UK’s number one ranked grappler in the under 80kg division.

The “Gi” bout that those watching need to keep an eye on is Lewis Matthews from Gracie Barra Harrogate Brazilian Jiu Jitsu & Self Defence versus BJJ black belt Neil Atkins who is a coach at The Alleycat Academy, as both men will be striving to finish the fight with their different styles.

This event is set to be huge, and the introduction of a new discipline into the grappling world is really going to spice it up and bring in new fans.