Welcome to the BJJ Beat! On this recurring feature, we’ll tackle the biggest news from the professional grappling scene, and roll everything up in an easily digestible and familiar jiu-jitsu format.

Warm Ups

Mikey Musumeci hospitalized due to stomach issues

Fresh off his UFC Fight Pass Invitational 9 (UFC FPI 9) debut win, Mikey Musumeci revealed that he has been dealing with health issues from even before the match.

“Just found out I did my last match with 3 stomach ulcers,” Musumeci wrote on his Instagram stories with a photo from the hospital. “After I couldn’t stand straight from the pain.

“Too much stress,” he said about the cause. “Fixing them now. Will be 100% for next match. Thank you everyone that supports me.”

The first ever UFC grappler has been busy trading barbs with Gordon Ryan as of late, making it a bit ironic that Musumeci was also hospitalized due to stomach issues. It seems much less serious though, and might not really impact Musumeci’s career like it has with Ryan’s long list of health problems.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Drills

Six UFC Fight Pass Invitational events planned for 2025, UFC FPI 10 set

Speaking of Mikey Musumeci and the UFC’s plans to “take over” the BJJ scene, the promotion recently announced that they plan to host six UFC Fight Pass Invitational events in 2025. These UFC FPI events are targeted to happen in March, June, July, September, October and December this year.

While no specific dates were revealed for the others, their next event, UFC Fight Pass Invitational 10 is already set to happen on March 6. No headliners or matches have been revealed just yet, but Musumeci previously stated that he expects to be part of that.

UFC also previously announced that Musumeci’s debut on UFC FPI 9 was viewed in 136 countries, and was the most watched grappling event in Fight Pass history.

Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images

Move of the Day

Olympic bronze medalist boxer Tony Jeffries wins BJJ debut

Tony Jeffries, a 2008 Olympic bronze medalist boxer, is currently hooked on jiu-jitsu.

Jeffries retired from competition back in 2012 due to hand injuries, before becoming a renowned boxing coach and YouTuber. He enrolled his kids into jiu-jitsu, before eventually trying it himself and getting addicted to the sport.

The Olympic boxer scratched his competition itch in a vastly different sport, and recently won his first ever BJJ tournament as a 39-year-old white belt. Watch the matches below, where Jeffries got emotional in his return to competition.

Rolls

WNO champ vs. Polaris champ headlines WNO 26

WNO 26 is set for February 7, and the main event will be a WNO champion vs. a Polaris champion. As recently announced, two-division WNO champ Diego “Pato” Oliveira will defend his lightweight title against Polaris featherweight champ Keith Krikorian.

Diego Pato is a five time BJJ world champion across gi and no gi, and took silver at ADCC 2024. He is coming off a dominant tournament win at the 2024 IBJJF Crown. Keith Krikorian, a former ADCC Trials winner, moved up a division and is fresh off an impressive win at Polaris 30.

Also announced for the WNO 26 card is PGF champion Ryan Aitken taking on Luccas Lira, and Daniel Sathler vs. Michael Sainz.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Cooldown

Craig Jones details the numerous times he came close to dying in 2024

Whether it’s death threats for going against ADCC, getting drugged in Colombia, or entering a war zone in Ukraine, Craig Jones had a pretty insane 2024. Watch the BJJ star and CJI promoter detail various dangerous situations that he got into this past year:

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Review

To close things out, here are other interesting BJJ stories you might have missed:

For the latest Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) and grappling-related news click here.

Identity in the NBA, the foundational qualities that define how a team will play most nights, are almost always forged over the course of a season.

The Lakers began the season convinced they would need to simply outscore their opponents because of their defensive liabilities. Then, in a 180-degree turn, an improved defensive effort helped fuel their recent run of strong play — the team simply pouring more energy into that area of the court.

But what about the parts of identity that can’t be learned? What about the things that just are?

On Monday night against the Detroit Pistons the Lakers, at times, played with speed. They were, at times, able to play with physicality.

But the Lakers, on most nights, are simply a roster trying to be those things. And against a team such as Detroit, one that doesn’t have to try to be physical or athletic, it’s crystal clear what the Lakers aren’t — big, strong or particularly athletic.

LeBron James has made a career of owning those traits at levels that no one else could match. But 22 years in the NBA have provided a template for how to bully smaller players, the Pistons hunting the smaller Lakers with Cade Cunningham and Detroit’s younger, stronger and tougher players battering them for a 117-114 win.

Cunningham needed 25 shots to score 20 points, but there was a cumulative effect to the effort and energy it took the Lakers, particularly Max Christie and Austin Reaves, to try and slow down the former No. 1 pick. It wasn’t all at once. But the sum of the spent energy undoubtedly bled into other areas.

The Lakers (16-13), who trailed by as many as 11 in the fourth after getting bruised for most of the second half, got to within three in the final 30 seconds. But Anthony Davis missed a driving layup. And while a foul got called, Detroit challenged, and officials overturned the decision.

The Pistons (13-17) and Cunningham again went at Reaves, with the Lakers guard forcing a late-clock miss. The team had 3.7 seconds and one last chance to get a tie, but James missed an open three just before the buzzer.

“It was something we work on,” James said of his final shot. “We work on end-of-game stuff every day. We got the look we wanted and it just didn’t go.”

Monday’s loss was a testament to the Lakers’ growing understanding of the way they need to play, aided by some welcomed offense provided by 14 successful three-pointers — the most for the Lakers in five games.

And physically, the Lakers did fight — just not with as much comfort as the Pistons.

No Laker had a second foul called on them until there were 4 minutes 20 seconds left in the game. And Detroit’s muscle certainly contributed to the Lakers’ 20 turnovers, mistakes that led to 28 Pistons points (the Lakers scored only nine off 12 Detroit turnovers).

Detroit Pistons guard Jaden Ivey drives past Lakers forwards Anthony Davis, left, and Cam Reddish during the second half Monday.

(Eric Thayer / Associated Press)

“We were just loose with the ball,” Davis said. “We were trying to make the right plays. But they do a good job of creating turnovers and it’s hard to win a game with 20. But we’ve just got to be better with the basketball. Everybody. I think that’s what was the difference in the game.”

Reaves had six of those turnovers, saying afterward that he needed to play better.

“They’re a really aggressive defensive team, and myself personally, I didn’t handle it well,” he said.

James led the Lakers with 28 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Each of the other four starters scored at least 10, but ex-Laker Malik Beasley scored 21 off the Detroit bench. The Pistons’ reserves outscored the Lakers’ 52-28.

But the tone of the game was set by how Detroit won the minor battles that define possessions, the ball pressure that knocks a team out of rhythm, the grabbing that makes a screen slightly more effective, the shoving under the glass that leads to an extra possession.

The Lakers have countered it before — just not consistently. There are things the Lakers can do to make more physical teams less of a problem. But there’s probably not much they can do to make that problem go away completely.

“We gotta be stronger. That’s all,” James said. “We gotta do it as a team. We gotta help guys get open. When guys are pressuring the ball, you gotta help guys screen better. You gotta screen better. … You gotta use your triple-threat [position]. When you have a live dribble, get guys up off you.

“It’s not something you can learn, though. You don’t learn to be more physical. It’s either in you or it’s not.”

Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon returned in Sunday afternoon’s 112-101 win over the Dallas Mavericks after missing nine games because of a right calf strain, helping Denver swing the game in his limited minutes.

Gordon came off the bench for Denver and played under a minutes restriction. He finished with 13 points while shooting 6 of 7 from the field in only 18 minutes; the Nuggets were plus-23 when he was on the court.

Gordon, 29, felt discomfort in his calf in the third quarter of a loss to the Phoenix Suns on Christmas and was shut down for the past two weeks. Gordon had a similar injury to the calf earlier in the season that kept him out for 10 games.

Jamal Murray, who exited Friday’s win over the Brooklyn Nets at halftime due to left knee soreness and was listed as questionable for Sunday’s game, started and finished with 17 points in 32 minutes.

HONOLULU — Nick Taylor in a playoff is tough to beat. Getting there was hardest part for the Canadian, who delivered another highlight reel of clutch moments Sunday in the Sony Open.

Down to his last shot, Taylor chipped in from 60 feet for eagle on the par-5 closing hole at Waialae for a 5-under 65 to get into a playoff with Nico Echavarria.

He holed a 10-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole. And then he hit a wedge from 46 yards that was close to perfect to set up a 3-foot birdie putt for the win. The last shot might have been the easiest shot he had in the final hour.

“I’m a bit stunned this worked out this way,” Taylor said.

That was true for so many others, starting with Echavarria, the 30-year-old Chilean who delivered some big moments of his own with a 15-foot par save, a 12-foot birdie, and twice getting up-and-down from the bunker at the end for a 65 to join Taylor at 16-under 264.

Behind them were Stephan Jaeger and J.J. Spaun, and the Sony Open looked to come down to them along the back nine until Jaeger piped a drive out-of-bounds on the 16th and Spaun bogeyed from a bunker on the 17th. Both failed to birdie the par-5 18th to join the playoff.

Echavarria was surprised it was only a two-man playoff.

“If Nick doesn’t chip in, I win the tournament,” he said.

Echavarria didn’t miss a beat in his bid for a third straight year with a PGA Tour title. The bunker shot on the 18th was creative and bold for a tap-in birdie. On the 18th in the first playoff hole, his second shot looked to be about 20 feet away on the fringe for an eagle putt when the wind nudged it down the hill into the rough, forcing him to get up-and-down.

He had 40 feet on the collar for eagle on the second playoff hole at No. 18, and the first putt came out soft and was 7 feet short. He missed the birdie putt to extend the playoff.

“I misjudged the lag putt on the last hole. I didn’t think it was going to be that slow. Didn’t consider the wind,” Echavarria said. “The wind kind of held it and my lag putting today was a little off, which is a strength of mine. But, I mean, just one bad putt can’t define a great week.”

Taylor never looked like a winner — especially after missing a pair of 4-foot birdie putts on the 15th and 16th holes — until he had a lei around his neck and the trophy in his hand. It was his fifth PGA Tour title, the last three in a playoff.

He beat Charley Hoffman in Phoenix last year with clutch putting in a playoff. And it was the Canadian Open in 2023 when Taylor famously holed that 70-foot eagle putt to win his national open before a delirious, rain-soaked crowd.

The victory sends Taylor to the Masters again, a big perk after a dismal end to last season. He moved back to No. 29 in the world and will be in all the signature events this year. None of this seemed possible when he was two behind with two to play coming off two short misses.

“It was just one of those where you try to go until they don’t let you play anymore,” Taylor said. “I was 1 over through seven, get on a birdie streak there. It’s always so bunched here, but I did a really good job every day really of just hanging in there.

“Fortunate for me, really good things happened at the end.”

Jaeger and Spaun both left Waialae with plenty of regrets. From the time they made the turn, it looked like a duel between them to decide the winner, and they put on a great show until the final three holes.

Jaeger holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the 14th to catch Spaun, who then followed by making a par putt from just inside 30 feet to stay tied for the lead.

Jaeger didn’t hit a fairway on the back nine except for an iron off the 15th tee, and it finally caught up with him at the end. He hit driver to cut off the dogleg on the 16th but it went so far left that it was never found, presumed to be out-of-bounds.

“The one on 16 I would like to have back. Wrong hole to hit that shot,” Jaeger said.

Jaeger did well to made bogey off a provisional ball to stay only one behind — Spaun missed a 10-foot birdie putt that would have given him a cushion. And then Spaun made bogey from the bunker on the 17th.

All the while, Echavarria and Taylor rallied in improbable ways.

Jaeger and Spaun needed birdie on the par-5 closing hole to join the playoff. Jaeger hit 3-wood off the tee and didn’t clear the bunker, and his second shot hit the lip and left him in the rough some 178 yards away. He went over the green and made par for a 67.

Spaun from the 18th fairway missed to the right, the worst place to be because the pin was cut to the right with the wind at his back. He did well to get it to 10 feet, and then missed the birdie putt and shot 68.