Las Vegas Sports Buffet Serves Up Team Grappling As A Snack Before UFC 245 Saturday
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Just when you thought the sports industry in Las Vegas could not come up with another sports buffet offering comes the Quintet Ultra team grappler-palooza that UFC streamed on its UFC Fight Pass subscription web service Thursday evening.
Las Vegas has hosted everything from darts to curling to 4-wall handball championships, but in a Red Rock hotel-casino ballroom where companies hold Christmas parties the world’s best grapplers got together by competing on four teams.
There was no Octagon, trash talk or bizarre shenanigans you see at UFC fight shows. Instead, the grapplers were warned by the event’s creator — MMA veteran Kazushi Sakuraba — to not utter any “MFs” and keep it a “family show.”
UFC is the king of the MMA fight show world. But tonight the 800-pound gorilla of the mixed martial arts was just one of four grappler teams competing just two days before the UFC 245 fight show event at T-Mobile Arena Saturday.
Devin Jamke, a 26-year-old Michigan resident in town for a pharmacy conference, paid $35 to watch the grapplers. About half of the 400 seats appeared to be occupied.
“The best grapplers in the world are here,” said Jamke, who was the first fan on line waiting to get in.
The event emcee said in typical over-the-top MMA fashion that the “Quintet has taken the world by storm,” but these athletes on the teams represented by MMA promotions UFC, Pride, WEC and Strikeforce are not exactly mainstream sports names.
They grapplers were paid for wrestling on the mat in the middle of the ballroom, but it was unclear how much they received.
Tony Chavira traveled from Monticello, Utah to support his friend, Chad Mendes, a grappler on Team WEC.
These Quintets are typically staged in Tokyo, Japan and the only one staged in the United States was held in — where else? — Las Vegas. It was at the Orleans Arena in October 2018. Thursday’s event was aired on UFC’s newly-designed Fight Pass subscription online service.
A grappler named Gordon Ryan from New York was serious about his crown.
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