Tezos WNO 19: Meregali vs Duarte Presented by Fat Tire

The Rise of Rene Sousa: How The 10th Planet Star Became More Than The Buggy

Rene Sousa has become known for his buggy choke, but the 10th Planet competitors recent run has shown that he has many more dangerous tools at his disposal

Jun 26, 2023 by Joe Gilpin

The Rise of Rene Sousa: How The 10th Planet Star Became More Than The Buggy

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.

Tickets are on sale now to watch Tezos WNO 19: Meregali vs Duarte presented live by Fat Tire!

The buggy choke is a cousin of the traditional front triangle choke or arm triangle, where you lock in a triangle with an arm and leg that traps and taps people. Once thought to be just a gimmicky move that you hit from bottom of side control or other poor positions, it's exploded in popularity and effective use at all levels of submission grappling, and no one is more active with it than Rene Sousa. He even hit the very first buggy in black belt IBJJF competition earlier this year.

Rene, who has been a notable colored belt for a few years, started to show up on people's radar after a run at 2021 ADCC East Coast trials, where he picked up a pair of victories. From there, he was selected to be a part of the inaugural cast of rising superstars in Who's Next, and picked up a huge early victory with his signature hold when he took on Jay Rodriguez.

See What Happened When Two Buggy Masters Faced Off

After losing to eventual IBJJF black belt world champion Jansen Gomes, Rene turned around with two very strong performances to end his 2022. Sousa won three matches at ADCC West Coast trials, showing a much more diverse game with submissions with leg locks, back attacks, and his trusted buggy. He finished the year medaling at brown belt at IBJJF No-Gi Worlds, in a bracket that included grapplers like Andrew Tackett and Kenta Iwamoto.

See Some Of Rene's Submission Victories At Trials With Leg Locks, Back Attacks, and More

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Now in 2023, Rene has been promoted to black belt and elevated to even another level, especially after a big win earlier this year. In Who's Number One action, Rene fought Canadian leg locker Kieran Kichuk in a match between hungry young contenders. After a scramble-heavy match, Keiran lunched into an omoplata but left his leg behind. Rene found the kneebar and finished the match in spectacular fashion.

See How Rene Scored One Of His Biggest Wins Yet Against Kichuk

Since his emergence, Rene was strongly associated with one tricky submission that he has been able to apply as well as anyone ever. Now, we see can watch the rest of his game - leg locks, back attacks, guard play, and more - evolve and mature to the level where he can combine them with that buggy to make everything a more polished, effective style.

Now, Rene has a huge opportunity in front of him August 10th when he takes on B-Team co-founder and 3-time ADCC veteran Nicky Ryan on the WNO stage. Beating Nicky would represent the biggest victory of his young black belt campaign, and Sousa could catapult into title contention and more if he can get it done in Austin, TX.

Tezos WNO 19: Meregali vs Duarte presented by Fat Tire will be streamed live, only on FloGrappling, on August 10. Tickets are available to watch it live in person at the Palmer Event Center in Austin, TX. More matches will be announced soon!