On Fighting Former Teammates: Grippo Analyzes Kasai Line-Up

Gianni Grippo has had a busy year.

Incredibly busy. The Marcelo Garcia black belt has competed 18 times (make that 19 since this interview took place), and he's showing no signs of slowing down before the New Year.  

Grippo's eyes are now set on the inaugural Kasai Pro invitational title: an eight-man event featuring Garry Tonon, AJ Agazarm, Enrico Cocco, Celso Vnicius, Mansher Khera, Renato Canuto, and "Junny" Ocasio, which goes down in Brooklyn, NY, on Dec. 9.

The card is clearly STACKED, but Grippo isn’t threatened by the challenge. In fact, he is keen as ever to cross some new names off his list.

"Celso Vinicius would visit Renzo's Academy when I was a blue belt and just kill me… I hope that goes a bit better now that I’m a back belt [laughs].

 'Munch' and I could meet. It would be a little odd, but we're so cool that it wouldn't matter; I’m ready for a good match with him should we have to compete. Garry is the guy to look out for.  This ruleset allows all submissions, including leg locks -it's something I don't get to face too much  ... but I’m looking forward to [the challenge.]” 

Find out more about how Kasai Pro's round-robin system will play out in the video below.