(Michael) Presented by Miller Lite,
Bellator MMA now moves to the welterweight division.
Scheduled for three five-minute rounds,
live on Paramount Network, we introduce the blue corner.
At 6'1", weighing in 169 pounds.
His professional record, 10 wins, three losses.
Hailing from Obregon, Sonora, Mexico,
presenting Javier Torres!
(man shouting)
(cheering)
And across the cage, his adversary,
fighting out of the red corner.
At 6'0", weighing in 171 pounds even.
As a professional, he stands undefeated,
seven victories, no defeats.
Fighting out of New York, New York.
He hails from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
introducing Neiman Gracie!
(applause)
In charge of the action, your referee, Mike Beltran.
(Mauro) Mike Beltran will oversee.
(Mike) Hey, all the way back, all the way back!
(Mauro) This matchup in the welterweight division.
Mercedes and Lindsey letting us know
that we are set for round one.
(Mike) All right, gentlemen.
First round, ready to fight?
You ready to fight? Hey, let's go!
(bell dings)
(Mauro) The bell and round one fight clock brought
to you by Miller Lite, great taste
and only 96 calories.
The undefeated Neiman Gracie in the red gloves,
Javier Torres in the blue gloves.
And Torres, he has been around the block so often
in the MMA world, that he's, well,
he's made a groove in the sidewalk, John.
And he now gets another opportunity,
he had a stint on The Ultimate Fighter,
but realizes what kind of a task he faces
against a guy like Neiman Gracie,
who's not just about the submission game.
(coaches shouting)
(John) Neiman, his stand-up, when you watch him,
you think, Gracies, you think all ground.
He has got good stand-up in the fact
that he will stand and trade with you,
he is very balanced in his attack,
and he does not overextend a lot.
When you're gonna watch Torres, Torres is a worker.
He will work this entire fight, he likes
>>: Oh!
Good counter, left hand by Torres that Gracie rolled with.
Gracie began training in jiu-jitsu at four years of age.
That late? He's a Gracie!
for crying out loud!
(Mauro) He is the great-grandson
of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu cofounder, Carlos Gracie.
His uncle Renzo is his trainer in his corner.
There's a kick by Gracie.
He's also a cousin of Hall of Famer Royce Gracie,
who's in attendance here tonight as well.
(Sean) Up to four-years-old, they call it play.
(Mauro) Torres trains with the likes
of Bellator light-heavyweight champion Ryan Bader
as he gets taken down by Gracie.
90 seconds gone in the opening round.
I guess Bader wasn't able to teach him
a takedown defense against a Gracie.
(Sean) Look, Neiman Gracie utilizes
an outside trip all the time,
and he's good at it.
(Mauro) But credit Torres to get back up to its feet.
(Sean) Torres, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt,
he has been in this position before.
He is comfortable grappling.
He is grappling now in Arizona with good wrestlers,
that are teaching him even more.
(Mauro) BJJ black belt, Torres also a judo black belt.
His dad used to box for a while back in Mexico.
Torres told us he's ready to go anywhere.
He feels he's dangerous in the striking, the grappling.
He feels that he has more weapons than Gracie.
Again, wrestling and sparring with the likes
of Ryan Bader and CB Dollaway every day,
if he can hang with those guys,
he feels that he can beat anyone in his weight class.
Gracie secures the takedown.
(Sean) There's your trip again into that position.
What Javier needs to do is don't sit here and say,
I'm gonna just accept having Neiman Gracie in my guard.
I wanna start to work to getting myself either
in a reversal position or getting up outta this.
(Mauro) We've already seen Gracie's trips,
his favorite trips, off the body lock, on display.
Unlike a lotta the Gracies,
Neiman Gracie also has been very successful
in no-gi grappling.
He started early on in his career.
Now looking for a submission under two minutes left
>>: It was a dangerous attempt
with him sitting back for that leg.
That is not something you see a lotta guys
that are willing to do in MMA.
He has taken a chance, but now that he's got
both legs caught up here,
Torres is gonna have a hard time 'cause he's gonna
attack that outside leg.
With the position he's in, Torres has gotta work
his hips back and get one of those legs free right now.
(Mauro) Torres has never been submitted.
We saw Dillon Danis kick off
the main part with a toe hold submission.
Coming up in the main event, Frank Mir, who submitted
>>: Look at that.
Got an inverted heel hook.
(Mauro) A minute 15 left in the opening round.
Gracie continues to fish for the submission.
(Sean) In this position, what you're seeing with Gracie,
having both legs wrapped up,
he can attack either leg.
He can decide which way he wants to go,
inverted or straight as far as heel hooks...
(Mauro) Final minute of the first round.
Torres, trying to release the pressure,
How does Torres escape?
>>: This is (indistinct).
What he's trying to do right now is
keep Neiman Gracie close.
He doesn't want him to be able to extend out
and extend those legs out.
That's why you see him keep on grabbing
and pulling himself close.
The other thing he can try to do is
I wanna start to shimmy my hips back
and then spring one leg out.
It is not
>>: 30 seconds...
(Sean) to get that big jump
(Mauro) left in the opening round.
Gracie submissions distributed in this form:
two rear naked chokes, two neck cracks, and two arm bars.
He's fishing for his first lower-extremities submission
in his MMA career.
Final 10 seconds
(clacker clacks)
Javier Torres pleading his case.
Neiman Gracie keeping him within his grasp
to close out the first round.
Corner cam brought to you
by Boost Mobile,
easy to switch, easy to save.
(downbeat hip-hop beat continues)
when he got the call on short notice.
We are set for the second round,
Neiman Gracie in the red gloves,
Javier Torres in the blue gloves.
(Sean) He did warm it up.
(Mauro) Torres was unable to do an impression
of Mister Miracle in the opening round,
unable to break the clutches of Neiman Gracie.
How did you score the first frame?
(Sean) No doubt about that. 10-9, Neiman Gracie.
He's the one that controlled position,
had the ability to possibly end the fight.
He had nothing coming back from Javier Torres.
(kick slaps)
(Mauro) Torres off balance.
Gracie coming for them, changing levels,
looking for the take down,
being defended by Torres along the fence.
(Sean) He does have both underhooks.
He's got position right now.
He's got his hands together.
All he has to do is work at off-balancing Torres.
You're gonna see him starting to take his leg,
bring it to that outside trip again.
That's what he loves to use to get
his opponents to the ground.
(Mauro) We mentioned that Torres has
never been submitted.
He's been stopped twice due to strikes,
has two knockout and four submission wins on his record.
>>: There is the...
>>: Member of the Gracie family.
Sorry there, Sean, gotta acknowledge Royce Gracie here,
who is a distant relative of Neiman Gracie
and of course, the man who started it all at UFC 1.
Hard to imagine, here we are 25 years later,
the Gracies still in the thick of things.
(Sean) It's actually impressive
when you're looking at a family
that has continued in this lineage of fighting.
What they've done in the sport has just been incredible.
There it goes. The Gracie legacy rolls.
(Mauro) Neiman Gracie rolling with Javier Torres
here in the second round.
Torres trying to stay active from the bottom,
trying to hand grapple, control Gracie's posture
in hopes that perhaps he can force the standup,
has the half butterfly guard in...
(Mike) You have to work! Let's go!
(Mauro) He's looking to the referee.
Sean, I know, as one of the best ever,
you don't want the fighters looking at you.
You want them focused on the fight.
(Sean) Well, good, you're looking at the referee,
and while you're looking at the referee,
your opponent passes your guard
and comes into a half guard position.
Don't look for the referee to be your friend.
Just get yourself out.
This right here, when you're looking at Neiman Gracie,
and I talk about pressures and postures,
this is a position right now
he's extremely heavy in.
Not that Javier Torres is not used to this kinda pressure,
but when sometimes you'll feel the guy,
he's just able to create a pressure that
you're not used to.
He's trying to wiggle that knee free
to get himself into a mount position.
(Mauro) We have crossed the midway point
of the round and the fight.
Neiman Gracie, since last we saw him in action,
has become the proud father of a daughter
and now has achieved full mount on Torres.
(Sean) This is what we expect in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Just keep applying that pressure till the position happens.
That's what Neiman Gracie's doing.
He's not working hard. He's working smart.
(Mauro) Gracie and his wife, Corina, the proud parents
of Khali, born in March.
Khali's dad looking to secure that arm-triangle choke.
(Sean) He does not wanna let him get cross-side on that.
Now that is tight.
(Mauro) A minute 45 left in the second round.
Torres forced to tap out for the first time in his career!
The Gracie train keeps rolling in Bellator MMA
as Neiman Gracie improves to 8-0
with his seventh submission victory!
the tap comes by way of an arm triangle choke.
Officially 3 minutes, 18 seconds into round number two,
the winner by submission,
still undefeated,
Neiman Gracie.
(Mauro) Neiman Gracie will now talk
to our Big John McCarthy.
(Neiman speaks in foreign language)
>>: Come here, brother.
All right, you come into this cage with a lotta pressure
because of the last name that you have
and some people that you have in your corner here.
What is it like, as far as the pressure,
stepping in here as a Gracie?
>>: I feel no more pressure, man.
I think the pressure was on those two guys,
Master Royce Gracie, my big master, Renzo Gracie,
'cause back then, there was pressure.
We did what we were supposed to do already,
so there's no pressure on me, man.
I just having fun.
>>: What you did as far as your movement on the ground,
taking your time, getting to mount, and the pressure
that you applied once you get there
and then smartly getting that head and arm
and putting pressure to the point where you get free
and get that squeeze, talk about that choke.
>>: Oh, this is one of my favorite chokes.
I been training a lotta, of course,
with my master, Renzo Gracie,
with my father, and Professor John Danaher,
so I'm sorry, Professor John,
I try to get the leg lock,
but I miss a couple steps.
You gotta show me soon,
but it's Gracie Jiu Jitsu, man,
nice and basic and works.
>>: Ladies and gentlemen, your winner Neiman Gracie.
>>: With his fifth submission
under the Bellator banner, Neiman Gracie now tied
with Bellator MMA bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell
and Toby Imada for second spot, Imada, of course,
with arguably the greatest submission
in Bellator MMA history, the inverted triangle choke
against Jorge Masvidal
but the night, in this instance, belongs to Neiman Gracie
as he improves to 8-0 with seven submission wins.