Abhishek Tyagi of Institute of Jiu Jitsu becomes Leverage South Champion

Institute of Jiu Jitsu athlete Abhishek Tyagi was crowned the Leverage South Champion last day in Bangalore. Abhishek emerged as the victor in the 16-men single elimination grappling tournament to earn the title.

Road to the Finals

Abhishek Tyagi went up against the experienced Rudransh Azad in the preliminary round and managed to submit the veteran Indian MMA fighter to progress into the next round. In the second round, Abhishek was pitted up against Vishnu Warrier, who interestingly, was the Team Relentless teammate of Rudransh.

After an exciting battle, Abhishek booked his place in the semi-finals and had to compete against his own teammate Debojit Dasgupta in the semi-finals. Debojit, who is an established name in the Indian grappling circuit went in as the favourite in the match but was submitted by Abhishek who in turn booked his place in the finals.

Sumit Bhyan cruises to the final

On the other side of the bracket, Sumit Bhyan produced some dominant performances to secure his spot in the finals. In the opening round, Sumit made quick work of Jitendra Shukla of Reign MMA. In the quarter-finals, he submitted Harry Gouli of Genesis and in the semi-finals, Sumit got the better of Navdeep Aggarwal.

The Final Showdown

Sumit went into the finals as a favourite thanks to his impressive resume in MMA and grappling. The KOI Combat Athlete came into the finals with a near-perfect record in the domestic circuit and had won multiple medals in International MMA tournaments as well.

He was on the offensive early on in the finals against Abhishek but could not find an opening against the Institute of Jiu Jitsu athlete. The match eventually went to overtime and Abhishek was able to submit Sumit with a rear-naked choke to pull off an upset and become the Leverage South Champion.

All four athletes that competed in the semi-finals of the tournament will get automatic selections to the Leverage Nationals. You can see the complete results from Leverage below. 

Leverage: Preliminary Round Results

• Match 1: Debojit Dasgupta (Institute of Jiu-Jitsu) def. Vaibhav More (P-Town West MMA)
• Match 2: Sumit Bhyan (KOI Combat Academy) def. Jitendra Shukla (Reign MMA)
• Match 3: Nishit Talreja (Team Relentless) def. Dipesh Rasal (Fit and Fight Club)
• Match 4: Harry Gouli (Genesis MMA) def. Satyen Kumar (Reign MMA)
• Match 5: Vishnu Warrier (Team Relentless) def. Ashwin Chidambaram (Combat Kinetics)
• Match 6: Atharva Deshmukh (AKA Goa) def. Gajendra Kharatmol (Fit and Fight Club)
• Match 7: Navdeep Aggarwal (Team Relentless) def. Tribhuvan Issar (KOI Combat Academy)
• Match 8: Abhishek Tyagi (Institute of Jiu Jitsu) def. Rudransh Azad (Team Relentless)

Leverage: Quarter Final Results

• Quarter Final: Debojit Dasgupta (Institute of Jiu-Jitsu) def. Nishit Talreja (Team Relentless)
• Quarter Final: Sumit Bhyan (KOI Combat Academy) def. Harry Gouli (Genesis MMA)
• Quarter Final: Abhishek Tyagi (Institute of Jiu Jitsu) def. Vishnu Warrier (Team Relentless)
• Quarter Final: Navdeep Aggarwal (Team Relentless) def. Atharva Deshmukh (AKA Goa)

Leverage: Semi-Final Results

• Semi Finals: Abhishek Tyagi (Institute of Jiu Jitsu) def. Debojit Dasgupta (Institute of Jiu-Jitsu)
• Semi Finals: Sumit Bhyan (KOI Combat Academy) def. Navdeep Aggarwal (Team Relentless)

Leverage Final:

• Finals: Abhishek Tyagi (Institute of Jiu Jitsu) def. Sumit Bhyan (KOI Combat Academy)

For the uninitiated, Leverage is a submission-only single-elimination grappling tournament which was being held in Bangalore on 27 August 2022. The event was presented by Bob and Weave Night of Champions (BAWNC) and was supported by The Combat Laboratory, Warrior’s Cove MMA, and Fluvium. The event was held in Octafit in Bangalore.

LockerRoom India was the broadcasting partner for the event and the event was livestreamed on the YouTube channel of LockerRoom.

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