Who would have won a team battle between the UFC, PRIDE, WEC, and Strikeforce? Quintet is hopping in a time machine to take fans back to an era when this question could be answered.
On Thursday, one of the world’s most unique grappling tournaments will return with Quintet Ultra. The openweight elimination challenge takes place at Red Rock Casino Resort in Las Vegas and streams on UFC Fight Pass.
The event will see four teams compromised of five fighters – each team tied to a respective promotion. On Monday, full rosters and first-round team pairings were announced, with Team UFC taking on Team PRIDE and Team WEC vs. Team Strikeforce.
The teams are as follows:
Team UFC
- Anthony Smith (captain): former UFC light heavyweight title challenger, current UFC light heavyweight contender, WSOF veteran
- Anthony Johnson: former UFC light heavyweight title challenger
- Sean O'Malley: Dana White’s Contender Series signee, undefeated UFC bantamweight
- Clay Guida: 29-fight UFC veteran, current UFC lightweight
- Gilbert Burns: current UFC lightweight/welterweight, second-degree black belt
Team PRIDE
- Kazushi Sakuraba (captain): UFC Hall of Famer, competed in 27 fights under the PRIDE banner, UFC Japan heavyweight tournament winner
- Takanori Gomi: PRIDE lightweight champion, Pride 2005 lightweight grand prix winner, UFC veteran
- Gregor Gracie: grappling world champion, ONE FC veteran, member of the storied Gracie family
- Hector Lombard: former Bellator middleweight champion, Bellator Season 1 middleweight tournament winner, international judo federation gold medalist
- Yves Edwards: three-time PRIDE competitor, UFC and Strikeforce veteran, current PFL commentator
Team WEC
- Chad Mendes (captain): two-time UFC featherweight title challenger, most knockouts in UFC featherweight history (tied with Conor McGregor), two-time NCAA Division 1 All American
- Glover Teixeira: former UFC light heavyweight title challenger, current UFC light heavyweight contender, most submission victories in UFC light heavyweight history (tied with Jon Jones)
- Mark Munoz: two-time WEC competitor, 15-time UFC competitor, two-time NCAA division 1 All American
- Cub Swanson: former UFC featherweight title challenger, former WEC title challenger, 11-time UFC/WEC bonus winner
- James Krause: two-time WEC competitor, current UFC welterweight, currently riding a six-fight win streak
Team Strikeforce
- Gilbert Melendez: WEC lightweight champion, Strikeforce lightweight champion, UFC lightweight title challenger
- Jake Shields: Strikeforce middleweight champion, Elite XC welterweight champion, former UFC welterweight title challenger
- Muhammed Lawal: Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, Bellator 2013 “Summer Series” light heavyweight tournament champion, Bellator season 10 light heavyweight tournament finalist
- Gesias Cavalcante: two-time K-1 HERO’s middleweight grand prix champion, former Titan FC lightweight champion
- Renato Sobral: Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, former UFC light heavyweight title challenger
In addition to the team competition, Quintet Ultra will feature singles matches. Gordon Ryan meets Aleksei Oleinik, while Cynthia Calvillo takes on Danielle Kelly. A prelims single match between Craig Jones and Fredson Paixio also is set.
