The highly anticipated super fight between Tainan Dalpra and Isaque Bahiense is less than two weeks away and has created plenty of buzz in the jiu-jitsu community. Tainan has been on an absolute tear since being promoted to black belt in 2020, going undefeated in IBJJF competition and winning two World, Pan, and Europeans titles. Isaque Bahiense has been a black belt since late 2016, winning World, Pan, and European gold medals, and maintaining a high caliber of results throughout the past six plus years. Tainan and Isaque first met in the 2021 Worlds middleweight final, where Tainan won the match 8-6. Though it was a very competitive match, the general feeling among the athletes was dissatisfaction with their respective performances. Their super fight will be very different, however, as new stalling rules and a thirty minute time limit will put the spotlight on both competitor’s techniques in a unique way. Perhaps the most qualified opinions on the match belong to the coaches and leaders in the sport. These coaches are on the cutting edge of the latest techniques and trends in competition as they prepare their teams to compete at the biggest and most prestigious tournaments in the world. We reached out to four top coaches in jiu-jitsu to get their take on the epic super fight between Tainan Dalpra and Isaque Bahiense on Friday March 3rd at the IBJJF FloGrappling GP.

Andre Galvao, Atos Jiu-Jitsu - “It’s going to be a great fight. Both of them are great competitors. I see Tainan doing better than Isaque overall. Tainan is more complete in terms of technique from different situations. Isaque knows how to play the rules but Tainan is on fire and I believe he’s gonna win the fight."

 

Vinicius “Draculino” Magalhaes, Gracie Barra - “I think they’re both great competitors. Tainan is on the rise more and more. Right now he’s one of the best athletes in jiu-jitsu with a complete game, making no mistakes. He reminds me a lot of Rodolfo Vieira in his prime, but lighter of course. Isaque Bahiense has also proved to be a very effective competitor and has a little more experience at the black belt level. But I think at the moment it will be extremely hard, in my opinion, for Isaque to win. I think if there’s an open fight with no holding back, I believe Tainan will win and I believe he can finish the fight because the kid is really, really in a level above everyone else in the weight class. With all the respect I don’t see anybody stopping him. But I think Isaque has a really good chance of executing the right strategy, utilizing the rules well, and frustrating Tainan for the win. You never know, they’re both great, but this is my opinion."

Michael Langhi, Alliance - “Well I’m super excited to watch this match. I trained with both athletes already, and they are beasts. Isaque is very strong and explosive. He is very dangerous, and he has a good guillotine, and also good foot locks. On the other hand Tainan is the best pound for pound jiu-jitsu athlete for me. His jiu-jitsu is amazing and he is always hunting the submission. He is one of the best guard passers in the game. I think Tainan is in a better moment. A 30 minute match is a little different. It’s more about how prepared you are than strategy. Isaque is a more strategic guy, so I think at this time Tainan will go for the submission. And I’m going to pick Tainan as the winner. This type of fight is good because we can promote this as a show, and jiu-jitsu needs to reach the next level in terms of prestige and to bring more people to our sport. For the fans it’s easier to watch a super fight event than a regular competition.”

Lloyd Irvin, Team Lloyd Irvin - “Isaque will be favored by making the game small and Tainan will be favored with movement. Isaque is a bottom half guard guy who has a good 50/50. The irony is that in their first match it was Tainan who pulled 50/50 and beat Isaque from that position. However, it was a very contained match and looked very different from the matches we saw later from Tainan where he’s playing all sorts of different positions. The safe pick is Tainan based primarily on momentum, with the secondary factor of coaching being in his favor. Isaque is bigger but hasn’t been as great of a finisher as Tainan. I would bet on a finish by Tainan as Isaque gets fatigued. Look at how they dealt with common opponents. Isaque always beats Langaker but with opportunistic scoring while Tainan is submitting him. I don’t think a 30-minute match favors Isaque.”

Don’t miss this historic super fight between Tainan Dalpra and Isaque Bahiense. The match goes down on Friday March 3rd in Austin, Texas and can be watched exclusively on flograppling.com.