Flograppling has been a controversial presence on the grappling scene ever since the company replaced Budo Videos. Flograppling is a profit oriented vertical of Flo sports – a niche sport streaming start up out of Texas that has had a long history of unsavory business practices.
The streaming service often acts as a media outlet in addition to providing a stream for some of the popular bjj events which often results in a conflict of interests. This is why they were reluctant to cover some of the biggest abuses in the sport but didn’t shy away from buying licenses when a brawl broke out at an event.
Last night they aired an anticipated rematch between one of jiu-jitsu’s biggest stars, Gordon Ryan, and his longtime nemesis Felipe Pena. This is especially egregious considering that Pena was a close friend of the recently murdered Leandro Lo and was stunned by his tragic passing as were many members of the community.
Flograppling insisted on the show going on and was even opposed to changing the ‘no time limit match’ to either 15 or 30 minutes – which is still extremely long with bjj matches mostly lasting 10 to 30 minutes tops at prestigious jiu jitsu competitions.
Pena had tried to get the match stopped around the 30 minute mark – but to no avail. He then opted to let it go on for another 10 minutes and signaled to the ref he’s done.
Ryan strutted as if he’d just submitted Pena to the chagrin of everyone in the audience.
Media organization was put on blast by competitor Andrew Tackett on its own social media.
Flograppling was quick to censor their social media – something they commonly do when faced with negative feedback. To add insult to injury the feed kept referring to Lo’s passing – instead of his murder and attempted to distance themselves from what transpired in Brazil.
Meanwhile Gordon Ryan reacted in his usual manner writing:
