Roman Bravo-Young earns draw vs. Alex Perez in UFC grappling debut

Roman Bravo-Young made his professional grappling debut Thursday night and came to a draw in his match against UFC flyweight Alex Perez after going the full 10 minutes.

The former Penn State wrestler just wrapped up his collegiate wrestling career with the Nittany Lions before debuting on UFC Fight Pass Invitational 4. Bravo-Young was a two-time national champion and finished second in the 2023 NCAA Championships.

The five-time All-American spent the first half of the match on the feet with Perez. Neither grappler could really find the right positioning for takedowns.

Close to the five-minute mark, Bravo-Young nearly grabbed a single leg and then immediately had to defend a takedown attempt from Perez.

With 4:30 to go in the match, the grapplers went out of bounds and reset in the center with RBY past the guard of Perez. When they resumed, Bravo-Young was in side-control.

Bravo-Young kept Perez pinned for a couple of minutes, but could not transition to full mount or the back. The grapplers were back to the standing position with under three minutes to go.

With less than 90 seconds, Bravo-Young used a front head lock and eventually secured another takedown and got into side control.

Perez was stout defensively though, not allowing Bravo-Young to really set up his submission attempts.

With 30 seconds left, RBY transitioned to full mount but it lasted roughly 10 seconds before both men got back to their feet.

In a wild scramble at the end, Bravo-Young took the back briefly going to the ground and had a triangle attempt, but time expired, resulting in the draw.

Bravo-Young finished his Penn State career with a 101-10 record, was a two-time NCAA champion and five-time All-American.

Bravo-Young’s match against Perez had a 10 minute time limit and featured no leg locks, different from the rest of the card.