SuckerPunch Entertainment

“The Spider” is back! After a nearly four-year layoff, Roberto Traven, an early UFC competitor, and one of the most decorated jiu-jitsu fighters in the history of MMA, is making his return to the fight game at Adrenaline MMA’s June 13th event. Headlining the card will be a boxing match between former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia and Olympic Gold Medalist and former WBO Heavyweight Champion Ray Mercer. This highly-anticipated exhibition of pugilism is the only boxing fight on the event, and the rest of the card is filled with MMA luminaries, including former UFC combatants Rich “No Love” Clemente, Jeremy Horn, and “The Spider.”

Traven made his MMA debut at UFC 11, tangling with Dave Berry. He showed an immediately evident killer instinct, submitting Berry by strikes at only 1:23 of the 1st round. After compiling a record of 6-1, Traven returned to the mainstream MMA world at UFC 34, scrapping with the much larger Frank Mir. Though outweighed by an estimated 40 lbs., “The Spider” hung tough before submitting to an armbar. He continued to dabble in the occasional MMA bout, but Traven decided to focus mostly on further developing his world-class jiu-jitsu skills. He was the 1999 open-weight champion of the world-renowned Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling World Championship, and has since taken 1st place twice in the World Jiu-Jitsu Championships. Now a 5th-degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, “The Spider” has come full-circle, and is looking to prove his skills against the best fighters in the world. “I am in the best shape of my life and I just want to have some good fights,” said Traven. “I do this for myself, not for the money. I love this sport, and am happy to be on the Adrenaline MMA card with so many other great fighters like Jeremy Horn and Rich Clemente.”

Traven’s manager, SuckerPunch’s Brian Butler, said, “We can’t wait to see him fight again. Looking at him now, it’s hard to imagine he used to fight as a heavyweight; it’s scary that he now looks like a 25 year-old carved out of stone!” Butler added, “Its like ‘The Curious Case of Roberto Traven’…he keeps getting younger!”

Where does “The Spider” go from here? Well, with noted submission specialist Horn fighting at the same Adrenaline MMA event, the stage is set for the eventual possible pairing of two of MMA’s most celebrated jiu-jitsu practitioners. Who will be caught in “The Spider’s” web next?..