> Quintet

Quintet is a Japanese team submission grappling promotion founded in 2018 by MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba, developed in collaboration with former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett. The promotion debuted on April 11, 2018, initially streaming on UFC Fight Pass before later moving to FloGrappling. Quintet’s signature format is a 5-on-5 team grappling competition using a winner-stays-on system: the winning competitor from each bout remains on the mat to face the next member of the opposing team, continuing until one team’s roster is exhausted by submission or the time expires.

Matches are contested on a 12-meter by 12-meter square wrestling mat with no boundary lines, and individual bouts run eight minutes for closely matched weight pairings. Team weight limits for men’s regular class are set at 430 kg for the combined five-member roster. The promotion has held twelve major events as of late 2023, including dedicated women’s grappling divisions introduced in 2019. The format blends the traditions of catch wrestling and judo randori with the submission-hunting culture of modern no-gi grappling, reflecting Sakuraba’s background across all three disciplines.