PGF Season 9 Week 4 Recap: Jayden Groner’s 3-Sub Night Shocks Las Vegas
On the night of March 27, 2026, Jayden Groner walked into the PGF Season 9 Week 4 card in Las Vegas with just three points to his name and nothing but a long shot at the playoffs. He left with something the Professional Grappling Federation hadn’t seen since Season 1 — a three-submission night with all three finishes landing in under sixty seconds each. By the time the dust settled, Groner had rocketed from 3 points to 19, seized the eighth and final playoff spot, and turned what looked like a done deal into one of the most dramatic single-night performances in league history.
Jayden Groner’s Historic PGF Season 9 Night: Three Subs, All Under 60 Seconds
The numbers speak for themselves. Groner submitted Jake Straus in 31 seconds, then turned around and broke Jared Fekete in just 27 seconds — the fastest finish of the entire night. He capped his run by dispatching Noah McCully in 42 seconds to complete the trifecta. That sequence — three submissions, all under a minute — is the first of its kind in PGF history since Season 1, when the league was still finding its legs.
What made Groner’s run particularly devastating was the combination of speed and clean finishing. Each match followed a similar pattern: early pressure, fast entry to a control position, and submission attempts that materialized before opponents could mount a meaningful defense. The Wolverines representative was operating on a different clock than anyone else on the card — not just submitting, but doing it with a pace that the rest of the field simply couldn’t match.
The Colorado Wolverines earned the Block C team bonus on the strength of Groner’s performance, which when combined with his individual point haul, delivered a total night worth 16 points. That single-performance swing moved him from a fringe name barely registering on the leaderboard to the man holding the final playoff berth with one regular-season night remaining.
PGF Season 9 Team Standings After Week 4: Kings Still in Control
While Groner stole the night’s spotlight, the bigger team picture remained intact — and firmly in Las Vegas Kings territory. With Week 4 complete, the Kings lead the PGF Season 9 standings at 124 points, a commanding 26-point advantage over the second-place Alabama Twisters at 98. The Phoenix Phenoms sit third at 64, and the Colorado Wolverines — boosted by Groner’s monster outing — hold fourth at 39.
| # | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Las Vegas Kings | 124 |
| 2 | Alabama Twisters | 98 |
| 3 | Phoenix Phenoms | 64 |
| 4 | Colorado Wolverines | 39 |
The Kings’ Week 4 performance reflected their season-long dominance. Las Vegas took Block B on the night, extending their cumulative lead and making it increasingly difficult to imagine the Twisters closing a 26-point gap in a single regular-season closer. The math is brutal even in PGF’s bonus-heavy scoring structure — Alabama would need an almost perfect night paired with a flat Las Vegas showing.
The Twisters did win Block A, which kept the early portion of the card competitive and gave Alabama something to build on. But the Kings answered with a 12-point Block B, held the overall edge at 26, and left the closer feeling more like a last stand for everyone behind them than a genuine coin flip at the top.
Individual Athlete Storylines: Thompson Leads, Carlton and Oranday Tied
The PGF Season 9 athlete leaderboard tells its own story. Jett Thompson of the Las Vegas Kings remained the runaway individual points leader at 58, extending his advantage over second-placed Kevin Beuhring (Twisters, 40 points) to 18 points. Thompson has been the most reliable performer in the league all season — not just winning matches, but doing so in ways that generate bonus points and create team momentum.
Kevin Beuhring remains the Twisters’ anchor at 40 points, but the real battle behind him involves a convergence at 38. Elijah Carlton (Twisters) and Austin Oranday (Kings) are dead-locked at 38 points each — a tie that adds serious intrigue to the Week 5 closer. Both have shown the ability to deliver big nights, and with playoff seeding implications riding on individual totals, the Carlton-Oranday race in the standings is one of the key subplots heading into April 1.
Chuy Magana of the Kings jumped to 31 points following a strong Week 4 showing, solidifying his position as one of the most improved performers in the second half of the season. Behind him, Travis Haven (Twisters, 26) and Shawn Melanson (Phenoms, 24) round out a top seven that features athletes from three different teams — a sign that the individual competition remains genuinely open even as the team race tilts toward Las Vegas.
| # | Athlete | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jett Thompson | Kings | 58 |
| 2 | Kevin Beuhring | Twisters | 40 |
| 3 | Elijah Carlton | Twisters | 38 |
| 4 | Austin Oranday | Kings | 38 |
| 5 | Chuy Magana | Kings | 31 |
| 6 | Travis Haven | Twisters | 26 |
| 7 | Shawn Melanson | Phenoms | 24 |
| 8 | Jayden Groner | Wolverines | 19 |
| 9 | Andrew Kochel | Phenoms | 18 |
| 10 | Cam Hurd | Kings | 15 |
The PGF Playoff Picture: Groner at 8th, Kochel One Point Back
The playoff bubble is where Week 4’s storylines converge most dramatically. PGF Season 9 sends the top eight individual performers to the April 8 playoffs, and after Groner’s explosion, the race for that final spot has gone from a foregone conclusion to a genuine cliffhanger.
Groner sits in eighth at 19 points. Right behind him: Andrew Kochel (Phenoms) at 18 points — just one point back. Then Cam Hurd (Kings) at 15, Jake Straus at 14, Derek Rayfield at 13, and Jared Fekete at 12. Five athletes within seven points of the playoff line means a single strong performance tonight could shuffle the entire bracket.
For Groner, the pressure is compounded by the fact that his Week 4 dominance came at the expense of athletes who will be motivated in the closer. Straus, Fekete, and McCully — all submitted in under a minute — have their own incentives to perform well on April 1. More importantly, Kochel and others in that 14-18 range will enter the closer with maximum aggression, knowing one strong finish could move them past the bubble line.
Colorado’s entire postseason narrative now runs through Groner. The Wolverines don’t have another athlete in the top 10. If Groner holds spot eight, Colorado gets a playoff representative. If he slides, the Wolverines go home empty-handed.
For full context on how this season has developed, see our earlier coverage: PGF Season 9 Week 2 Recap: Beuhring Takes the Lead, Twisters Surge and our MMA & BJJ Weekly Roundup from March 2026.
Technical Breakdown: How Groner Finished Three in Under a Minute Each
Breaking down Groner’s three performances reveals a consistent tactical approach. Against Jake Straus in 31 seconds, the Wolverines athlete deployed immediate pressure passing to eliminate guard work — Straus barely had time to establish a defensive structure before finding himself tapped. The speed of the takedown-to-pass-to-submission chain suggests Groner had a clear game plan executed without hesitation.
The Fekete finish at 27 seconds was the fastest of the night and arguably the cleanest. Groner showed elite ability to transition from an initial scramble directly into a finishing position — the kind of execution that requires both technical precision and physical intensity at a level most opponents simply can’t defend in real time.
Against McCully in 42 seconds, Groner showed he wasn’t slowing down despite having already competed twice. The third finish had the same controlled aggression as the first two — no signs of mental or physical fatigue. The ability to replicate that output across three matches in one night is what separates this performance from a lucky run. Each finish generated individual sub points plus contributed to the Block C bonus calculation, making every match worth maximum value.
Historical Context: First 3-Sub-Under-One-Minute Night Since PGF Season 1
To put Groner’s performance in proper historical perspective: this is the first time a PGF athlete has delivered three submissions, all in under a minute, in a single night, since the league’s inaugural Season 1. That was a different era for the Professional Grappling Federation — fewer teams, a different competitive landscape, and a league still establishing its identity.
The fact that it hadn’t been replicated until now speaks to how difficult the achievement is. Most elite grapplers at PGF level can deliver sub-minute finishes occasionally. Getting three in one night requires everything to align: the right matchups, the right mental state, and the ability to replicate finishing pace under pressure against opponents who know you’re dangerous.
Season 1’s comparable performance came in a less developed competitive environment. Week 4 of Season 9 presented a much more battle-tested field — opponents with multiple PGF seasons of experience who understood the scoring system and would naturally try to slow the pace. Groner didn’t just match the historical achievement; he did it against a more mature, harder-to-finish competitive pool.
For PGF historians and long-time followers of the league, this is the kind of moment that gets referenced whenever fans discuss the fastest, most efficient single-night grappling performances in league history. Regardless of how the rest of the season plays out, March 27, 2026 belongs to Jayden Groner.
Week 5 Regular Season Closer: Tonight, April 1 — What to Watch
The PGF Season 9 regular season closer is live tonight, April 1, 2026. Every match on the card carries outsized significance — for team seeding, individual playoff qualification, and the bubble athletes fighting for their lives. The Week 5 Block A card features:
- Jett Thompson (Kings) vs Derek Rayfield (Phenoms) — Thompson defending the individual points lead
- Kevin Beuhring (Twisters) vs Brett Moyer (Wolverines) — Beuhring protecting second place
- Chuy Magana (Kings) vs Shawn Melanson (Phenoms) — Top-10 battle with seeding on the line
- Austin Oranday (Kings) vs Adam Franck (Phenoms) — Oranday trying to break the Carlton tie
- Cam Hurd (Kings) vs Noah McCully (Phenoms) — McCully seeking redemption after Week 4
- Jayden Groner defending the 8th spot — Against Kochel and the bubble pack one point back
The PGF Season 9 playoffs lock on April 8. After tonight’s closer, the bracket is set and the eight qualifiers begin preparing for what promises to be the most competitive postseason in league history. Watch the closer live on the PGF official YouTube channel and return here for the post-closer recap and playoff bracket preview.
Sources
- PGF Official Week 4 Recap — Official Professional Grappling Federation Week 4 results, match data, and standings
- PGF Season 9 XP Leaderboard — Official individual athlete standings through Week 4
- Professional Grappling Federation Official Site — League news, schedule, team information, and replay archive
- PGF Season 9 Week 4 YouTube Highlights — Full Week 4 broadcast footage and highlight reel
- Taipei BJJ — PGF Season 9 Week 2 Recap — Previous PGF Season 9 coverage and analysis
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