The four matches are as follows. First off, Penny Thomas will take on Tracey Goodell in a showdown of female grapplers. The next match features Hermes Franca taking on Ryan Hall. Ryan Hall is a Grappler’s Quest champion, and Hermes Franca is best known for his runs in the UFC and WEC, becoming Lightweight Champion in the WEC and challenging for the Lightweight Championship in the UFC. While it’s true that Franca recently retired from active Mixed Martial Arts competition, his love of Brazilian Jui-Jitsu means he’ll get one last chance to impress the UFC’s fans.

But perhaps the biggest news for these four grappling fights is that two fights will feature members of the famous Gracie family, the archetypes of Brazilian Jui Jitsu and some of the earliest pioneers of MMA. Despite their rather disheartening fall from grace (it’s been quite a while since a Gracie family member has proven relevant in today’s modern MMA scene), the Gracie clan will forever be tied to the UFC. For the UFC Boston Fan Expo, former UFC fighter Rolles Gracie will take on Roberto Abreu, while Gregor Gracie faces Abu Dhabi World Champion Pablo Popovitch.

These four grappling “super-fights” should add a lot to the Expo’s festivities, since every match sounds very interesting. I think it’s a real step in the right direction to continuously hold grappling events at UFC Fan Expos, since it sends the message that the UFC has a lot of respect for the grappling arts. It should be a whole lot of fun seeing four expert grapplers doing what they do best. The UFC continues to book Fan Expo after Fan Expo, and although they’ve begun to come under fire for booking too many too often, if they keep filling the festivities with can’t-miss attractions such as these, they’re going to be too start-studded to pass up.

A word to the wise, though: the UFC is already criticized for over-booking themselves, and people are already thinking that the oversaturation of the UFC will do more harm than good in the long run. I think this will apply to UFC Fan Expos before too long as well. If ever major event has a Fan Expo tied behind it, the Fan Expos will begin to lose their luster. The very nature of an Expo marks it as a special occasion, a brief gathering of all the great things you love about your special interest. Holding them year-round is not only pricey and difficult to pull off, it’s unnecessary and before long, fans will wonder what the point of it all is. However, I’ll give the UFC the benefit of the doubt: if they keep their Fan Expo schedule to only once or twice a year, there’s a good chance that each Expo will bring something new and different to the table, resulting in successful expo after successful expo.

And what do you think, fans and friends? For those on the fence, are these grappling super-fights enough to get you to put your dollar down? And do you think the UFC is holding too many or even too few Fan Expos?