After a long week of heavy competition, March 24th The Bren Centre, Irvine California saw Black Belts take to the stage for the second day of the 2019 IBJJF Pan American Championships.
The final day of the Pan American Championships was a far more cagey affair, with matches being won with tentative tactics. Not surprising when so much is on the line for these athletes, however it was the first year black belts who did most of the talking this time around.
The tournament saw The Hulk, Lucas Barbosa as man of the hour, after a dominant performance in the medium-heavy division, he took gold after closing out with his Atos team mate Gustavo Batisa. But it was his absolute final performance which got everyone talking after an extremely close matchup against Leandro Lo saw hm take home the win via a referee’s split decision.
However, performance of the night has to go to the Polish black belt Adam Wardzinski, who had a performance of a lifetime in the heavyweight semi-finals where he was able to sweep and submit Leandro Lo from the back. Unfortunately his Pan Ams run was halted in the finals by Atos’ Kaynan Duarte, who ran the clock down after scoring an early two points.
A number of people have called for the IBJJF to be more ruthless when it comes to stalling calls, something which needs to happen. Gi matches don’t ever need to be borning, Just as Tommy Langaker and Sebastian Brosche.
In the lighter divisions we saw Australian Levi Jones-Leary take the Lightweight crown after beating out the formidable Renato Canuto 6 to 4 on points.
We also saw Matheus Gabriel start his campaign off by breaking the arm of Cobhrina’s son Kennedy Maciel, and tore through his division to seal the gold.
On the women’s side of the bracket we saw Jiu-Jitsu’s darling, and the newly crowned Polaris champion Ffion Davies, once again tear through the featherweight division to win gold.
Another big story of the tournament was the return of Gabi Garcia, who has declared that she is back to grappling full time. Garcia, who took some time away from the sport to concentrate on her MMA career, showed that these mats were her home by winning double gold in her division and the Absolute.
Male Weight Classes Results
Rooster Weight
Quarter Finals
Nobuhiro Sawada defeats Mikey Musumeci (CTA) by WO
Cleber Sousa (Almeida JJ) defeats Carlos Alberto Oliveira (GFT) by points (6×4)
Hiago Gama (Alliance) defeats Livio Ribeiro (Ares) by advantage (2×2 pts)
Koji Shibamoto (Tri-Force) defeats David Herrera (Soul Fighters) by choke
Semi Finals
Cleber Sousa (Almeida JJ) defeats Nobuhiro Sawada (Tri-Force) by points (4×2)
Hiago Gama (Alliance) defeats Koji Shibamoto (Tri-Force) by advantage [2×2 pts]
Finals
Cleber Sousa defeats Hiago Gama by decision
Light-Feather Weight
Quarter Finals
Alex Sodré (NU) defeats Fernando Soares (GFT) by armbar
João Miyao (PSLPB) defeats Shimon Kagiyama (DLR) by armbar
Hiago George (PSLPB) defeats Alexis Alduncin (Renzo Gracie) by toe hold
Paulo Miyao (PSLPB) defeats Rene Lopez (CTA) by referee’s decision
Semi Finals
João Miyao (PSLPB) defeats Alex Sodré (NU) by referee’s(decision
Paulo Miyao (PSLPB) closes out division with Hiago George (PSLPB)
Finals
PSLPB team closes out the division
Feather Weight
Quarter Finals
Jamil Hill-Taylor (TLI) defeats Thiago Macedo (R. Pinheiro) by advantage [0x0 pts])
Isaac Doederlein (Alliance) defeats João Mendes (Atos) by armlock
Matheus Gabriel (Checkmat) defeats Leonardo Saggioro (BTT) by points (6×2)
Rafael Mansur (Atos) defeats Samir Chantre (Ares) by points (2×0)
Semi Finals
Jamil Hill-Taylor (TLI) defeats Isaac Doederlein (Alliance) by points (2×0)
Matheus Gabriel (Checkmat) defeats Rafael Mansur (Atos) by points (4×2)
Finals
Matheus Gabriel (Checkmat) defeats Jamil Hill-Taylor (TLI) penalty (4×4 pts)
Light Weight
Quarter Finals
Levi Jones-Leary (Unity) defeats Breno Bittencourt (Ares) by points (6×2)
Gabriel Rollo (Checkmat) defeats Francisco Iturralde (Clark Gracie) by points (16×4)
Osvaldo Moizinho (Ares) defeats Alexandre Molinaro (Carlson Gracie) by points (8×6)
Renato Canuto (Checkmat) defeats Athos Miranda (Alliance) by decision (0x0 pts)
Semi Finals
Levi Jones-Leary (Unity) defeats Gabriel Rollo (Checkmat) by a penalty
Renato Canuto (Checkmat) defeats Osvaldo Moizinho (Ares) by points (4×0)
Finals
Levi Jones-Leary defeats Renato Canuto by points (6×4)
Middle Weight
Quarter Finals
Isaque Bahiense (Alliance) defeats Leonardo Lara (Almeida JJ) by choke
Michael Liera (Atos) defeats Chad Hardy (Nashville MMA) by choke
Jaime Canuto (GFT) defeats Manuel Ribamar (R. Pinheiro) by decision (0x0 pts)
Otavio Sousa (GB) defeats Alexandre Jesus (Calasans JJ) by choke
Semi Finals
Isaque Bahiense (Alliance) defeats Michael Liera (Atos) by points (6×4)
Otavio Sousa (GB) defeats Jaime Canuto (GFT) by points (6×4)
Finals
Isaque Bahiense defeats Otavio Sousa by points (2×0)
Medium-Heavy Weight
Quarter Finals
Lucas Barbosa (Atos) defeats Tarsis Humphreys (Alliance) by points (5×0)
Matheus Diniz (Alliance) defeats Murilo Santana (Unity) by points (4×2)
Gustavo Batista (Ares) defeats Ruan Oliveira (Soul Fighters) by points (8×0)
Rudson Mateus (CTA) defeats Matheus Spirandelli (Alliance) by points (2×0)
Semi Finals
Lucas Barbosa (Atos) defeats Matheus Diniz (Alliance) by advantage (0x0 pts)
Gustavo Batista (Ares) defeats Rudson Mateus (CTA) by points (2×0)
Finals
Atos closes out the division
Heavy Weight
Quarter Finals
Leandro Lo (NsB) defeats Vinicius Gazola (Alliance) decision (0x0 pts)
Adam Wardzinski (Checkmat) defeats Fellipe Trovo (GB) choke
Patrick Gaudio (GFT) defeats Aaron Johnson (Unity) by points (15×0)
Kaynan Duarte (Atos) defeats Arnaldo Maidana (Checkmat) by points (5×0)
Semi Finals
Adam Wardzinski (Checkmat) defeats Leandro Lo (NsB) by choke
Kaynan Duarte (Atos) defeats Patrick Gaudio (GFT) by toe hold
Finals
Kaynan Duarte defeats Adam Wardzinski by 1 advantage (2×2 pts)
Super-Heavy Weight
Quarter Finals
Tanner Rice (Soul Fighters) defeats James Puopolo (RJJ) decision (6×6 pts)
Mahamed Aly (TLI) defeats Leonardo Nogueira (Alliance) by advantages (2×2 pts)
Gutemberg Pereira (GFT) defeats Helton Jose (Atos) by points (12×0)
Fellipe Andrew (Zenith) defeats Fernando Reis (Alliance) by.ankle lock
Semi Finals
Mahamed Aly (TLI) defeats Tanner Rice (Soul Fighters) by injury (deep cut)
Fellipe Andrew (Zenith) defeats Gutemberg Pereira (GFT) by points (2×0)
Finals
Fellipe Andrew def.Mahamed Aly by points (18×2)
Ultra-Heavy Weight
Quarter Finals
Guilherme Augusto (Alliance) defeats Gustavo Elias (RJJ) decision (0x0 pts)
Max Gimenis (GFT) defeats Dany Gerard (Atos) by points (9×0)
Antonio Braga Neto (Gordo JJ) defeats Pedro Agrizzi (Soul Fighters) by points (4×2)
Semi Finals
Max Gimenis (GFT) defeats Guilherme Augusto (Alliance) by points (9×0)
R. Evangelista (GFT) defeats Antonio Braga Neto (Gordo JJ) by decision (0x0)
Finals
GF Team closes out the division
Open Weight
Semi Finals
Leandro Lo defeats Gustavo Batista by 2×0
Lucas Barbosa defeats Gutemberg Pereira by advantage (0x0 pts)
Finals
Lucas Barbosa defeats Leandro Lo by split decision (0x0 pts)
Female Weight Classes Results
Rooster Weight
Finals
Mayssa Bastos (GFT) defeats Serena Gabrielli (Flow) by choke
Light-Feather Weight
Finals
Amanda Monteiro (GFT) defeats Talita Alencar (CTA) by referee’s decision
Feather Weight
Finals
Ffion Davies (ECJJA) defeats Karen Antunes (Checkmat) by points (4×2)
Light Weight
Finals
Gabi McComb (GH) defeats Nikki Sullivan (Atos) by choke
Middle Weight
Finals
Ana Carolina Vieira (GFT) defeats Laura Hallock (GFT) by points (12×0)
Medium-Heavy Weight
Finals
Luiza Monteiro (Atos) defeats Monique Elias (Alliance) by advantage (2×2 pts)
Heavy Weight
Finals
Nathiely de Jesus (R. Pinheiro) defeats Talita Nogueira (NsB) by armbar
Super-Heavy Weight
Finals
Gabi Garcia (Alliance) defeats Carina Santi (G13) by submission
Open Weight
Finals
Gabi Garcia defeats Nathiely de Jesus by 1 advantage (0x0 pts)
