Braulio starts off attacking the neck, and in the moments that follow the two circle the mat, Humphreys defending, till he breaks free and ends up in a well-defined position, on top, in the Northern Brazilian’s closed-guard.
In a demonstration of a rare adjustment in No-Gi fighting, Braulio varies his attacks going after the arm, the back and attempting to mount, until a cornered but feisty Tarsis ends his participation in the 2008 Pan in tragic fashion. Following the example of the Gi Pan, at the start of the year, when he injured his shoulder in the final against Andre Galvao, the black belt left the event in pain, this time with his rib our of place.
With Renzo Gracie’s team title secured, Rolles and Braulio opted not to fight in the final.
“That’s right, we’ve been training partners for 10 years, we trained together for this competition and many others, there was no time set aside for the final, so we didn’t feel the need to do this fight,” Braulio justified, happy with his performance.
The first international federation event in New York, the No-Gi Pan, was held this Saturday, October 4, and it combined all the ingredients needed for a successful championship.
Big stars, with Braulio Estima, Rolles Gracie, Pablo Popovitch, Tarsis Humphreys, Rubens Cobrinha, among others, capacity sold out, both in terms of participants (the organization closed sign-ups one day earlier than expected, since the number of athletes for the one-day competition had reached its limit), and in terms of spectators, (by 2 pm the ticket booth had closed, as security would no longer let people into the gymnasium).
And a memorable sequence of images, which you can see here. Full results right here.
Main results:
Adult, by academy:
1st lugar, Renzo Gracie
2nd lugar, Alliance
3rd lugar, American Top Team
Adult black belt, individual:
Absolute
1st - Braulio Estima
2nd - Rolles Gracie
Ultra Heavyweight
1st - Bruno Paulista
2nd - Rolles Gracie
Super Heavyweight
1st - Mikhail Cirkunov
2nd - Andre Gusmao
Heavyweight
1st - Braulio Estima
2nd - Roberto Tussa
Medium Heavyweight
1st - Pablo Popovitch
2nd - Tarsis Humphreys
Middleweight
1st - Marcelo Uirapuru
2nd - Lucas Lepri
Lightweight
1st - Rubens Charles
2nd - Daniel Aguiar
Featherweight
1st - Renan Borges
2nd - Aaron Milam
Super Feather weight
1st - Samuel Braga
2nd - Rafael Freitas
