26.12.2007 The absolute wayA tale of the race for the most important title of the first no-gi Jiu-Jitsu world championship
written by Luca Atalla, with photos by Guilherme Rafols
With his legs in the air, Rubens Cobrinha balances with his head to the floor, spins and lands by his adversary’s side.
It was a good thing he used his acrobatics. After all, two weeks from now, he’ll have to take his driving exam in Atlanta, where he lives, and will have to hold on.
“Right, I’ll avoid the pirouettes,” says the beast from Alliance, after taking the featherweight title at the No-Gi Worlds, on December 15th, in California.
Not satisfied in being the only black belt to win the Worlds with and without the gi in the same year, Cobrinha decided to try his luck in the absolute.
And it was going well, till caught by surprise by Roberto Tussa, of Gracie Barra, who strangled his little adversary with a triangle with the arm and leg together.
“Look, I like to get out of my comfort zone, that’s why I entered the absolute. But I must confess: [in the fight with Tussa] I saw I was getting to good positions, but I couldn’t solve my problems.
“Jiu-Jitsu really is like they say, a game of chess,” continued Cobrinha, philosophizing: “In accordance with the how the movements play out, either you make a mistake, or your are driven to make a mistake. And it gets to a point where there’s no way out, it’s checkmate.”
Tussa was determined. After winning at his division (he submitted Fabio Leopoldo in the heavyweight final), he was able of not getting lost with Cobrinha fast pace, and came back from a score that had already reached eight for his adversary with a spot on that weird triangle.
And what an absolute to have taken place on the mats of California State University Dominguez Hills gymnasium, beyond Cobrinha and Tussa, it was.
Unhappy with taking second at lightweight, Daniel Roupinol (Renzo Gracie team), 73 kg, faced off with 30kg his heavier Jeff Monson (American Top Team)... And, as unbelievable as it might seem, he was the only one in the whole tournament to score on the giant. With nothing less than a sweep, the Brazilian went ahead.
But the happiness of little guys is short lived, and the “Snowman” put his Jiu-Jitsu to work, passing the guard to turn the score in his favor and guarantee his place in the semis.
On the other side, middleweight Lucas Leite tried to settle on the back of Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu (ATT), who, unsatisfied with his performance at super-heavyweight (where he tapped to Vinicius “Pezao” Magalhaes), managed to contain the Brasa prodigy.
Winner of the ADCC trials in Brazil at the beginning of 2007, Cristiano “Titi” Lazzarini (Gracie Barra) proved he was the most dangerous black belt of the championship. In the super heavyweight, he submitted the eventual champion with a arm and shoulder choke from within the guard, and set aside his traditional guillotine for Cyborg here, in the absolute race.
In a riveting semifinal – perhaps the best bout of the championship – Titi fenced in American Bill Cooper (Paragon/Alliance) with his attacks. But willing to go the distance in his black belt debut, the Franjinha student pulled out the stops with his good defenses and getting his head out only he knows how, and scoring enough to make it to through the decision.
“The guy was as big as Monson, his arms were the size of my both legs together. It was really tough, he hurt my neck pretty good, but I battle it through,” Cooper celebrated.
To qualify for the final, and thus redeem himself for the controversial loss in the super super-heavyweight final to Bruno Paulista (Gracie Barra), Jeff Monson contained Tussa’s momentum and winced with pain as he asked for medical attention, but he was just fine, thank you.
As Bill Cooper, who jumped, cart-wheeled, somersaulted, tried what he could, but only managed to suffer a takedown and advantages before the Ricardo Liborio student in the dispute for the most important title in the competition, knew very well.
Crowned world champion of no-gi Jiu-Jitsu, Jeff Monson left proud of his achievement. And, still quite red from the effect of the increase of circulation in his extremely white skin, he declared to GRACIEMAG.com:
“It means a lot, because when I started it out, every one goes oh, he is just a wrestler, he just takes people down, he doesn't know Jiu-Jitsu, he is just big and strong... So getting my blackbelt with Ricardo Liborio, learning positioning, learning the ground game and now taking the world championship, it means a lot, it means a lot of years getting beat up in the room, getting submitted, feeling that I am not good, and been persistent until I got to the point that I am now.”
With Monson, Bill Cooper, Tussa, Titi, Cyborg, Lucas Leite, Roupinol and many other beasts in the running, the absolute division of the no-gi worlds was a track with many overtaking points. And those that raced on hit and came out without denting their bumpers should get their driver’s license without taking the road test.
Go tell that to the DMV over there in Georgia, Cobrinha...
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