23.01.2007 BJJ Worlds' History, part 3BJJ enters the 21st century
2001
Double (or triple) impact
Margarida beats Saulo in two finals and is the standout, dethroning Comprido as open-weight champion
 TWO GOLDS, two wheels: the prize and celebration in style (right).
When Fernando Margarida got on the Honda Biz motor-scooter with Funk Ninja on the back, and revved it to maximum, pulling out for a sort of victory lap around the fighting area of the 6th Jiu-Jitsu world championship, his face bore an expression of childish delight. The wobbly, almost drunken, path he wove was funny. One hand was steering, the other waving. The applause from the audience distracts and salutes the biggest standout of the competition, who snatched the two most disputed categories in the game, the black-belt middle and open-weight titles. These were the most noteworthy fights:
Marga x Rodrigo Comprido, open-weight semi-final
Context – as an Almanac reader should remember, we finished the second part of the almanac with Comprido, two-time open-weight champion of 2001, as the biggest standout in competition Jiu-Jitsu. He had never lost to Margarida.
Action – and this fight was more exceptional than the one in the 2001 championship. This is not tactical combat. The two go into a whirlwind of frenetic position switching from the start. Marga has been showing much better takedowns this year, and with a standing-counter, almost falls into mounted position. The two are almost out of the ring, and Comprido stops (he alleges that he thought the referee would stop the fight to bring it back to the middle), and the one from São Paulo keeps the pace and mounts, bringing the tally to 7 to 0. This starts a rally, with Comprido trying to get back in the game. But the adversary keeps up, and after the two trade throws and sweeps, the one to convincingly take the decision is Margarida.
MARGARIDA TAKES DOWN Comprido in the openweight semifinal and frees himself of the stigma of always being stopped by the two-time champion of 1999-2000.
Marga x Saulo Ribeiro, dispute the middleweight title
Context – The open-weight final is on Sunday, for the first time since the open-weight division moved to Saturday (the current format). And this happens after the other disputes of the black-belt division. Even so, the two athletes fight for the middle-weight category, and fight thrice each till before reaching this final. Despite the most important title ending the tournament, the most impressive fight was the first one with Saulo, which begins the black-belt finals. Action – still confident, Royler’s student opens the scoring with a takedown, and almost passes the guard. Marga re-sets his guard and, when the fight is back standing, his superiority is already showing through. He breaks his opponent’s gripsand lands a perfect takedown. A few minutes pass, but Saulo’s security wavers, and he stops completely. The one from São Paulo is showing tremendous pace. He takes top position, passes the guard and, barely gets a choke with his knee on the belly, when his rival taps. The victory of the man from São Paulo by two to one, one hundred minutes later, in the final of the open, does not overshadow this astounding middle-weight victory, where his superiority was absolute.
VITOR SHAOLIN seals his final participation in the Worlds bombarding the guard and robbing (for one year) the middleweight title form Fernando Tererê. “He played to beat me, started leading by 2 to 0 but I rallied and won by advantage,” remembers Shaolin. ~It was my most notable World championship. I remember that because I made weight I could eat McDonalds the night before!” The beast from Nova União also made 200 dollars by selling his gi to a foreigner in Tijuca.
FABIO GURGEL also says goodbye to top Jiu-Jitsu competition in this fight against Fábio Leopoldo, from São Paulo (on the bottom), heavyweight semifinal, which would be won by Comprido.
 RICARDO VIEIRA takes from Róbson Moura the chance to become six-time world champion, and celebrates enthusiastically. One fight earlier, he would become featherweight black belt champion.
THE BLACK BELT from Goias Fernando Boi passes Daniel Simões’ guard and takes the super heavyweight.
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