Renan Borges (left)
The big name of last weekend’s Montreal International Open was black belt Renan Borges of BTT Boston, a GMA academy under the command of João Amaral.
Borges, who is always a hard nut to crack at featherweight, waded into the absolute waters and came up big.
He remarks on what inspired him to try his luck with the big guys: “I was only planning to compete in my [featherweight] division but, as I ended up signed up at lightweight, I decided to do the absolute, too.”
In the open weight final he locked horns with another GMA, Toronto BJJ’s Jorge Britto.
Renan recaps what happened in the decider: “He was real slick in sweeping using the lapel around my ankle. There was no way to defend. Even so, thank God, I managed to recover and win.”
To wrap up, Renan addresses the significance of the title, the first IBJJF absolute title of his career: “It’s always good for little guys to test themselves against the bigger guys.”
Check out a video of the absolute semifinal, against Raphael Fischetti.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYsNrorXvVk
