Devhonte Johnson securing a choke. Photo: Erin Herle

The 2014 IBJJF Boston Summer at UMass Athletics was a day for the absolutes. Since the black belts had a good mix of matches in the open due to lack of opponents in their weight divisions, so too did the blue belt and purple belt opens.

A good day for Devhonte

Blue belt Devhonte Johnson of Carvalho BJJ Academy traveled up from New Jersey to compete in the heavyweight division. On his way to the gold he had three matches. His first match was won by submission, his second match was won by points, and in his final, although he was tested, he was able to submit for the gold.

He says, “My toughest match without a doubt was in the finals of my weight class. My opponent was very strong and did a really good job of off-setting my balance in very unorthodox ways and managed to sweep me three times. But I was pretty confident in my game and just weathered the storm. Fortunately I was able to sweep him twice, take him down once and pass his guard and with about 30 seconds left I was able to secure a wrist lock to get the submission.”

For the open weight, he had a total of four matches. And in each one, he never allowed his opponents to secure a point or advantage against him. Three of the matches were won by submission while the final was a score of 10-0 points. “It was a good day,” he says.

Another double-gold for Devon

Devon Delbrugge with a mounted triangle. Photo: Erin Herle

Purple belt Devon Delbrugge of Crazy 88/Team Lloyd Irvin of Baltimore, MD is no stranger to the podium at the IBJJF city opens. In Boston he was able to secure another double-gold with almost all submissions. In his middleweight division there were three matches. His first opponent was finished with a wrist lock from mount. In his second match he submitted with an ankle lock from 50/50 position. The final was finished with a triangle from mount.

In the open weight category, Devon had three matches. His first was a cross choke from mount, his second match went the distance with a score of 12-0 and the final match was completed with a reverse triangle, “Braulio Estima style”.

He explains one of his toughest matches: “So this tournament I felt that I gave up a lot less mistakes than I usually do, so I was able to get to a dominant spot pretty quick. But in my first match of the open, my opponent kept rolling out of bounds with a footlock which got him two points twice in the match. That was probably the toughest because I had to play catch up from a 0-4 start.”

But competing under pressure has never been a problem. “I’ve noticed that I perform way better at bigger tournaments compared to the smaller ones or even how I roll in practice.”

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See the full results here: http://static.ibjjfdb.com/Campeonato/000295/en-US/Results.pdf

Formiga wins the open weight. Photo: Erin Herle

At the 2014 Boston Summer Open, a majority of the black belts met in the absolute. Since some of the divisions did not have opponents, most of the lone athletes entered the open weight no matter the pounds they weighed on the scale.

For the males, the winner was Rafael Formiga Barbosa of Soul Fighters who swept and submitted his way to the gold. For the ladies, the crowd was offered a chance to watch black belt females where new black belt Nathalia Amaral of BTT Boston won the gold.

Here is how each division unfolded:

MALES

Light-feather: Daniel Beleza had no one else in his division and took the gold.

Feather: Gianni Grippo defeated Edson Oliveira by 8-6 points for the gold.

Light: Renan Borges had no one else in his division and took the gold.

Middle: Rafael Formiga Barbosa defeated Vinicius Silva by a quick straight armbar for the gold.

Medium-Heavy: Daniel Simmler defeated Raphael Fischetti by DQ.
Simmler then defeated John Diggins by foot lock.

Heavy: Carlos Robson Gracie had no one else in his division and took the gold.

Ultra-heavy: James Puopolo defeated Paulo Martins by kneebar for the gold.

FEMALES

Light-feather: Marcelo Lawton, who placed second place at the 2014 World Championship had no one else in her division and took the gold.

Medium-heavy: Nathalia Amaral, who was recently awarded her black belt, had no one else in her division and took the gold.

OPEN WEIGHT

The matches for the male open weight were as follows:

John Diggins defeated Vinicius Silva by 4-0 points.
Renan Borges defeated Robson Gracie by 14-2 points.
Rafael Formiga defeated Dan Simmler by clock choke.
James Puopolo defeated Paulo Martins by choke from the back.
Gianni Grippo defeated John Diggins by 6-0 points.
Rafael Formiga defeated James Puopolo by 6-4 points.
Renan Borges defeated Gianni Grippo by referee decision.
Rafael Formiga defeated Renan Borges by armbar for the gold.

The female match was between Nathalia Amaral and Marcela Lawton. The final score was 19-0 and this was Nathalia’s first black belt match.

Nathalia Amaral wins the open weight. Photo: Erin Herle

For full results please go here: http://static.ibjjfdb.com/Campeonato/000295/en-US/Results.pdf

Check out photos here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152730791169260.1073741883.142782289259