A daunting task, but the technique spoke louder.

Fights between athletes of big disparity in height and weight have a way of catching the attention of the audience in open divisions of BJJ tourneys. One of these can be found in the following video.

In a purple-belt gi absolute, the small athlete seen in white took on a hulk of an opponent. In order to overcome him, the fighter in white had to resort to excellent technique. After attacking via single-leg, he transitioned to the side, sought the back, mounted, and strangled with the use of the lapel, to the delight of those in attendance.

Watch and be fearless.

Rudson Mateus. Beatriz Lina

Rudson Mateus, of team Caio Terra, shone this weekend with double gold at the brown belt. First among medium heavyweights, he beat six opponents, including Gustavo Batista (Ns Brotherhood) in the final.

In the open division, Rudson had another four matches. First he outplayed Gutemberg Pereira (GFTeam), who was super-heavyweight champion this weekend and ranked among the favorites. Then he defeated heavyweight champion Vinícus Gazola (Alliance). After that, it was time to face ultra-heavyweight Casey Hellenberg (Ribeiro JJ) and secure a spot in the final. Finally Rudson beat Perttu Tepponen (Hilti BJJ) to wrap up his memorable campaign.

Stick around for more coverage of Brazilian jiu-jitsu’s biggest day.

Marcus Buchecha takes down Erberth Santos in the open division. Pictures: Beatriz Lina/GRACIEMAG

The legend Marcus Buchecha will be fighting for his fifth absolute gold this Sunday. Meanwhile Leandro Lo has reached his first absolute final — before, he had been stopped by injury, Bernardo Faria or some other hurdle.

While you decide which of the two stars you’re rooting for, how about looking at how they each reached the final?

Unlike in recent years, this has not been an absolute division with a world champion in every corner. That’s the case because André Galvão, Romulo Barral, Felipe Preguiça and more opted to fight only in their weight classes. On just two pages the IBJJF printed the open division’s brackets — half as many as the usual.

Leandro Lo entered the fight area first, and scored an economical 2-0 over Danny Guy. Then he met in a quarterfinal João Gabriel Rocha, who had passed Nicholas Meregali’s guard. Lo swept Rocha for another 2-0 win, although this time he had to hustle to survive incessant attacks. Meanwhile, Luiz Panza was having a perfect fight against Bernardo Faria, pulling to the open guard early, sweeping the 2015 absolute champion and scoring an advantage at the very end to reach the semifinals (4-4 on points).

In their semifinal encounter, Lo had to get around the guard and locks of Panza, his old colleague from events in Sao Paulo, like Copa Podio. Lo did what he had to: he masterfully passed the guard, scoring three points. Close to the end he yielded two points, but got through to the final — nothing fancy, but lots of technique involved.

Lo deciphered Panza’s guard in a semifinal. Beatriz Lina/GRACIEMAG

Buchecha’s fury

Marcus Vinicius “Buchecha” Almeida started out at full force. With a fire-spitting demeanor, the Checkmat teacher first submitted Igor Tigrão on the arm, following a scramble and some different attacks attempted. Next up was Mahamed Aly, who had beaten Matheus Diniz 7-0 in a tough fight. Buchecha hugged super-heavyweight Aly’s waist, took him down and landed almost on the back. After scoring eight points, Buchecha choked him.

His semifinal match was against Erberth Santos. Santos had first beaten Roberto Cyborg by one advantage in an exciting bout. He had then defeated Tanner Rice 2-0 (clearly Rice is a tough opponent, but there was the impression that no one wanted to get too tired).

And then came Buchecha and Santos’s semifinal, the most eventful match from Saturday. Erberth was more alert at the beginning, and shook Buchecha, even throwing him off the mat and into the ad banners. Buchecha came back with a vengeance, stapled Santos and threw him to the ground. Santos tried his best not to allow him to stabilize, but Buchecha was swifter and landed on half-guard. From that point the action subsided, and Buchecha secured a spot in another final, against a Leandro Lo who will be debuting in the biggest fight of the BJJ season.

Who will win this one? Don’t forget to let us know what you think.

(Repost @flograppling) It’s going down!!! Buchecha confirms he will face Leandro on the absolute final of @ibjjf Worlds! #jiujitsu #blackbelt #worlds2017 #ibjjfworlds #ibjjf #brazilianjiujitsu

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Tayane beats Bia in the women’s absolute

Tayane Porfírio confirmed her position as favorite by securing her spot in the final with two finishes and then a win over Bia Mesquita by 4 advantages to 1 (2-2 on points).

This has been a tournament full of surprises, like Mackenzie Dern’s first-round elimination at the hands of Venla Luukonen, who scored 5-0.

Nathiely Jesus will be Porfírio’s opponent in the final. Nathi looked unstoppable from the get-go, beating Amanda Loewen 20-4. Then she scored eight points to Monique Elias’s six, and in a semifinal she beat Jéssica Flowers 2-0.

Tayane beat Bia Mesquita this Saturday. Beatriz Lina/GRACIEMAG

Pedro Machado displays his two gold medals on the absolute podium.

Thursday, June 1st, saw the first day of the 2017 World Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship in Long Beach. Kicking off the action at the Walter Pyramid were the white-, blue- and purple-belts in the adult divisions.

Most noteworthy were events that transpired in the women’s purple belt absolute and the men’s blue belt. American purple-belt Jessica Guendry, of Soul Fighters, nabbed double gold, as did Brazilian blue-belt Pedro Machado, of Gordo Jiu-Jitsu.

Medium heavyweight Guendry won four bouts in her weight division, including the final opposite Emily Sheil (JR Academy). In the open division, Guendry won three more matches before facing and defeating Kendall Reusing (Gracie Barra).

Pedro Machado, a medium heavyweight blue-belt under Paulo “Rabicó” Perrota, won his weight division’s final over Reda Hamzaoui (GF Team) by sweeping and scoring 2-0. That meant he had beaten a massive field of 66 other athletes, all told. In the open division, he defeated three opponents to reach the final against Taylor Kettler (Renato Tavares Association), which he won as well.

You can click here to see the results of the 2017 Worlds so far.

The heat was on between Lo and Erberth. Flashsport.

Barueri Gymnasium in Sao Paulo was packed all of last week for the 21st Brazilian National Jiu-Jitsu Championship. A total 5,750 athletes kept the 12 mats very busy. Sunday the 30th saw the black-belt adult finals. Leandro Lo and Tayane Porfírio confirmed their favoritism and each won double gold.

Last year’s absolute champion Erberth Santos defended his title against Lo, and also met him in the super-heavyweight final. In the super-heavyweight final, Erberth started out with plenty of pressure and won an advantage from a guard pass attempt. Lo stayed calm, and swept and passed towards the end, winning 5-0. After every other men’s final had played out, the pair returned to the arena for the absolute final. The loud crowd had clearly not had enough of the two.

It started with a fantastic takedown by Lo, granting him a two-point lead. His supporters were still busy cheering when Erberth neatly swept from the closed guard. They resumed the action standing, and, with two minutes to go, Lo charged Erberth while Erberth was jumping to pull guard. The ref didn’t immediately acknowledged it, but then a side referee signaled the takedown, and Lo was again leading by two.

Erberth complained, threatening not to return to finish the match, and was therefore punished. The fight that eventually went on had now become a different beast, with both fighters talking and being punished. At the end the score read 6-4 — Lo was the absolute champion, applauded by the crowd and even by his rival. For this BJJ season, now Lo has double gold in the Pan, Euro and Brazilian Nationals, as well as every intention to extend the streak in June.

Men’s results
Ultra-heavy: Victor Honório (GFTeam) def. Igor “Tigrão” (Ns Brotherhood)
Heavy: Dimitrius Souza def. Guilherme Augusto
Medium-heavy: Patrick Gaudio (GFTeam) def. Renato Cardoso (Alliance)
Middle: Jaime Canuto (GFTeam) def. Otávio Sousa (Gracie Barra)
Light: Michael Langhi (Alliance) def. Gabriel Rollo (Checkmat)
Feather: Rubens “Cobrinha” (Alliance) def. Rafael Mansur (Cicero Costha)
Light-feather: José Thiago (Cícero Costha) def. Cleber Fernandes (Almeida JJ)
Rooster: Aniel Candido def. Rodinei Junior

Tayane left no room for upsets. Flashsport.

Women’s

Alliance’s Tayane Porfírio won the first half of her double gold by defeating Luzia Fernandes (Gracie Barra) in the ultra-heavyweight final via americana from the mount. Then, in the open division, she collided with Bia Mesquita, who had won the lightweight final over Bia Basílio. Tayane put the pressure on and passed Mesquita’s guard to score three points. Tayane kept on pressing, and Mesquita’s resistance until the end only sufficed to leave the score unchanged.

Women’s results
Super-heavy: Talita Treta (Ns Brotherhood) def. Samela Lopes (Ribeiro JJ)
Heavy: Claudia do Val (De La Riva) def. Nathiely de Jesus (Cicero Costha)
Medium-heavy: Carina Santi (G13) won by default
Middle: Nívia Moura (Ribeiro JJ) def. Barbara Gomes (UCB)
Light: Beatriz Mesquita (Gracie Humaitá) def. Bianca Basílio (Almeida JJ)
Feather: Andressa Souza (Barbosa JJ) def. Alliny Santos (Nova União)
Light-feather: Thamires (GFTeam) Aquino def. Vanderlucia Lima (Boca Team)

Lo will fight as a heavyweight in the quest for his sixth world championship. Luca Atalla.

The only fighter in BJJ history to win world titles in three weight classes, five-time champ Leandro Lo is having a fantastic season. In four months he has conquered double gold in the European and the Pan, and more recently won a superfight at the American ADCC Trials against the dangerous Gordon Ryan, a student under Renzo Gracie.

“It was good having done this fight, since there is the ADCC this year and I was invited,” Lo told Graciemag. “My adversary changed on the day of the fight, as Braulio Estima suffered a lesion when he was warming up. I faced a guy who is used to fighting no-gi and has been racking up great results. But the important thing is that it all worked out and I came out with the win.”

Recovered from a knee injury, Lo has confirmed his presence at the Brazilian Nationals this weekend in Barueri. “I chose not to fight in Abu Dhabi in order to be in optimal shape for the Nationals and the Worlds,” he said.

Lo never hid the fact that his goal is to become absolute world champion, and he has been gradually gaining weight while retaining his claim to being the best in the world at each step. He started out winning the lightweight world title in 2012 and 2013, then the middleweight crown in 2014, and then the medium heavyweight gold in 2015 and 2016.

“Ever since I started consulting with a nutritionist, I’ve been feeling much better,” he said. “I managed to gain a good deal of weight and I continue to perform well. I will take part in every championship this season among the heavyweights, but my focus is the Worlds’ absolute division. That is the title I want most in my career.”

Lo is also confirmed as a contender in the IBJJF Pro League’s Heavyweight GP, scheduled for Aug. 26 in Vegas. This will be an eight-man tourney with a 40-thousand-dollar top prize. His opposition will include Roger Gracie, Marcus Buchecha and André Galvão.

The black belt open class male and female kicks off this Saturday, at 11:30AM.

Follow the complete coverage at GRACIEMAG’s social media channels: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.

Coverage brought to you by GAMENESS.

The first day of action at the 2016 World Jiu-Jitsu championship featured lots of thrills in over 12 hours of Jiu-Jitsu at the Long Beach Pyramid.

The main attraction was the adult male blue belt division, but juvenile and master white belts also took to the mats to pour their hearts out in search of the much wanted gold medal.

In the blue belt division, Guigo Jiu-Jitsu’s Luis Eduardo do Carmo was the stand out after all was said and done with a double gold campaign. Duzão first won the ultra-heavy division after six matches, then he went for the open class title.

In the absolute, Do Carmo had five more matches and made his way to the top of the podium with five submissions. In the final, he caught Mauricio Oliveira Neto with an americana lock from side control.

After his second podium ceremony, Duzão was graduated to purple belt by his Professor Guigo.

The male adult purple belt division started out this Thursday with two divisions, the roosterweight and the light-feather. Rubens Cobrinha’s son Kennedy Maciel won his first title in the Worlds as an adult when he managed a last-second sweep on Jonata Ramos.

Click here for the full results of day 1.

The 2016 Worlds resumes this Friday at 9AM local time with the remainder of the male adult purple belt division, two divisions in the male brown belt and the female blue and purple belt divisions.

Click here for the full schedule of day 2

Here’s a photo gallery of the best moments of the blue belt open class division.

Follow the complete coverage at GRACIEMAG’s social media channels: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.

Coverage brought to you by GAMENESS.

Michael Liera Jr. was the standout at the IBJJF 2015 Seattle Open, this Saturday.

He won double gold at the male adult black belt division.

Here’s the absolute final.

Watch how Liera submitted his way to the gold medal.

After nearly seven minutes Calasans frees his leg from Marte’s and although Marte attempts a reversal, Calasans secure the pass points. After a minute Marte turtles to recover his guard and Calasans sits in double guard position to work a leg drag. As he comes up, Marte jumps up with Calasans leg in his hand to earn a sweep. Calasans tries an immediate sweep to counter but Marte stands, then pulls guard then comes up. As Marte tries to get to Calasans back, he ends up bottom as Calasans earns sweep points.

They stand and Marte pulls guard and sweeps to earn two more points but wasn’t able to catch up to Calasans’ total giving the win to Calasans.

Watch the full match here:

Gutemberg after his win in the absolute. Photo: Erin Herle

The blue and purple belt male adult divisions at the 2014 IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship were no joke on Saturday, Oct. 5 in Azusa, CA. Both absolute brackets held multiple fights each for whichever athlete made it to the final.

In the blue belt absolute, Devhonte Johnson was able to earn the gold that he missed in his heavyweight division. The Carvalho BJJ Academy student was not able to capture the win in his final match against Johan Romming and received the silver medal due to a 4-0 points loss. But he was motivated to do well in the open weight and to repeat his achievement at the Pan No-Gi by winning gold in the absolute.

Devhonte submits with an armbar. Photo: Erin Herle

Devhonte had three matches in the open and the toughest were the finals and the semi-final. In the semi-final, Josh Valles’ guard was tough to pass. “Josh has an impassable guard. I tried to take his back and failed and he tried to take my back at the end. It was a back and forth battle,” he says of the semis. In the finals, Australian Tobias Green gave Devhonte a tough match as well. He also went against him in the No-Gi Pans one week prior in weight and absolute. At the Worlds they met twice again. “This was my fourth time fighting him. I swept him twice in the match to win. He’s very strong and resilient and when I fought him in the semis of the weight division luck was on my side when I got out of the darce choke.”

In the purple belt absolute, the Pan No-Gi double gold champion conquered the same feat in Azusa. Gutemberg Pereira of GFTeam won four matches in the super-heavyweight division and also four in the absolute. He had five submissions during the day. His toughest match was the first match of the absolute because of his opponents’ flexibility and he only won by two advantages.

Gutemberg in the absolute. Photo: Erin Herle

The accomplishment meant a lot to him and his path. “When I win it’s gratification for all the obstacles I have to pass day to day–my daily struggles. My biggest inspiration is my mom,” says the 20-year-old.

Raquel going for the choke. Photo: Erin Herle

The females had their own exciting matches going on opposite the males. The blue belt open dwindled down to two medium-heavyweights, a rematch from the medium-heavy final. Raquel Paaluhi of Maui Jiu-Jitsu earned the win in the open weight over Ambar Villagran of Checkmat. Ambar, from Sweden, earned the gold in the division. The podium was shared with Lauren Murphy, the middleweight gold medalist and Crystal Demopoulos a light featherweight who earned silver earlier in the day.

The final of the purple belt female absolute. Photo: Erin Herle

Purple belt females had a war with multiple girls in different weight classes. The final came down to Jessica da Silva Oliveira of Gracie Barra and Heather Raftery of Fight Sports. Jessica took the win and Judith Gomes shared third with Ana Talita de Oliveira Alencar, both featherweights.

See full results here: http://static.ibjjfdb.com/Campeonato/000313/en-US/Results.pdf

And a full photo gallery of the divisions:

Check out the full match below: