Braulio Estima wins the open. Photo: Jesper Aggergaard

Text by Oliver Geddes

The IBJJF’s first competition in Copenhagen bore witness to some spectacular black belt gi divisional matches as well as an action-packed absolute, with competitors from across Europe producing some spectacular fights on May 3 of the two-day event.

In the black belt lightweight division, Sweden-based Robson Barbosa of Checkmat defeated France’s Julien Gaillard by points. In the final he defeated the UK’s Oliver Geddes by a takedown to claim gold in a truly international group.

The three-man middleweight division saw Switzerland’s Thomas Oyarzun of Alliance take the top spot. He defeated Nic Ruben Nikolaisen of Frontline Academy, Norway in his first match, but Nic was not finished yet. After defeating Victor Estima student Gareth Neale by points he returned to the final for a second attempt. This time the match was much closer, with Oyarzun securing his second victory and the top spot by a single advantage.

Braulio Estima secured his path to the medium heavyweight final by submitting Maksymilian Wisniewski with a choke from the mount, whilst Alan ‘Finfou’ de Nascimento submitted the Frenchman Julien Cazier to set up the final that everyone present had been waiting for. After around four minutes of testing himself against ‘Finfou’s’ tricky guard, managed to briefly attack the back. As ‘Finfou’ moved to escape, Braulio secured an arm triangle choke from the top position to take the submission victory and the gold medal.

Sadayoshi Kurimori of Impacto BJJ had the longest road of anyone to his gold medal, needing three fights to win his heavyweight division. He defeated Jaroslaw Gajek of Poland by kneebar in his first fight, John Rickel of Street Sports BJJ 4-0 in his second, and the Norway-based Renato Tavares in the final by a margin of 6-0.

The super-heavyweight division pitted Karim Khalifa of Alliance against the Czech Republic’s Michael Bittner in a straight final. Karim secured a kneebar to take the victory and the Copenhagen International Open title.

The final of the absolute division was contested between heavyweight gold medallist Sadayoshi Kurimori and medium heavyweight gold medallist Braulio Estima. Braulio reached the final by submitting both his opponents, Karim Khalifa with a triangle from the mount and Maksymilian Wisniewski with shoulder pressure from the side control position. On the other side, Sadayoshi defeated middleweight gold medallist Thomas Oyarzun with a choke from the back before defeating Braulio’s teammate Gareth Neale 6-0 on points to book his spot in the openweight final. Braulio pulled the guard, swept, and as Sadayoshi was working the guard from the bottom, he was unfortunately struck by a serious bout of cramp in one leg. This unfortunately brought an exciting match to a premature end, and despite Braulio’s protestations that Sadayoshi be allowed time to recover and continue, the rules are clear, and with that disappointing ending, Braulio took the openweight title to add to his divisional one and bring an end to his day of competition without allowing an opponent to see the end of a ten-minute match.

In the female divisions, Copenhagen’s own Shanti Abelha, of Checkmat / Arte Suave triumphed in the black belt middle heavyweight and absolute categories, defeating Gretchen Zoeller of Gracie Barra in her division before repeating the feat in the absolute to close out the day with both the titles she had come for.

To see the full results, click here.

And a photo album, click here.

To say that a single fight could define a competition would be to a do a disservice to every competitor whose sweat and blood stained the mats along the paths to their own medals and stories.

That said, if there was one fight that defined the 2014 IBJJF Copenhagen International Open, it would have been the clash of Braulio Estima and Alan ‘FinFou’ de Nascimento in the medium heavyweight final.

Two huge names of the sport took to the mat in a hall filled with their respective supporters and for just a few minutes, there was near-silence as all eyes turned to one area of the arena floor.

Watch the match and experience the atmosphere yourself here: