On Saturday, in the adult super heavy brown belt division, James Puopolo, from Ribeiro Jiu Jitsu was the big winner of the day, winning gold in both his weight class and the absolute.

Puopolo, Saulo, and his father. Photos: Deb Blyth

In the adult brown belt absolute, Puopolo had three matches on Saturday. In his first match, he won by submission. “I was able to get a triangle right off the bat,” Puopolo says. In his second match, Puopolo fought Sean Roberts. “He gave me some problems,” he says, “He swept me and tried to submit me. It was 4-4 when I caught him with an armbar and submitted him.” In his third and final match, Puopolo was victorious with a 9-0 win.

On Sunday, he fought Brett Aldrich from Rodrigo Teixeira in his divisional final. Puopolo had two matches in his weight division and he did not mess around. In his first match, he went up against Ricardo Buffara from BJJ Revolution and got him in a triangle choke. In his final match with Aldrich, Puopolo pulled guard and got a deep collar grip in. “I opened my guard, and worked the pass,” he says, “He had a good pass defense. I got around, got into mount, and submitted him with a choke from mount.”

This gave him two gold medals for the weekend. “That was the goal,” he says, “I love these tournaments. They aren’t too big or too small, and I always get good matches.” Puopolo says he loves the American Nationals and won gold at both blue and purple belts as well.

Runez with his teacher Bruno Bastos

In the lightweight, adult brown belt division, Peter Runez of Nova Uniao and Noah Tillis of BJJ Revolution met in the final match, with Runez pulling off the big win. He had three matches and a bye on Sunday.

In his first match, Runez says he fought a “great kid.” Runez says he won the fight 10-0, but “I couldn’t get a submission on him. He was a really tough guy.” In his second match, he won by guillotine and in his third and final match, he faced off with Tillis. Showing true jiu-jitsu sportsmanship, Runez says, “He’s (Tillis) a wrestler. I was lucky to hang on.”

The final match was very aggressive and explosive. Both players tried to take each other down, sometimes ending up out of bounds or beyond the mat borders.

Peter Runez vs. Tillis

Runez says, “He (Tillis) was great. It was a good tournament.” Runez trains at three schools, Peak Performance, Team Lutter, and Octagon, and can next be found at the No-Gi Worlds in November.

In the adult medium weight brown belt finals, Sean Roberts from Ralph Gracie and Tim Peterson from Lotus Club BJJ promised to put on a good show. Roberts was in Peterson’s guard the majority of the match. Peterson swept and mounted Roberts, but Roberts eventually escaped. Peterson ended up taking gold, beating Roberts by points.

Peterson had three matches that day. In the first match he finished his opponent with an arm bar from guard. The second match he tried to take his competitor’s back from the closed guard. “I worked in half-guard then went to a 50/50,” Peterson says, “I swept him and he tried a foot lock, but he made an illegal move and was DQ’d.”

As for the final match with Roberts, Peterson says, “he likes to submit from closed guard. I pulled guard because I wanted to feel him out. I wanted to make the right decisions.” With time running out, Roberts tried a foot lock, but Peterson waited him out and won gold on points. “The experience was great,” Peterson says, “the IBJJF tournaments are so well run, and organized, and the refs are great. It was fun.”

Seraile and Yoshida

In the adult brown belt ultra heavy weight division, Raymond “Kong” Seraile of Undisputed prevailed over 42-year old, former NFL football player Jarrod Bunch of Werdum Combat Club. These, surprisingly agile, 250-pound giants shook the building as they each tried to win the gold medal in their division. They definitely did not spar by using judo grips and pushing each other back and forth. These two were standing up, going for takedowns, and fighting hard from the ground.

They had one match, which Seraile won by points. “I’ve had a match with Jarrod at purple in the 2008 No Gi Worlds,” Seraile says, “I know he’s tough. He’s an ex pro football player. He’s very active. There are not a lot of guys out there competing like that. I knew it would be intense and hard.”

Seraile was happy to fight Bunch at a lower weight. “He was much bigger at the No-Gi Worlds,” he says, “He’s smaller now and it’s gi fighting. I felt like had the advantage. I took what I was given.”

Seraile trains with Baret Yoshida, who’s 135 pounds. This helps him perfect his techniques and requires him to use less strength. “I have to be technical and have finesse,” he says, “That’s where my agility comes from.”

Seraile says it can be frustrating for someone in his weight class because he can train really hard for a tournament and then show up and have no one in his bracket, so he’s happy to have Bunch around to challenge him. “I would like to see how I match up against him this year in the No-Gi Worlds since he beat me last time,” he says. We have a big rematch on the horizon.

In the master’s brown belt division, Scott Carr of Gracie Barra Costa Mesa, was the big winner of the master’s absolute.  In the open, Carr had three matches. In his first fight, he won on points. In his second, he submitted his opponent from half-guard with a straight armbar.

His third and final match was against fellow Gracie Barra competitor, Felipe “the brown brick” Guedes of Gracie Barra Dana Point. Guedes took Carr down, but Carr then locked in the armbar from the guard, submitting him to take gold.

As for his divisional matches, Carr just shrugs his shoulders, “I won and then I lost. I got silver in the final.” So Carr went home with a gold in the absolute and a silver medal in his weight class.

“It’s been a great experience,” Carr says, “All my competitors were excellent. It was nice to have a Gracie Barra final open match. I felt really confident at this tournament. I trained really hard for it.”

As for Felipe Guedes, he had a big day himself. After winning silver on Saturday, he came back to his master’s medium brown belt division and took gold on Sunday.  Guedes had three fights that day. He won the first and second matches by points and the final by Ezekiel choke.

Felipe Guedes and his GB crew

“I was on top trying to pass guard,” Guedes says of his final match, “and I sunk in the Ezekiel from half-guard. Then he recovered full guard, but the choke got tighter and I finished him.”

This is Guedes’s second tournament and first gold medal as a brown belt. “I’m very happy right now,” Guedes says, “Professor Flavio (Almeida) came to coach me in my weight class. He said I was good, but I need to make some improvements to my game. I’m happy to go back to the gym to work on my mistakes now.”

Ao lado de Hillary, Cyborg foi o nome do evento

Faixa-preta conhecido por não deixar uma competição de lado, Bruno Bastos teve que ficar de fora do Grapplers Quest, que agitou Dallas no último sábado (14 de agosto). Mas foi por uma boa razão. Brunão precisou acompanhar seus alunos inscritos e, de quebra, nos conta o que rolou de melhor no Dallas Convention Center.  

O grande nome da competição foi Roberto Cyborg Abreu. Com a faixa-preta Hillary Williams no corner, foi campeão do absoluto sem kimono e faturou os mil dólares de premiação. A fera finalizou os três primeiros combates e derrotou na final Jeff Owen (Travis Lutter/Bruno Bastos) por 7 a 0.

Bruno Bastos com os alunos em Dallas

A Nova União, comandada por Bruno Bastos em Dallas, também fez a festa com 34 títulos entre medalhas de ouro e cinturões, mais 16 pratas e nove bronzes.

“Vale lembrar que estou em Dallas não tem nem um ano”, comenta Bastos, todo orgulhoso dos alunos. “Daniel Almeida, Daniel Garcia, Jeff Owens, Levi Mowles, Peter Runez e Danielle Alvarez foram alguns dos destaques nossos no evento”, completa.

Danielle Alvarez também venceu a edição 2010 do Rio Open

Bruno agora prepara seus atletas para os próximos eventos da IBJJF em 2010, na Academia Octagon MMA. 

(Colaborou Bruno Bastos)

Alongside Hillary, Cyborg was the big name of the event

A black belt known for never missing a championship, Bruno Bastos had to sit out the Grapplers Quest event that shook up Dallas last Saturday, August 14. But it was for a good reason. Bruno had to oversee the students he had signed up in the event, as well as to report on what went down at the Dallas Convention Center for GRACIEMAG.com.

The big name of the competition was Roberto “Cyborg” Abrea. With black belt Hillary Williams in his corner, he won the no-gi absolute division and took home one thousand dollars in prize money. The grappling ace got the tapout in his first three matches and overcame Jeff Owen (Travis Lutter/Bruno Bastos) by a score of 7 to 0 in the final.

Bruno Bastos with students in Dallas

Nova União, in Dallas led by Bruno Bastos, had much to celebrate, too, having won 34 gold medals and belts, 16 silvers and nine bronzes.

“It’s worth remembering I’ve been in Dallas for a year now,” remarks Bastos, proud of his students. “Daniel Almeida, Daniel Garcia, Jeff Owens, Levi Mowles, Peter Runez and Danielle Alvarez were some of our standouts at the event,” he adds.

Danielle Alvarez also won the 2010 Rio Open

Now Bruno will set about getting his athletes ready for the upcoming IBJJF tournaments, at Octagon MMA Academy.

(Collaborator: Bruno Bastos)