Kids training at AOJ. Photo: Nick the Tooth

The kids from GMA Art of Jiu-Jitsu in Costa Mesa, CA are heading to the Long Beach Walter Pyramid this weekend with an army of 95 to compete in the 2015 IBJJF Pan Kids Jiu-Jitsu Championship. Led by Rafael and Guilherme Mendes, they are the largest team on the athlete list by far.

Set in their white haven, the kids train in classes that run nearly all times of the day. All different ages and belt levels train to prepare themselves for the competition ahead.

Check out Nick the Tooth and new book at www.nickgullo.com

The Mendes brothers are excited for their kids to take on the challenges at the Pan: “The kids are training really hard and we believe that we will have a good performance. It’s been three years since we opened AOJ and some of these kids have been training with us since the beginning. They are like little Mendes brothers! Can’t wait to watch them perform on Sunday!”

Check out a quick photo album by Nick the Tooth that captures their dedicated students:

Learn more at www.artofjiujitsu.com

NY Pride XX. Photo: Erin Herle

The NY Pride XX held on Saturday, Dec. 6 at Baruch College in Manhattan, NY was a day full of good memories, moments and medals. Starting with the kids, Eloy Santos hyped up the future of the sport as they encircled the entire mat for a group warm-up.

And with that, they took over the mats in large numbers. Every mat featured kids as young as four facing off and enjoying their times in the limelight. There was few crying and laughs from both the competitors and the crowd ensued. It took a good few hours for the kids to complete their brackets in the gi before the adult belts entered the bullpen.

The brown belt masters and then the brown belt adults came onto the scene. A few of the matches from both brown belt adult male and purple belt adult male showed what true technique and heart together can accomplish. The matches were exciting and often went the distance. The blue and white belts also enthralled the audience as the barriers were constantly adjusted from the pressing crowd.

By the time the no-gi divisions began, the army of kids took over once again to bring the excitement and complete back and forth nature of their skills. Adult no-gi ended the day.

You can check out the full results when they’re up soon at www.lipridebjj.com

Here is a full photo album:

Dantas vs. Paschoal. Photo: Erin Herle

A main feature of the 2014 World Jiu-Jitsu Expo on Sunday, Oct. 19 was the 2014 IBJJF Long Beach International Open. While many of the top black belts entered the Pro League on the same day or had their own superfights on the previous night, the Long Beach Open called upon some top names as well.

Overall, the team points were earned as follows:

1 – Brazilian Top Team – 277
2 – Jean Jacques Machado BJJ – 169
3 – Atos Jiu-Jitsu – 149

In the featherweight division, the final came down to BJJ mental coach Gustavo Dantas and Caio Terra Association’s Vitor Paschoal. At the beginning of the match Gustavo attempted a pull as they two went out of bounds and as they reset to the center, Gustavo pulled again and pushed to pace attempting a quick overhead sweep that earned an advantage. They reset standing and as Vitor attempted a pull, Gustavo shot in at the same time to earn two points. From there, Vitor played his guard and worked to get to the back. Gustavo held his balance and defended his back well while Vitor fought to earn his sweep or backtake. Eventually Gustavo got out of the position and stayed in Vitor’s guard. The referee awarded Vitor two points near the end of the match as Gustavo was given warning and penalty for stalling. Gustavo won the match by two advantages.

Lightweight category was won by new Atos black belt Andris Brunovskis. The final was between the new guy and the long-time favorite, Wellington Megaton Dias. Andris pulled guard right away, closed it and worked for an omoplata. After securing the omoplata, Megaton defended well but ultimately tapped to a choke from the crucifix.

The medium-heavyweight category was only a final between Romulo Azevedo and Ricardo Wagner de Oliveira. The match was a close one, only decided by advantages. Ricardo pulled guard and attempted foot attacks but Romulo defended well. He came up for a sweep but Romulo defended, even countering with pass attempts as well. Ricardo locked on a kneebar but it wasn’t enough to submit Romulo. The final score was 6-2 advantages for Romulo.

Two Americans met in the final of the heavyweight category, Morris Ayala and Jason Ackerman. The match began in Jason’s favor as he stood up and earned a sweep and the two points lead. But Morris swept back and his pressure proved to work well. Morris pushed to top half and was able to pass repeatedly via knee slice and he attempted armbars but wasn’t able to submit Jason who defended well. Morris made his way to mount a couple times which racked up the points. By the end of the match as time expired, Morris had outscored Jason 24-2 for the gold.

Here are the results of the black belt adult open class:

Eduardo Alves de Inojosa defeated Romulo Azevedo by injury when a takedown hurt Romulo’s arm.
Vitor Paschoal defeated Jimmy Tat by choke from the back.
Eliot Kelly defeated Nicollas Welker by 2-2 points, 4-2 advantages.
Eduardo defeats Vitor with a kimura.
Carlos Eduardo Faria defeats Eliot with a choke from side control.
Eduardo defeats Carlos by 19-0 points.

Check out the full gallery of the tournament:

See full results here: http://static.ibjjfdb.com/Campeonato/000310/en-US/Results.pdf

Mansher and Dillon close out the brown belt male absolute. Photo: Erin Herle

The brown belts at the 2014 IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship fought their matches on Sunday, Oct. 5 inside the Felix Event Center in Azusa, CA.

The divisions began the day and ran all the way through until the very end, only taking a break for the black belt finals in the middle. The brown belt male absolute title was shared among two students of Marcelo Garcia Academy in NYC. A week prior, the team swept the divisions from feather to heavyweight winning gold in each with one close-out in middleweight. Those middleweights, Dillon Danis and Jonathan Satava repeated the same feat in Azusa. Matheus Diniz went up a weight class at the Pan and won the heavyweight division there but went back down to his medium-heavy division at the Worlds and earned another gold there. Featherweight Joel Burgess conquered the Pan and earned a bronze in the Worlds.

Mansher in the lightweight final. Photo: Erin Herle

Mansher Singh Khera won the lightweight division after three matches and entered the absolute alongside Dillon. The two met in the finals and the title was given to Dillon, who had three matches of his own in middleweight before meeting Jon in the finals.

Dillon wins the semi-final with a kneebar. Photo: Erin Herle

Mansher defeated an ultra-heavyweight, a heavyweight and a super-heavyweight in the absolute using his single-leg x-guard. Dillon faced an ultra-heavyweight, and two other middleweights on his way to the gold. The podium was shared with super-heavyweight silver medalist Pedro Araujo of Gracie Barra and middleweight William Durkee of Fight Sports.

Jaqueline after she won the absolute. Photo: Erin Herle

The female absolute was conquered by featherweight Jaqueline Amorim of Checkmat, who was able to redeem herself from losing her one match in her weight division. The new brown belt, who won both 2013 and 2014 purple belt featherweight at gi worlds, faced two lightweights in the first and second rounds to get to the finals. Her opponent in the finals, Alexis Du Frense of Checkmat as well, attempted to pass Jaqueline’s guard but it was a referee decision that ended the match. In a cathartic moment, Jaqueline’s hand was raised and she collapsed as she realized the gold was hers.

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

Check out full photos of the brown belt divisions:

But in between, the athletes battled it out with one another all while representing their team. There were many teams large and small present at the tournament but the trophies were only given to the top three.

Because this was a larger tournament, the team points were distributed among the adults, the masters and the females.

The adult male division team trophies went to these teams:

1 – Alliance Marcelo Garcia – 74
2 – Gracie Barra – 49
3 – Team Lloyd Irvin – 43

What brought in the most points were both black belt and brown belt stand-outs from each team.

For the females, Luiza Monteiro and Ana Lowry represented Cicero Costha and the PSLPB team all by themselves. Because they won both weight and absolute at both brown and black, it was enough to earn the first place. The second place was earned by the help of Maia Matalon who topped the podium of the purple belt open class division.

1 – PSLPB Cicero Costha – 36
2 – Fifty/50 Jiu-Jitsu – 18
3 – Bonsai JJ – Chicago – 18

For the master divisions, the team trophies were distributed as follows:

1 – Renzo Gracie – 138
2 – Alliance Marcelo Garcia – 97
3 – Gracie Barra – 74

The older athletes deserve their credit, too!

Check out the full results here: http://static.ibjjfdb.com/Campeonato/000305/en-US/Results.pdf

And check out this photo gallery of the lower belts:

Jackson Sousa against AJ Agazarm in the open class final. Photo: Erin Herle

On the day of the 2014 IBJJF Pan No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu Championship in New York City, the basement gymnasium never ceased action. The mats were full from nine in the morning to nine at night. The most packed divisions besides the many blue belts who always start the day, were the adult black belts.

Each division from light-feather to ultra-heavy held talent from near and far. Here is how the divisions panned out:

Light-feather

Joao Miyao with a triangle armbar. Photo: Erin Herle

The arrival of Joao Miyao into the division brought up the excitement level for this division. With five athletes, the final dwindled down to Mark Ramos of Ricardo “Rey” Diogo BJJ and Joao Miyao of Cicero Costha. Joao submitted his first match with a triangle armbar and Mark finished his with a guillotine. In the final, Joao bested Mark and submitted with an armbar for the gold.

First – João Ricardo Bordignon Miyao – PSLPB Cicero Costha
Second – Mark Daniel Ramos – Ricardo “Rey” Diogo BJJ
Third – Vitor Peres Paschoal – Caio Terra Association
Third – Jorge Elias Bucaram Santistevan – Alliance

Feather

The feather division also had five athletes and two of them were looking to meet at the final: Osvaldo “Queixinho” and Samir Chantre of Caio Terra Association. And this is exactly what happened. Queixinho edged out Gianni Grippo in his first match with one advantage in a final score of 2-2 points, 3-2 advantages and 1-0 penalty. Samir had a bye and in his first match he defeated Joey Taliercio, who won his first match against Daniel Keane. The match went the distance with Samir winning 23-0. In the final, Queixinho took the gold in a close-out since Samir won it last year. This is their third year in a row closing out this tournament.

First – Osvaldo Augusto Honorio Moizinho – Caio Terra Association
Second – Samir José Chantre Dahás – Caio Terra Association
Third – Gianni Paul Grippo – Alliance Marcelo Garcia
Third – Joseph Wallace Taliercio – Renzo Gracie

Light

Rodrigo Freitas against Garry Tonon in the light final. Photo: Erin Herle

The lightweight division accumulated six athletes of high caliber. The final came down to Garry Tonon and Rodrigo Freitas. Garry defeated Edson Oliveira with a rear naked choke and also AJ Agazarm with the same submission in the start of the division and Rodrigo won over Renan Borges with a points lead. In the final Rodrigo defeated Garry by an advantage with the final score as 2-2 points, 3-2 advantages.

First – Rodrigo Lamounier de Freitas – Gracie Barra
Second – Garry Lee Tonon – Renzo Gracie
Third – Renan Borges – New England United BJJ
Third – AJ Agazarm – Gracie Barra

Middle

Vitor Oliveira on the back of Enrique Coco. Photo: Erin Herle

The middle division had the most athletes with some big names. The final came down to Enrique Coco and Vitor Oliveira. Enrique defeated both Nik Ruben Nikolaisen and Francisco Iturralde on his way to the final. Vitor defeated Leonardo Iturralde and his second opponent didn’t show so there was no semi-final on that side. The final was a tough match with Vitor pressuring to pass and Enrique attacking the feet. But in the end Vitor made it to the back and secured the choke for the gold.

First – Vitor Henrique Silva Oliveira – GF Team
Second – Enrico Daniel Cocco – Fight Sports
Third – Leonardo I. Iturralde Aguirre – Alliance Ecuador
Third – Francisco Antonio Iturralde Lara – Alliance

Medium-heavy

Claudio Cardoso celebrates his win. Photo: Erin Herle

In medium-heavy there were five men total. Brian Beaury and Claudio Cardoso made it to the final. Brian defeated Warren Stout in his first match and Claudio defeated his first opponent, Romulo de Souza. In the final the match was rather even with Brian working to sweep and Claudio doing well on top. As soon as Brian came up to sweep, Claudio secured a toehold that ended the match and gave Claudio the gold.

First – Claudio de Mattos Cardoso – Gracie Barra
Second – Brian J Beaury II – Abusado Team
Third – Vinicius Agudo Silva – Team Link
Third – Romulo de Souza Azevedo – Welton Ribeiro

Heavy

Lucas Rocha on the back. Photo: Erin Herle

There were four athletes in the heavy division making it an even bracket. Lucas Rocha and Mauro Santiago made it to the final. Lucas defeated his first match against Gabriel Toribio. Mauro defeated his first match against Jackson Souza with a guard pass ending the match 3-0 points. The final came down to Lucas and Mauro closing out with Mauro taking the gold.

First – Mauro Celso Santiago – Gracie Barra
Second – Lucas Rocha de Freitas – Gracie Barra
Third – Jackson Sousa dos Santos – CheckMat
Third – Gabriel Toribio – Renzo Gracie

Super-heavy

Nelson and Thiago. Photo: Erin Herle

Super-heavy had three guys for a round-robin division. The first match against Nelson Puentes and Thiago Ribeiro ended with a submission for Thiago. Nelson went on to defeat Nicholas Liaskos to earn a spot in the final against Thiago for another attempt at victory. In this match, Thiago reaffirmed himself with an armbar finish for the gold.

First – Tiago Ribeiro do Valle Giussani – Fabricio International Team – FIT
Second – Nelson Horacio Puentes Zuniga – Alliance NYC
Third – Nicholas A Liaskos – RABJJ

Ultra-heavy

Abraham and Gabriel. Photo: Erin Herle

This was another round-robin division. Gabriel Lucas defeated Bruno Bastos and then Abraham stepped in to go against Bruno. Abraham secured a triangle choke for that match and the final was down to Gabriel versus Abraham. The triangle attempts were not enough this time and Gabriel passed to earn a win of 3-0 over Abraham and the gold as well.

First – Gabriel Lyrio Lucas – CheckMat
Second – Abraham J. Marte Messina – Yamasaki Academy
Third – Bruno Bastos Cruz – Bruno Bastos Association

Female

Luiza versus Megan in one of three matches during the day. Photo: Erin Herle

The only weight division with enough girls to have a match in the black belt division came in the middle category. Luiza Monteiro and Megan Nevill faced off. Luiza secured a 16-4 lead in points for the gold.

First – Luiza Monteiro Moura da Costa – PSLPB Cicero Costha
Second – Megan Ann Nevill – Renzo Gracie

Bibiana Silva secured the gold by default in the feather division.

Open Class

MALE

Here is how each match in the open class for the black belt male adults panned out:

Abraham Marte defeated Gabriel Toribio by DQ knee reap.
Gianni Grippo defeated Garry Tonon by 6-4 points.
Mauro Santiago defeated Nicholas Liaskos by 20-0 points.
Romulo de Souza defeated Vinicius Agudo by armbar.
Enrique Coco defeated Thiago Ribeiro by 8-2 points.
Gianni Grippo defeated Mauro Santiago by 2-1 advantages.
AJ Agazarm defeated Jorge Elias by darce.
Jackson Sousa defeated Romulo de Souza by 4-0 points.
Abraham Marte defeated Enrique Coco by 4-0 points.
AJ Agazarm defeated Nik Nikolaisen by 4-0 points.
Jackson Sousa defeated Gianni Grippo 2-0 points.
AJ Agazarm defeated Abraham Marte by 4-2 points.
Jackson Sousa defeated AJ Agazarm by armbar.

First – Jackson Sousa dos Santos – CheckMat
Second – AJ Agazarm – Gracie Barra
Third – Abraham J. Marte Messina – Yamasaki Academy
Third – Gianni Paul Grippo – Alliance Marcelo Garcia

FEMALE

Here are the results for the female adult black belt open class with a round-robin division:

Luiza Monteiro defeated Megan Nevill by kneebar.
Megan Nevill defeated Bibiana Silva by rear naked choke.
Luiza Monteiro defeated Megan Nevill by ankle lock.

First – Luiza Monteiro Moura da Costa – PSLPB Cicero Costha
Second – Megan Ann Nevill – Renzo Gracie
Third – Bibiana Dios Tan Pacini S. Silva – UFC Gym Stamford / BDT BJJ

Check out the gallery of all the black belt matches here:

Tap Cancer Out leader Jon Thomas presenting the grand donation. Photo: Gabriel Richard

The non-profit Tap Cancer Out raised more funds on Saturday, Aug. 16 to beat cancer through the support of the grappling community. At the Tap Cancer Out BJJ Open in Danvers, MA the tournament gathered over $20,000.

The organization is proud to announce that they will be donating a gift of $97,500 to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation in order to fund two research fellows in 2014 at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital. This is the largest gift to St. Baldrick’s Foundation ever by a charity partner.

Prior to this beneficiary, Tap Cancer Out spent two years funding the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in which they raised $85,000.

Learn more about the St. Baldrick’s Foundation here: http://www.stbaldricks.org/

And learn more about how to support Tap Cancer Out here: http://www.tapcancerout.org/

Check out the photo gallery of the event courtesy of Gabriel Richard: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.691694277565947.1073741838.395910250477686

Gia Thomas of AOJ. Photo: Erin Herle

In the blue belt female absolute featherweight Giovanna Thomas of Art of Jiu-Jitsu Academy earned double gold. In the absolute she secured three submissions: triangle, kimura, bow and arrow. In her featherweight divisions she earned three more submissions: two bow and arrows and an armbar.

Pete with a triangle. Photo: Erin Herle

Medium-heavyweight Pete O’Neal of Atos Jiu-Jitsu secured the absolute title and the double gold. He had four matches in the absolute: two triangles, one by armbar and one by points. In his medium-heavy division he won with one triangle and two matches determined by points.

Sarah in her guard. Photo: Erin Herle

In the female purple belt absolute, featherweight Sarah Jones of Art of Jiu-Jitsu Academy came back with a vengeance. She lost her first match in her division by one advantage but returned in the absolute to go against the same girl, Mylene Ramos Engle. She was able to win that first absolute match by points and then in the final she secured the win by points as well.

Horlando Monteiro. Photo: Erin Herle

The purple belt male open weight champion was middleweight Horlando Monteiro of Nova Uniao. In the absolute he had four matches. Two were determined by points, one was finished with a triangle and the final against Ian Sanders of GB Manhattan Beach was finished with an armbar.

Kristina after a long day of competing and refereeing. Photo: Erin Herle

The brown belt female absolute winner was another double-gold champion and also a referee. Kristina Barlaan of Caio Terra Association had one match in the lightweight division where she submitted with a wrist lock from triangle. She won her first match in the absolute by an advantage and then the final was determined by points.

Gabriel secures a kneebar in the final. Photo: Erin Herle

The brown belt male absolute title went to Gabriel Barbosa Checco of Gracie Humaita Las Vegas. After missing his medium-heavy division and getting disqualified, he was still able to get bronze and sign up for the absolute. He’s glad he did because he was able to submit three opponents for the gold. He had two kneebars and a choke for the win.

To see the full results, go here: http://static.ibjjfdb.com/Campeonato/000294/en-US/Results.pdf

Gianni Grippo wins another IBJJF absolute. Photo: Erin Herle

The 2014 IBJJF Vegas Summer Open on Aug. 9 held many black belts in its divisions. The male open weight, however, had four.

Here is how the matches unfolded:

Ultra-heavyweight Ranieri Paiva defeated middleweight Nathan Mendelsohn by one advantage.

Featherweight Gianni Grippo defeated ultra-heavyweight Carlos Eduardo Faria by referee decision.

Gianni defeated Ranieri by 6-5. Ranieri took Gianni down then Gaini went for the berimbolo but came up on top into mount for the 6 points. Ranieri was able to secure a pass but Gianni recovered and went to 50/50 guard. Ranieri was not able to pass the guard or submit and the gold went to Gianni.

For the females, there were two: Charlene Coats of Coalition 95 and Mackenzie Dern of Gracie Humaita. They were in separate divisions and did not fight until the open class.

In the absolute, Charlene pulled guard. Mackenzie pushed to half guard, passed and mounted. Charlene turned and Mackenzie secured the back and the choke winning her gold for the day.

Here is a gallery of the divisions:

Rodrigo Freitas of Gracie Barra wins the lightweight division. Photo: Erin Herle

The 2014 IBJJF Vegas Summer Open is underway at the Sport Center of Las Vegas right off the strip. The one-day event on Aug. 9 is one of the hottest in the summer.

The black belt adults took to the mat early in the day with multiple matches for most of the divisions. The open division will begin at 3 p.m. PST.

Here is how the divisions unfolded:

Light-feather

Fabbio Passos of Alliance defeated Sonny Nohara of SoNo BJJ by 4-0 points.
Nobuo Yagai of Rigan Machado defeated Sonny Nohara by points.
Fabbio Passos defeated Nobuo Yagai by 6-2.

Winner: Fabbio Passos

Feather

Vitor Paschoal of Caio Terra Association defeated Orlando Machado da Silva Junior of Norfight by toehold.
Samir Chantre of Caio Terra Association defeated Gerson Atoigue of Nova Uniao by armbar.
Gianni Grippo of Alliance Marcelo Garcia defeated Vitor Paschoal by 8-6 points.
Samir Chantre defeated Gianni Grippo by 2-2 points 2-1 advantages.

Winner: Samir Chantre

Light

Rafael Benedito of Zenith BJJ defeated Andrea Rico Vaughan of Gracie Humaita Las Vegas.
Rodrigo Freitas of Gracie Barra defeated Francisco Iturralde of Alliance by 2-0 points.
Rafael Benedito defeated Osvaldo Moizinho of Caio Terra Association by 2-0 points.
Rodrigo Freitas defeated Rafael Benedito by armbar.

Winner: Rodrigo Freitas

Middle

Nathan Mendelsohn of Coalition 95 defeated Romulo Cavalcanti of Carlson Gracie Team by armbar.

Winner: Nathan Mendelsohn

Heavy

Antonio Antonioli of Atos Jiu-Jitsu defeated David Reed of Fabio Santos BJJ by DQ by stalling.

Winner: Antonio Antonioli

Super-heavy

Gustavo Pires of Gracie Barra defeated Manuel Diaz of Caio Terra Association by armbar.
Bradley Beckwith of Alliance defeated Thiago Veiga Ximenes of Roberto Traven BJJ.
Gustavo Pires defeated Bradley Beckwith by armbar.

Winner: Gustavo Pires

Ultra-heavy

Carlos Eduardo Farias of Roberto Traven BJJ defeated Thiago Reinaldo de Souza of Gracie Barra by referee decision.
Ranieri Albuquerque of Gracie Elite Team defeated Misael de Oliveira Miranda of Luiz Paulo Jiu-Jitsu by 1 advantage.
Carlos Eduardo Faria defeated Prescott Foster Bailey Jr of Easton BJJ by two advantages.
Carlos Eduardo Faria defeated Ranieri Albuquerque by 8-2 points.

Winner: Carlos Eduardo Faria

See the full results here: http://static.ibjjfdb.com/Campeonato/000294/en-US/Results.pdf

Check out a full gallery of photos below:

Teams support their students/teammates during a final match. Photo: Erin Herle

The 2014 IBJJF New York Summer Open on Saturday, July 19 brought in the locals and some visitors. The teams present represented the NYC area of schools including some GMA academies: Alliance Marcelo Garcia, Renzo Gracie Academy, Gracie Barra Long Island, Vitor Shaolin Academy, Soca BJJ, Savarese Jiu-Jitsu and more.

The overall team points amounted to these totals:

1 – Alliance Marcelo Garcia – 296
2 – Renzo Gracie – 157
3 – Soca Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu – 100

The Alliance Marcelo Garcia Academy has won the tournament multiple times over the years since its first edition but this was their most tremendous performance thus far.

Multiple photographers captured the day so check out these links to see the galleries:

John “Ric” Ricard and Doug Kline produced photos for the IBJJF here.

Jeff Chu at FighterPlus has his album of photos here.

See the full results of the tournament here.

The 2014 IBJJF New York Summer Open on Saturday, July 19 brought some tough black belts into the Nat Holman Gymnasium on the campus of City College of New York.

The double-gold athlete of the day went to, again, Gianni Grippo of Alliance Marcelo Garcia. Other names like Rodrigo Freitas and Vitor Oliveira were present to show their skills between the big tournaments.

Here are the results of the black belt division finals:

Rooster: David Zennario of Vicente Jr. Team had no other competitors.
Light-feather:  John Cho of Alliance NYC defeated  Sidemar Honorio of Renzo Gracie by 4-2 points.
Feather: Edson Oliveira of Barbosa Equipe defeated Joseph Taliercio of Renzo Gracie.
Light: Gianni Grippo of Alliance Marcelo Garcia defeated Rodrigo Freitas of Gracie Barra by 2 points.
Middle: Vitor Oliveira of GFTeam defeated Fletcher Linton of Maxercise by armbar.
Medium-heavy: Antonio Antonioli of Atos defeated Vinicius Silva of Team Link by armbar.
Heavy: Vitor Toledo of Atos defeated Thomas Johannessen of Frontline Academy by armbar.
Super-heavy: Lincoln Pereira of Renzo Gracie defeated Rodrigo Reis of Tanque Jiu-Jitsu by toehold.
Ultra-heavy: Kenny Brown of Team Lloyd Irvin defeated Tiago Ribeiro of Team Giraffe Academy by ezekiel.

See the photos of matches below:

Here is how the black belt absolute division unfolded:

Thomas Johannessen defeated Tiago Ribeiro by triangle.
Samuel Hertzog defeated David Zennario by armbar.
Steven Barrett defeated Joseph Taliercio by triangle.
Rodrigo Reis defeated Fletcher Linton by ezekiel.
Thomas Johannessen defeated Kenny Brown by 4-0 points.
Rodrigo Freitas defeated Samuel Hertzog by triangle.
Eliot Kelly defeated Rodrigo Reis by 5-0 points.
Gianni Grippo defeated Steven Barrett by cross choke.

Rodrigo Freitas defeated Thomas Johannessen by 3-0 points.
Gianni Grippo defeated Eliot Kelly by 11-2 points.

Gianni Grippo defeated Rodrigo Freitas by referee decision. (1-1 adv., 1-1 pen.)

Check out the full open class in photos:

See full results here.