Photo: IBJJF

Team Lloyd Irvin’s Mahamed Aly was the standout of the 2016 Houston Open, this Saturday.

The Brazilian won both the ultraheavy division and the open class.

In his weight class, Aly beat long-time rival Jared Dopp by points (watch the video below).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5urZMSmEYU&

In the open class, after finishing Dopp with an attack to the leg the semifinal, Aly became the champion when an injured Inacio Neto forfeited the match.

Here are all the black belt champions:

BLACK / Adult / Male / Light Feather

First – Mayko de Araujo Girotto Borges – CheckMat

Second – Russell Delacruz Cantorna – CheckMat USA

Third – Luis Felipe Ninja de Moraes Pinto – Brazil Academy USA

BLACK / Adult / Male / Feather

First – Eduardo Ramos da Silva – Atos Jiu-Jitsu

BLACK / Adult / Male / Light

First – Nicollas Welker Amorim Araujo – Alliance Los Angeles

Second – Christopher Westfall – Travis Lutter Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Third – Julian Vega – Elite Mixed Martial Arts

BLACK / Adult / Male / Middle

First – Jonathan Torres – Atos Jiu-Jitsu

Second – kenneth Primola – Brasa Caio Terra

Third – Vinicius Agudo Silva – Soul Fighters Texas

Third – Javier Valenciano Yamuni – Renzo Gracie International

BLACK / Adult / Male / Medium Heavy

First – Inacio Ferreira Gomes Neto – Gracie Barra

Second – John Robert Jordan Jr. – BJJ Revolution Team

Third – Andrew Logan Wooten – Gracie Barra

BLACK / Adult / Male / Heavy

First – Pedro Lucas Aguiar Araujo – Gracie Barra

Second – Diego Gamonal Nogueira – Brazilian Top Team

Third – Daniel Thomas Cobb – Gracie Humaita Canadá

Third – Vitor Fabio Martins Toledo – Atos Jiu-Jitsu

BLACK / Adult / Male / Ultra Heavy

First – Mahamed Aly Santos da Silva – Team Lloyd Irvin

Second – Jared Lynn Dopp – Lovato Jiu-Jitsu

BLACK / Adult / Male / Open Class

First – Mahamed Aly Santos da Silva – Team Lloyd Irvin

Second – Inacio Ferreira Gomes Neto – Gracie Barra

Third – Eduardo Ramos da Silva – Atos Jiu-Jitsu

Third – Jared Lynn Dopp – Lovato Jiu-Jitsu

BLACK / Adult / Female / Light

First – Jena Rae Bishop – Gracie Humaita USA

BLACK / Adult / Female / Open Class

First – Jena Rae Bishop – Gracie Humaita USA

Click here for the full results.

The Houston Open continues this Sunday with blue belt and white belt divisions.

Tim Spriggs mounts his opponent in black belt debut. Photo: Preston Smith

The 2014 IBJJF Atlanta Open on Saturday, August 30 at the Georgia International Convention Center was a day for the browns and blacks of Team Lloyd Irvin. Traveling from Maryland and Florida, there were four stand-outs who made their way to the podium twice each.

Newly promoted black-belts Tim Spriggs and Roberto Torralbas conquered the black belt open and their divisions. Tim came from Crazy 88 in Baltimore to try out his new belt and Roberto from Third Law in Naples.

In the heavyweight division where both black belts entered, they each had one match before closing out. Tim won his match against Nicholas Albin by 14-0 points.

Tim charges for the takedown. Photo: Preston Smith

Tim describes the match: “I pushed the pace from beginning to end. The guy had a good half guard game which forced me to knee cut and pass his guard a few times. This was my toughest match because I hadn’t competed since worlds and the 10 minutes were an adjustment. I was pretty amped up so it caused me to feel less energetic than usual during the match.”

Roberto’s first match was against Paul Elezaj. He won the match 7-0 points. He says he “passed to side, got knee on belly and hit an ankle pick for a 7-0 win. Paul was my hardest match because I had not competed the whole summer due to running a summer camp at the school. I was a bit overexcited to fight at black belt the first time, and my time management was completely off from 8-10 minutes [the difference between brown belt time limit and black belt time limit]. The last two minutes he got a good spider guard and I was starting to get tired. Also Paul is very good and I allowed him to get to a good position he likes to play.”

Tim took the gold in the weight class close-out.

The open weight was a similar situation but Roberto had two matches and Tim had one.

Roberto Torralbas fighting as a new black belt. Photo: Preston Smith

Roberto’s first match in the open was against Greg Walker. “Greg is very athletic and he countered my first two attacks but on the third one I was able to sweep and get to a tight half guard position. There I was able to pass and as time ran out I got a wrist lock right before they blew the whistle. Last match was against Wellington Megaton Dias. That was really good because he is a guy I have always admired for having the grit to compete with the adults and in the absolute division year after year regardless of his age. Now a days a lot of 30+ year olds are happy to be fighting master instead of adult divisions, and I am not in favor of this. He was very technical with his judo gripping so I pulled guard and was able to sweep . He felt very squirmy so I took no chances and proceeded to pass half guard carefully. I was able to pass. He had spent a lot of energy keeping me off and I was able to get the armbar. Greg and Megaton are very good grapplers as well as Paul and I look forward to competing with them.”

Tim’s match was against Walnon Constantino. This is how his match went: “My other match was in the open and it went by a lot quicker than the other. He tried to fake hand shake double leg me. It didn’t work lol. So I stuffed it and threw him then landed in side control. On the restart he tried to start from turtle for some weird reason, but I ended up getting reset in side control after he stopped complaining to the referee and got two penalties. As soon as the referee said go I went right for the bow and arrow and got the finish.”

So far the black belt competition has been a seamless transition for the two. “The big difference with black belts is that it takes me a little bit longer to break them,” says Tim.

Tye works the leg drag. Photo: Preston Smith

The brown belts also had a big day. Admilson Gobi Junior and Tye Ryan Murphy competed in different divisions but closed out the open class. Since there were no opponents for Admilson in the ultra-heavyweight division, he defaulted gold. Tye had matches in the medium-heavyweight division. His first match ended with quickly with a DQ for knee reap and his second match was against Higor Diniz of Alliance where he finished with a bow and arrow choke near the end of the match.

The open weight division was fun for Tye. Here’s his recap: “The open was fun. I fought another alliance guy in the round of 16. He fought very hard. I finished him with an ezekiel from the back. Second round was against a light feather. I went total opposite of competition game and jumped closed guard. Finished with a triangle that I thought was going to kill him. He had heart. In the semis I fought Jeffrey Cummings from Alliance. He was fighting very well in the open and I was pumped. We slapped hands and he did not pull but kept circling and circling so I surprised him and jumped guard. I hip bumped him when he stood for the first advantage and had him in a brabo grip cross choke and inverted arm lock multiple times throughout the match scoring another advantage. He was very tough but had a tough time opening the closed guard. I won the semis match 2-0 in advantages.”

Admilson with the takedown. Photo: Preston Smith

For Admilson, his first match did not show so he advanced to the semis. His one match was against Aaron Tex Johnson of Alliance. The round was determined by points with multiple suplex takedowns.

The gold for the open went to the winner of the coin toss done by Lloyd Irvin.

The coin toss. Photo: Preston Smith

Check out a highlight of Tye Ryan Murphy’s finishes below:

The adult black belt open class podium at the 2014 Atlanta Open Photo: Lloyd Irvin Facebook Page

The 2014 Atlanta International Open took place this Saturday at the Georgia Convention Center.

In the adult black belt division, two athletes from Team Lloyd Irvin dominated the open class final.

Roberto Torralbas and Tim Spriggs reached the gold medal match and a gentleman’s agreement decided that Torralbas would be crowned champion.

The TLI duo also closed out the heavyweight division, with Spriggs capturing gold.

In the teams competition, the results were:

1 – Roberto Traven BJJ – 704
2 – Alliance – 342
3 – Gracie Barra – 198
4 – Gracie Elite Team – 174
5 – Knuckleup Fitness – 97
6 – Team Lloyd Irvin – 56
7 – GF Team – 56
8 – Marcio Cruz BJJ – 40
9 – Memphis BJJ – 37
10 – Luiz Palhares Jiu Jitsu – 37

In the other adult black belt divisions, the results were:

BLACK / Adult / Male / Light Feather
First – Caio Terra – Roberto Traven BJJ
BLACK / Adult / Male / Feather
First – Jonathan Paul Thomas – Alliance
Second – Wellington Leal Dias – Gracie Humaita

BLACK / Adult / Male / Middle
First – Rafael Rosendo dos Santos – Alliance
Second – John James Piper – Great Grappling Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Third – Gregory Scott Walker – Gustavo Machado BJJ
Third – Guilherme Tavares C. de Lyra – Gracie Barra

BLACK / Adult / Male / Medium Heavy
First – Vitor Fabio Martins Toledo – Atos Jiu-Jitsu
Second – Brent F Weedman – Helio Soneca BJJ
Third – Anthony Ward Mitchell – Killer Bees BJJ College
Third – Ian McPherson – Alliance

BLACK / Adult / Male / Heavyirst – Timothy-Michael Spriggs – Team Lloyd Irvin
Second – Roberto Torralbas – Team Lloyd Irvin
Third – Paul Elezaj – Alliance
Third – Nicholas M. Albin – Renato Tavares Association

BLACK / Adult / Male / Super Heavy
First – Guybson Costa e Sá – SAS Team USA
Second – Kaliffa Gonçalves Oliveira – Gracie Barra
Third – Walnan Presto Constantino – Equipe Mineirinho Jiu-Jitsu

BLACK / Adult / Male / Open Class
First – Roberto Torralbas – Team Lloyd Irvin
Second – Timothy-Michael Spriggs – Team Lloyd Irvin
Third – Walnan Presto Constantino – Equipe Mineirinho Jiu-Jitsu
Third – Wellington Leal Dias – Gracie Humaita

For the complete results, go to ibjjf.com

Here he shows a technique called the fatboy variation of the triangle. Check it out and let us know what you think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKAklOwCAuE

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

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

The final of the female brown belt open weight division. Photo: Erin Herle

The brown belts at the 2014 World Championship finalized their divisions on Saturday, May 31. In the open weight divisions, the Alliance members took home the gold and silver for the females and the two of the males took home the gold and bronze for Team Lloyd Irvin.

Here are the final champions of the weight divisions for each:

Brown belt male

Rooster: Huendel Dinelly Osaki – Ogawa Jiu-Jitsu
Light-feather: Ram Ananda – Alliance
Feather: Marcio Andre – Nova Uniao
Light: Michael Liera Jr. – Atos
Middle: Marcos Silva – Alliance
Medium-heavy: Patrick Gaudio – GFTeam
Heavy: Tim Spriggs – Team Lloyd Irvin
Super-heavy: Erberth Santos – Team Lloyd Irvin
Ultra-heavy: Victor Honorio – GFTeam

In the open weight division, it came down to the semi-final between Tim Spriggs and Felipe Silva. The match went to the 50/50 position and Felipe earned a sweep and the match went to Felipe with 2-0 points. Erberth Santos defeated Michael Liera Jr. on the other side of the bracket in the semi-final. He kneebarred Liera while time was running out. The final between Felipe and Erberth was a points battle with Erberth taking the gold after a 10-8 lead.

In response to his win he says, “I’m very happy because I came here from a leg injury. Thank God I did well since I was just doing cardio for the last two weeks and not training Jiu-Jitsu. I just have to say thank you to the guys at Team Lloyd Irvin; they helped me a lot with training and helped me achieve my dream of becoming open class and weight division world champion.”

Brown belt female

Light-feather: Rikako Yuasa – Paraestra Shinagawa
Feather: Chelsea Bainbridge-Donner – Atos
Light: Angelica Galvao – Atos
Middle: Monique Elias – Alliance
Medium-heavy: Sijara Eubanks – Team Lloyd Irvin
Heavy: Dominyka Obelenyte – Alliance
Super-heavy: Alison Tremblay – BTT

In the open weight division, the two Alliance champions came together for yet another final. Monique Elias under husband Mario Reis in Brazil defeated Alison Tremblay in the semi-final with an armbar submission. On the other side of the bracket Dominyka Obelenyte under Marcelo Garcia defeated her opponent Samella Shohamy Lopes Leite of Riberio Jiu-Jitsu with her version of a mounted gogoplata of sorts. In the final, Monique pulled guard and Dominyka pressured to pass but no points or advantages were awarded to either. The referee decision was given to Monique Elias.

She says there were three things that contributed to what made this accomplishment special: “First thing is that Mario gave me a job to win everything this year and I did it. Another thing is that I hurt my foot two weeks ago and I thought about not fighting but my support from Alliance made me feel better to train and get ready. And the third thing is that I fight against Dominyka all the time and it’s so exciting because I know she’s really tough and good at killing my positions and I never know how it will end. I’m also happy since she’s from Alliance too and that both of us are fighting together.”

Monique Elias promoted to black belt. Photo: Erin Herle

Monique was promoted to black belt on the podium after the open weight division by Mario Reis. Angelica Galvao was awarded her black belt on the podium from husband Andre Galvao after she won her brown belt lightweight division and Galvao also promoted Chelsea Bainbridge-Donner for her gold medal in the featherweight category.

The 2014 IBJJF New York Spring Open at the Nat Holman Gymnasium on the City College of New York campus on April 12 unfolded. There were many photographers on location to capture the fights from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., white to black.

The team awards were as follows:

1 Alliance Marcelo Garcia – 193 points

2 Team Lloyd Irvin – 168 points

3 Renzo Gracie – 106 points

Full results can be found here: http://static.ibjjfdb.com/Campeonato/000250/en-US/Results.pdf

Photos from Fighterplus can be found in this album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.803854879632250.1073741857.502531056431302

Rommel Malabanan took photos for GRACIEMAG, which can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/graciemag/sets/72157643948819415/

The IBJJF photographers of the day John “Ric” Ricard and D-Kline Design took photos here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.857595640922436.1073741996.192240324124641 

And another gallery here:

The ladies of the purple belt absolute. Photo: Erin Herle

The big winners of the lower belts came in the purple belt and brown belt open weight divisions at the 2014 IBJJF Boston Spring Open. Photos were captured by a few photographers other than Graciemag.

Horlando Monteiro redeems himself by winning the absolute. Photo: Erin Herle

In the purple belt male absolute, Horlando Monteiro of Nova Uniao had a redemption since getting submitted in the semi-final of his weight division by Devon Delbrugge. In the semi-final of the absolute, he returned the favor with a submission of his own. In the final he faced against another Team Lloyd Irvin affiliate student, Joseph Ruggiero. Winning with advantages, he secured his gold.

Maria Malyjasiak wins the absolute and gets promoted to brown belt. Photo: Erin Herle

For the females, Mario Malyjasiak took the gold after winning the heavyweight category as well. On the podium she received her brown belt from Abmar Barbosa of Drysdale Jiu-Jitsu.

The brown belt male absolute, the Mansher Khera of Alliance Marcelo Garcia also had a redemption.

Mansher Khera wins the absolute with a final against Tye Ryan Murphy. Photo: Erin Herle

After losing his first match in the weight division and still qualifying for the absolute due to placing third, he was able to win four matches in the open for the gold. His final against Tye Ryan Murphy of Team Lloyd Irvin was won by advantages with the use of his staple position, the x-guard.

Maxine submits with a triangle armbar in the final. Photo: Erin Herle

The brown belt female absolute was a round robin. Only three ladies were present in three different weight divisions. After the ladies all defaulted gold in their categories, Nathalia Azoff of BTT Boston, Maxine Thylin of Gracie Humaita and Ashley Proctor of Gracie Barra went against each other. Nathalia was able to defeat Ashley in the first round then Maxine faced Ashley and won on points. In the final, Maxine submitted Nathalia with a triangle armbar winning the absolute as a featherweight among a medium-heavyweight and a heayvweight.

Check out the full gallery found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/graciemag/sets/72157643592798643/

The photos by Douglas Kline for the IBJJF can be seen in an album here.

Pictures by Boston BJJ Scene can be seen in an album here.

Tim working the pass in his semi-final match in the brown belt adult open weight division. Photo: Erin Herle

One of the stand-outs set to make a statement even before the 2014 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship was Tim Spriggs of Crazy 88/Team Lloyd Irvin. The 23-year-old Baltimore, MD resident proved his abilities by winning the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo Brown Belt Grand Prix last November.

Tim Spriggs (right) and Erberth Santon (left) after closing out the brown belt adult open weight division. Photo: Erin Herle

Tim competed in the brown belt adult heavyweight division as well as the brown belt open weight division and won all of his matches — three were submissions, one was a stoppage due to injury. In the final of the open weight, he closed out with a fellow TLI member, Erberth Santos from Brazil who had been training with him for the past month at Crazy 88. The weekend left him with a winning streak that proved his capabilities since his promotion to brown belt last June.

Above all of his studies on the mat, Tim also proved his capabilities in academia having earned a college degree back in 2012 at St John’s University in New York City. Even though he was states away from the Crazy 88 team, he still made it work, training full time in the summers and remaining loyal to his team. At 16 Tim started training with them and has never strayed.

Representing his TLI team after winning the brown belt adult heavyweight division. Photo: Erin Herle

We asked Tim questions about his time at the Pans on the weekend of Mar 12-16 and what it takes to be successful. His often short declarative sentences tell of a person who is direct, focused and doesn’t play around. But don’t be fooled by his ferocious tendencies on the mat because he is every bit a gentleman.

Tim Spriggs wins big at the Pan. Photo: Erin Herle

GRACIEMAG: What was your toughest match at the Pan?

Tim Spriggs: My toughest match at the Pan was the first one in my weight division. Mostly because I hadnt competed since the Copa Podio. Match speed and intensity is very different from the training room and usually I compete much more frequently, so that I am used to that difference. Also, I was not able to finish the guy, that’s another reason.

What is one characteristic a person must have to be successful?

A burning desire to win. And not just at the competition. You have to be willing to put everything you have into each training session, your diet, and even your rest. The person with the most drive to do everything necessary to win will be the most successful.

A lot of your matches start with judo and end with you on your opponent’s back. Do you drill specific transitions or series of techniques?

I drill the techniques that give me the most success. So a lot of judo, guard passing, and submissions from the back. However, I am always expanding my arsenal, so I study all aspects of the art; takedowns, guard, and guard passing.

What are your long-term goals in Jiu-Jitsu?

Black belt world champion in my weight and the absolute. ADCC champion in weight and absolute.

You went to St John’s University and finished in 2012. What is your degree and does it/will it help you in achieving your goals?

I got my degree in sociology. Although it doesn’t really help me with fighting it does give me a better understanding of why people act the way the way they do, so it helps with interacting with people at the academy.

What is a typical training routine for you?

Depending on what day it is, I have early morning strength and conditioning, then morning training session. I teach in the afternoon, then another session in the evening. My training usually lasts around three hours or more during the grand slam season. [From the Europeans in January to the Worlds in early June]

Working the pass in the brown belt adult heavyweight division. Photo: Erin Herle

We’ll see Tim next at the Abu Dhabi World Jiu-Jitsu Championship on April 15-19 and the World Championship in Long Beach on May 28-June 1.

Tim Spriggs wins big at the Pan. Photo: Erin Herle

Some of the most exciting matches of the event came from the brown belt adult divisions. On Saturday, the male and female athletes took over the mats from nine in the morning until nine at night.

MALES

Fabio Caloi wins feather. Photo: Erin Herle

The males had many exciting matches. In the roosterweight final two members of Alliance, one from Sao Paulo and one from Los Angeles battled it out with a near even score. At the very end, Francis Tejano of Cobrinha BJJ went for a takedown with mere seconds left and earned the gold over Eduard Lisboa. Light-featherweight brought Andris Brunovski, who moved to Atos in San Diego, back to the top after he won his final against last year’s world champion Michael Woolf Barnato of Kurt Osiander’s. Featherweights brought together members of Alliance a few times. Jon Thomas of Alliance Atlanta faced Isaac Doederlein of Alliance Los Angeles with a sweep battle. Isaac made it through on points and eventually met teammate Jacob Sandoval in the semi-final. Jacob took the pass to fight Fabio Caloi from Alliance Sao Paulo in the final. Fabio earned the submission from the back to get the gold.

Michael Liera Jr. shoots for the triangle. Photo: Erin Herle

Lightweight featured Michael Liera Jr. of Atos who took it home, submitting all five of his fights for the gold. Middleweight was closed out by two Alliance Marcelo Garcia members, Jon Satava and Dillon Danis. Medium-heavy had some of the most exciting matches of the divisions with Inacio Neto of Gracie Barra in wars with various opponents. Matheus Diniz from Alliance Marcelo Garcia had takedown and sweep stand-offs with Inacio but lacked the two points to win the match. Mike Carbullido of Atos had a similar match even passing Inacio’s guard but failed to stabilize and lost on points.

Manny Diaz wins the medium-heavy division. Photo: Erin Herle

In the final, Manuel Diaz of Brasa Caio Terra Association, who had submissions of his own on the way to the end match-up, out scored the Gracie Barra athlete to win the gold.

Heavyweight was dominated by Tim Spriggs of Crazy 88/Team Lloyd Irvin. His aggressive, forward approach to his takedowns, knee slice passes to the back will ensure him of a choke. His final match against Fernando Reis of Alliance ended in this manner. Erberth Santos of Team Lloyd Irvin but a local to Sao Paulo, BR won the ultra-heavyweight division and Pedro Moura of Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu won the super-heavyweight division, also traveling from Brazil.

Erbert and Tim close out the brown belt adult open weight division. Photo: Erin Herle

The open weight for males was narrowed down to Jon Satava vs. Tim Spriggs and Erberth Santos vs. Igor Schneider. Tim submitted Jon with a bow-and-arrow choke while Erberth submitted his semi-final with a kneebar. A flip of the coin determined Erberth as the gold medal winner.

FEMALES

Karen Antunes wins the featherweight division. Photo: Erin Herle

The brown belt ladies had smaller divisions than the males but did not lack action. The light-featherweights only had two competitors but of high caliber. The margin was small but Kristina Barlaan of Brasa Caio Terra Association was able to repeat her 2013 performance and take the gold by advantage over seasoned competitor Chelsea Bainbridge-Donner of Atos. Featherweight was full of accomplished competitors who compete regularly. Karen Antunes of Checkmat outscored Maxine Thyline of Gracie Humaita to get to the final. Patricia Fontes of Checkmat armbarred Christie Sullivan of Gracie Elite Team then lost to Tess Kovit of Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu by points. Karen submitted Tess with a choke from the back for the win.

Angelica Galvao wins the lightweight division. Photo: Erin Herle

Lightweight was led by Angelica Galvao of Atos who first had Jane Minondo of North Vancouver BJJ. She won by points. Laurah Hallock of Paragon defeated Jackeline Oliveira of Alliance to face Angelica in the final. The gold went to Angelica to give her a third Pan title.

Monique Elias wins the middleweight division. Photo: Erin Herle

Middleweight began with Rosamond Snow who submitted Nathalia Azoff of BTT with an armbar. Sijara Eubanks of Team Lloyd Irvin defeated Ana Lowry of Cicero Costha to get into the finals. Monique Elias of Alliance defeated Rosamond by armbar in the semi-finals and then submitted Sijara in the final with a choke from the back for the gold. The heavyweight division only held one athlete, Hillary VanOrnum of Impact Jiu-Jitsu.

Medium-heavy had two matches with Brooke Goldsworthy of Crispim BJJ Brothers defeating her first opponent, Angela Hernandez of Gracie Barra. In the final, Dominyka Obelenyte of Alliance Marcelo Garcia defeated Brooke by points to earn the title.

The open weight division for the females consisted of thirteen women:

Karen Antunes defeated Kristina Barlaan by choke from the back.

Sijara Eubanks defeated Jane Minondo by ezekiel.

Laurah Hallock defeated Rosamond Snow by armbar.

Dominyka Obelenyte defeated Maxine Thyline by americana.

Tess Kovit defeated Hillary VanOrnum by referee decision.

Patricia Fontes defeated Angela Hernandez by choke from the back.

Patricia defeated Brooke Goldsworthy by 7-2 in points.

Monique Elias defeated Laurah by choke from the back.

Sijara defeated Karen by 4-2 in points.

Dominyka defeated Tess by americana.

Monique defeated Sijara by 8-0.

Dominyka defeated Patricia by choke from the back.

Monique Elias wins the open weight and double gold. Photo: Erin Herle

The final between two Alliance females was intense the entire match much because of the talent among the two and the action. Both pulled guard and Dominyka came up for the advantage not long after. She pushed into top half earning another advantage before Monique recovered her guard, threatened a sweep and earned an advantage. Dominyka pressured through once more to close in on Monique with shoulder pressure and an underhook and managed to clear her legs to pass. Before stabilizing, Dominyka stepped her foot over for mount but Monique responded with her knee to counter, turned into her and on to her knees which only gave Dominyka another advantage. Monique stood up with her grips on Dominyka’s pants and as Dominyka went to guard, Monique earned two points. Dominyka swept for two points and Monique closed the 50/50 guard. Monique swept to top still in the 50/50 position for two points. Dominyka swept once more for two more points and attempted to keep Monique down but Monique earned two more points at the very end of the match for the win, 6-4.

You can check out a full album with photos from the brown belt divisions here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/graciemag/sets/72157642514279034/

Vitor Oliveira, absolute champion of the NY Summer Open. Photo: Erin Herle/ GRACIEMAG

The weekend of July 13 saw some high-level Jiu-Jitsu in New York. The IBJJF held the first edition of the New York Jiu-Jitsu Summer Open, in the Nat Holman gymnasium, and the biggest name of the event was Teresópolis, Brazil’s, Vitor Oliveira (GFTeam), who secured gold at both the middleweight and absolute black belt divisions.

Vitor, who passed the guard of DJ Jackson (Lloyd Irvin) in the absolute final, talks about the feat and has some advice for our reader:

GRACIEMAG: What have you learned from winning two golds at the NY Summer Open?

VITOR OLIVEIRA: I had an excellent performance, I was able to apply the positions I wanted. But even with the win, I could see that I need to make adjustments in my game. I think the crowd was instrumental in this achievement – it’s always good to have the fans supporting.

How did your mind operate in the absolute final against the DJ?

This time I believed more in my judo. Early on I applied a takedown and gained two points. Then, I tried not to make mistakes by always attacking. That’s how I applied pressure until I passed the guard. Passing DJ’s guard was time-consuming, because he kept locking my foot in half-guard, but I kept my shoulder on his face and persisted. Near the end, he managed to sweep, but I won by 5-2. The secret to taking him down was to attack at the right time, when he sank the grip on my lapel.

In the middleweight final, you beat Daniel Tavares, of SAS. What have you learned?

I had fought Daniel in the No-Gi Pan last year and already knew a little about his game. I tried to take him down, but couldn’t stabilize the move and ended up leaving the fighting area. The referee brought the fight back to the middle and Daniel pulled the X-guard. I then fell on the side, but didn’t stabilize. Then Daniel went to all fours, which was when I was able to sink the guillotine and finish him.

What is your main trick for the few hours prior to competition?

I try to be as quiet as possible. It’s kinda funny, I always think that I won’t be able to use force [laughs]. My body gets a little soft, but when I get to the mat I am awake and cool. The fighter must always maintain good nutrition, sleep early before the event, try to be focused and avoid eating too much before fighting. It is helpful to have full confidence in your game – this will help in the critical hours throughout the tournament.

What did you learn overall in New York?

I learned a lot about my game. I have to be more alert and adjust my grips better when fighting. I was a little loose when I was caught by surprise in the final with DJ. I like to fight on top very much, preferably in half-guard. So I’ve just got to practice more and get my grips ultra tight.

See the final of the black belt absolute match here:

The colored belts took over the majority of the mats on Saturday, July 13 as the IBJJF New York Summer Open took place in a moist basement gymnasium at the City College of New York. What felt like another world that captured you for the full day, the schedule was packed with stacked divisions one after the other.

By 10:40, the purple belt males were beginning to infuse the blue belt males on the ten mats and by noon the brown belts had joined in as well. The black belts melded in and before you know it, the divisions were closing up and open weight categories were forming brackets.

Here are the results and standouts that made their way through the hot basement atmosphere, against tough opponents and onto the podium:

Blue belts were mostly dominated by Team Lloyd Irvin members, Malachi Edmond at light-feather, Derrick Holmes at feather and Sodiq Yusuff at light. At rooster, Dean Lewis and all of his 5’2″ self managed to submit his way to his second IBJJF gold ever. He always weighs in below the weight limit and although he just moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia to train at 50/50, he is already reaping reward.

Purple belts showed skill from all teams allowing GFTeam, Alliance Marcelo Garcia, Team Lloyd Irvin and others to take the podium as no one team dominated. Standouts Daniel Goss and Lucas Mattos Moutinho of GFteam took gold in their division and also closed out the open weight division as middleweight and super-heavyweight. The takedowns of Lucas were ferocious and his cardio allowed him to keep up a fast pace throughout all of his matches.

Alliance Marcelo Garcia gained the most points as a team and in turn was granted the first place trophy. For the brown belt males, three divisions from light to medium-heavy were won by members of the Marcelo Garcia crew. Gianni Grippo won the lightweight category moving up from his normal featherweight territory, Dillon Danis who is now making his way into the IBJJF competition podiums won the middleweight division and Matheus Diniz who came from Brazil to train with Marcelo full-time won the medium-heavyweight division.

The brown belt open class was interesting purely because the winner, Maximilian Bohanan, placed second in his weight category, middleweight and the second place Kevin Mahecha placed third in his division, lightweight. Male heavyweight Tim Spriggs placed third after meeting Kevin in the semi-finals but wasn’t able to dominate the match as all of his other matches during the day.

The females brought on high-level competitors from all over: Texas, Atlanta, California, Florida, Boston, Maryland, Puerto Rico, Pennsylvania and more.

Blue belts were dominated by featherweight Annie Xiong and lightweight Anna Burdette from Alliance Marcelo Garcia although more female blue belts placed on the podium also from their team. Heavyweight Michelle Welti of Big Brothers took the top spot of the open weight podium after she defaulted gold in her weight division. Second place went to the middleweight champion Jessica Adams of Nova Uniao with Annie Xiong and fellow featherweight Viviana Eva Velez of Carlson Gracie Team in Puerto Rico taking the third place spots.

Purple belts only had light-feather, light and middle, spreading out the athletes who wanted a fair amount of matches to higher weight categories. Danielle Alvarez of GMA Alvarez BJJ placed second in both weight and absolute proving her comeback to Jiu-Jitsu is getting right back to the top. Double gold went to Katie Merrill of Boston, although a native of New York, who fought her way through five matches. Sera Kim and Jessie Carpenter won their respective division but opted out of the open weight, satisfied with their performances.

For the full results, click here.

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