IBJJF Pan American 2019 Results

MARCH 24, 2019, Bren Center – Irvine California was the home for the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) Pan American Championship.

The second day of the black belt division saw a much more tentative approach to the game by the majority of competitors when comparing to yesterday. Very defensive closed and 50/50 guards seemed to dominate the tempo of most matches, with rare exceptions.

One of the standard bearers of forward moving jiu-jitsu was Otavio Sousa. The veteran Gracie Barra competitor showed he still has plenty of gas in his tank, putting on some seriously entertaining matches, particularly that against Jaime Canuto where the two pushed the pace and placing the crowd at the edge of their seats. A historic match-up that was undoubtedly one of the clashes of the year. In the final of the middleweight division, Sousa would succumb to Bahiense’s traditional illusive tactics, as the Alliance athlete treaded on the fine line between stalling and working just enough to avoid a referee penalty.

The Hulk, Lucas Barbosa looked unstoppable and could easily be referenced as the man of the tournament, considering his double gold medal performance. If there was such an award, however, in our eyes, it would go to Adam Wardzinski. The Polish black belt had the performance of a lifetime against Leandro Lo in the semifinals, beating the 6x world champion by choke after a dominant display of jiu-jitsu. In true “Polska Presja” style, with a sweep to mount, to back take, to strangle combo, something Adam had done countless times in the past, but never against, arguably, the best pound-for-pound athlete in the world. In the final, Adam lost to Kaynan Duarte of Atos, who, much like Bahiense had done with Otavio Sousa, ran the clock against Wardzinski after scoring the first two points early on. This was indeed one of the stories of the Pans, the lack of stalling calls awarded to the abundance of defensive tactics on display by many competitors.

On the lighter weight classes, both black belt newcomers Levi Jones-Leary and Matheus Gabriel, in particular, looked outstanding taking on a roll of high caliber players on their way to victory. For Matheus, this included none other than Kennedy Maciel, Leonardo Saggioro, Rafael Mansur AND Jamil Hill-Taylor. What a performance! The final against Jamil was slightly controversial as Hill Taylor stacked a few penalties early on, which would cost him the losing 2 points in the final seconds of the match.

One of the clashes of the tournament was that of Ffion Davies and Karen Antunes. Ffion has cut through the featherweight division like a hot knife through butter, since achieving her black belt late last year. Yesterday she faced the durable Nathalie Ribeiro, while today’s final against the veteran Karen Antunes proved to be just as tough. The Welsh grappler conquered gold by 2 in a backward and forwards war against the Brazilian athlete, where Ffion was able to display her takedowns, guard work and passing. A complete test to ECBJJA’s rising star.

Another “story” of the tournament, was the return of Gabrielle Garcia to competition. Gabi stopped competing in grappling back in 2015 to pursue a career in mixed martial arts, with an exception made for the ADCC back in 2017. Garcia’s tenacity and physique still proved to a force to be reckoned with, with the Alliance competitor showing no signs of “gi rust” and conquering double gold.

Male Weight Classes Results

ROOSTER WEIGHT

¼ FINALS
– Nobuhiro Sawada (Tri-Force) def. Mikey Musumeci (CTA) by WO
– Cleber Sousa (Almeida JJ) def. Carlos Alberto Oliveira (GFT) by 6×4
– Hiago Gama (Alliance) def. Livio Ribeiro (Ares) by advantage [2×2 pts]
– Koji Shibamoto (Tri-Force) def. David Herrera (Soul Fighters) by choke

SEMIFINALS
– Cleber Sousa (Almeida JJ) def. Nobuhiro Sawada (Tri-Force) by 4×2
– Hiago Gama (Alliance) def. Koji Shibamoto (Tri-Force) by advantage [2×2 pts]

FINAL
– Cleber Sousa def. Hiago Gama by decision

LIGHT FEATHERWEIGHT

¼ FINALS
– Alex Sodré (NU) def. Fernando Soares (GFT) by armbar
– João Miyao (PSLPB) def. Shimon Kagiyama (DLR) by armbar
– Hiago George (PSLPB) def. Alexis Alduncin (Renzo Gracie) by toe hold
– Paulo Miyao (PSLPB) def. Rene Lopez (CTA) by decision [0x0 pts]

SEMIFINALS
– João Miyao (PSLPB) def. Alex Sodré (NU) by decision
– Paulo Miyao (PSLPB) closed division with Hiago George (PSLPB)

FINAL
PSLPB team closed the division

FEATHERWEIGHT

¼ FINALS
– Jamil Hill-Taylor (TLI) def. Thiago Macedo (R. Pinheiro) by advantage [0x0 pts]
– Isaac Doederlein (Alliance) def. João Mendes (Atos) by armlock
– Matheus Gabriel (Checkmat) def. Leonardo Saggioro (BTT) by 6×2
– Rafael Mansur (Atos) def. Samir Chantre (Ares) by 2×0

SEMIFINALS
– Jamil Hill-Taylor (TLI) def. Isaac Doederlein (Alliance) by 2×0
– Matheus Gabriel (Checkmat) def. Rafael Mansur (Atos) by 4×2

FINAL
– Matheus Gabriel (Checkmat) def. Jamil Hill-Taylor (TLI) penalty [4×4 pts]

LIGHTWEIGHT

¼ FINALS
– Levi Jones-Leary (Unity) def. Breno Bittencourt (Ares) by 6×2
– Gabriel Rollo (Checkmat) def. Francisco Iturralde (Clark Gracie) by 16×4
– Osvaldo Moizinho (Ares) def. Alexandre Molinaro (Carlson Gracie) by 8×6
– Renato Canuto (Checkmat) def. Athos Miranda (Alliance) by decision [0x0 pts]

SEMIFINALS
– Levi Jones-Leary (Unity) def. Gabriel Rollo (Checkmat) by a penalty
– Renato Canuto (Checkmat) def. Osvaldo Moizinho (Ares) by 4×0

FINAL
– Levi Jones-Leary def. Renato Canuto by 6×4

MIDDLEWEIGHT

¼ FINALS
– Isaque Bahiense (Alliance) def. Leonardo Lara (Almeida JJ) by choke
– Michael Liera (Atos) def, Chad Hardy (Nashville MMA) by choke
– Jaime Canuto (GFT) def Manuel Ribamar (R. Pinheiro) by decision [0x0 pts]
– Otavio Sousa (GB) def. Alexandre Jesus (Calasans JJ) by choke

SEMIFINALS
– Isaque Bahiense (Alliance) def. Michael Liera (Atos) 6×4
– Otavio Sousa (GB) def. Jaime Canuto (GFT) by 6×4

FINAL
– Isaque Bahiense def. Otavio Sousa by 2×0

MEDIUM-HEAVYWEIGHT

¼ FINALS
– Lucas Barbosa (Atos) def. Tarsis Humphreys (Alliance) by 5×0
– Matheus Diniz (Alliance) def. Murilo Santana (Unity) by 4×2
– Gustavo Batista (Ares) def. Ruan Oliveira (Soul Fighters) 8×0
– Rudson Mateus (CTA) def. Matheus Spirandelli (Alliance) 2×0

SEMIFINALS
– Lucas Barbosa (Atos) def. Matheus Diniz (Alliance) by advantage [0x0 pts]
– Gustavo Batista (Ares) def. Rudson Mateus (CTA) 2×0

FINAL
Atos closed the division

HEAVYWEIGHT

¼ FINALS
– Leandro Lo (NsB) def. Vinicius Gazola (Alliance) decision [0x0 pts]
– Adam Wardzinski (Checkmat) def. Fellipe Trovo (GB) choke
– Patrick Gaudio (GFT) def. Aaron Johnson (Unity) by 15×0
– Kaynan Duarte (Atos) def. Arnaldo Maidana (Checkmat) by 5×0

SEMIFINALS
– Adam Wardzinski (Checkmat) def. Leandro Lo (NsB) by choke
– Kaynan Duarte (Atos) def. Patrick Gaudio (GFT) by toe hold

FINAL
– Kaynan Duarte def. Adam Wardzinski by 1 advantage [2×2 pts]

SUPER-HEAVY

¼ FINALS
– Tanner Rice (Soul Fighters) def. James Puopolo (RJJ) decision [6×6 pts]
– Mahamed Aly (TLI) def. Leonardo Nogueira (Alliance) by advantages [2×2]
– Gutemberg Pereira (GFT) def. Helton Jose (Atos) by 12×0
– Fellipe Andrew (Zenith) def. Fernando Reis (Alliance) by.ankle lock

SEMIFINALS
– Mahamed Aly (TLI) def. Tanner Rice (Soul Fighters) by injury (deep cut)
– Fellipe Andrew (Zenith) def. Gutemberg Pereira (GFT) by 2×0

FINAL
– Fellipe Andrew def.Mahamed Aly by 18×2

ULTRA-HEAVYWEIGHT

¼ FINALS
– Guilherme Augusto (Alliance) def. Gustavo Elias (RJJ) decision [0x0 pts]
– Max Gimenis (GFT) def. Dany Gerard (Atos) by 9×0
– Antonio Braga Neto (Gordo JJ) def. Pedro Agrizzi (Soul Fighters) by 4×2

SEMIFINALS
– Max Gimenis (GFT) def. Guilherme Augusto (Alliance) by 9×0
– R. Evangelista (GFT) def. Antonio Braga Neto (Gordo JJ) by decision [0x0]

FINAL
GF Team closed the division

OPEN WEIGHT

SEMIFINALS
– Leandro Lo def. Gustavo Batista by 2×0
– Lucas Barbosa def. Gutemberg Pereira by 0x0 pts, 1×0 adv

FINAL
– Lucas Barbosa def. Leandro Lo by split decision [0x0 pts]

Female Weight Classes Results

ROOSTERWEIGHT FINAL

– Mayssa Bastos (GFT) def. Serena Gabrielli (Flow) by choke

LIGHT FEATHERWEIGHT FINAL

– Amanda Monteiro (GFT) def. Talita Alencar (CTA) by decision [0x0 pts]

FEATHERWEIGHT FINAL

– Ffion Davies (ECJJA) def. Karen Antunes (Checkmat) by 4×2