via Gracie Mag
Amid the excitement of UFC on Fox 2, the IBJJF kicked off competition season for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with the European Championships in Lisbon, Portugal. Considered one of 'the big three' IBJJF events along with the Pan Am Championships and the World Championships, anyone who takes home a gold medal from the European Championship is legitimately a world class grappler.
There has been a divide in the competitive grappling world for some time, between those who believe that there should be cash prizes for competitors and those who do not. Since the IBJJF strives to emulate the Olympic games the athletes do not receive cash prizes, but the heightened visibility provided by the event helps the athlete get sponsorships and students. There are several other grappling organizations that are offering cash prizes and they are beginning to draw top flight talent away from the IBJJF. While this European Championships had plenty of elite competitors, the brackets were not as robust as in the past.
But with that said, there was still plenty of excellent and highly technical action that took place in Lisbon over the weekend. Let us start with a 22-year-old heavyweight black belt phenom, Rodolfo Vieira. Winner of both Heavy and Absolute (Open) weight divisions, Rodolfo is picking up right where he left off in 2011 when he won both the Pan Ams and Worlds. He is still an extremely young man, Rodolfo looks to be the man to challenge Roger Gracie for supremacy in the Heavyweight division.
Lucio "Lagarto" Rodrigueo also double medaled, taking silver in the Super Heavy division and then a bronze in the Absolutes. Fellow Gracie Barra competitor Victor Estima took gold at middleweight. Victor is the brother of Braulio Estima, and this marks his first major gold medal in the gi.
The biggest surprise of the weekend was Roberto Satoshi. A Japanese grappler, Satoshi was a world champion at the blue, purple and brown levels and was competing for first time as a black belt at the Euros. Satoshi shocked onlookers, cutting his way to Lightweight gold. He made a huge statement in his first match when he locked on a flying triangle in under a minute. In the Lightweight final Satoshi defeated Lloyd Irvin student Jonathan Torres on points.
Video after the jump
(Roberto SATOSHI de Souza vs. Pedro Bessa via bjjstylemagazine)
(Roberto Satoshi de Souza X Jonathan Torres via VALDREU23)
Atos Jiu Jitsu continued their domination at Featherweight, which is reaching the point where it might be practical to just rename it Atos-weight. Bruno Frazatoo, an open guard specialists, took gold for Atos, while David Lemes took silver. There is no word if the two teammates actually fought their match or ended it with a hand shake, but either way it was another impressive showing for Atos.
A fun moment in Absolutes, English grappler Oliver Geddes locked on a seldom seen submission. A Roger Gracie black belt, Geddes loves working form top half guard and locked up what is sometimes called a 'dogbar', which is a knee bar from the top, but doesn't use the arms to hyperextend the knee.
(IBJJF European Championship 2012 Black Belt Open Weight: Oli Geddes vs. Marcos de Souza via bjjstylemagazine) skip to 9:15 for submission.
In the women's division, Michelle Nicolini took double gold in medium heavy and the absolute divisions. Nicolini is a fixture in women's BJJ, being a multiple time world champion and this was a classic performance by her. Also at the brown belt level Mackenzie Dern looked like the star prospect many consider her to be, winning Absolute gold. Dern is the daughter of a black belt who took her jiu jitsu classes instead of hiring a baby sitter and many consider her to be the next star in the making for women's BJJ.
Other highlights around the black belt divisions included Clark Gracie getting a bronze medal. Clark is a rising star in the grappling world, training with Kron and Rickson Gracie. Having already won a no gi world championship as a brown belt and notched one trip to ADCCs, Clark is one to watch moving forward.
Also a living legend returned to the mats in Lisbon this last weekend, Saulo Ribeiro. One of the foremost scholars of Jiu Jitsu, Saulo competed in the black belt senior divisions in the Super Heavy and Open weight classes, winning gold in both. Here is a video of Saulo's first match of the day where he locks up a choke from quarter guard, and roles to finish in full guard.
(IBJJF European Championship 2012: Saulo Ribeiro first match via bjjstylemagazine)
The lower belt divisions were full of excellent up and comers. Llyod Irvin purple belt Keenan Cornelius won both Middleweight weight and won the Absolute final against fellow Llyod Irvin student Kenneth Brown, who medaled at Ultra Heavyweight.
At Brown Belt, Gracie Barra's Luke Cosetllo won double gold. As a team Gracie Barra had great success up and down the event and took home the overall team award. Checkmat BJJ won the Female team award, and Gracie Barra took silver in Novice, Juvenile and Senior/Master age groups.
So that is the recap, I'll leave you with Julio Cezar Junior's triangle victory to win the Blue Belt Middleweight finals. It is a pretty tricky little entry and suggests we will be hearing his name again.
(IBJJF European Championship 2012: Adult Blue Belt Middleweight Final via bjjstylemagazine)
1 recs | 28 comments
The blue belt triangle is off an illegal grip. But what you gonna do if the ref doesn’t call it?
Also Lovato Jr. double medaled with two bronzes. The guy is inching closer to the top of the elite pack.
Ben Thapa - January 31, 2012
Good call. Ref was right there too.
Still a pretty slick transition.
POW - January 31, 2012
When/what was the illegal grip?
Somewhat new to the sport, and I couldn’t figure what you were referring to.
Scootah - January 31, 2012
His Left Hand
His left hand was on the inside of his opponents pants. You are not allowed to grab inside the sleeves at the wrist nor the bottom of the gi pants.
prophet665 - January 31, 2012
damn I knew I missed something…
as for grips. I don’t really know illegal grips from legal ones as I don’t compete much at all, in the room we have a pretty much “all is fair game as long as you do it safely” minus things like heel hooks or slicers
T.P. Grant - February 1, 2012
Same here. I dislike the illegal/legal grips thing, but it’s their competition.
Ben Thapa - February 1, 2012
yeah
but hey illegal grips are only illegal if the ref sees them.
I went to a Clark Gracie seminar at my school and he showed us a few loop choke entries that used illegal grips and when someone asked him about it, he said,
“Yeah, but it is hard for the ref to see from this angle”
T.P. Grant - February 1, 2012
That is in fact the accepted trick, if you want to use the grip then you need to find a way to conceal it (Kurt Osiander, an awesome Ralph Gracie black belt and terrific instructor often talks about this/makes fun of it).
Patrick Tenney - February 1, 2012
Also I want to go to a Clark Gracie seminar and just follow him around the entire time asking about omoplata setups and finishes.
Patrick Tenney - February 1, 2012
he did run a seminar on that
but sadly I was too broke to go. I attended a cheaper seminar on submission escapes and loop chokes
T.P. Grant - February 1, 2012
You cannot insert your fingers or thumb up inside the pants or the sleeves (you can on your own gi) you can only roll up the opponents sleeve cuff/pant cuff to create a grip like that. There’s a good reason for this and it’s because people break their fingers and thumbs constantly with it; I had a training partner completely shatter his own finger by having an illegal grip in a competition that a ref didn’t see; both guys twisted different ways and “snap crackle pop”.
Patrick Tenney - February 1, 2012
the guy who beat Lavato
is Roberto “Tussa” Camargo de Alencar. Those two have had some awesome matches with each other that are great to watch.
outlaw_GB - February 1, 2012
Any videos of Michelle Nicolini winning?
Between her and caio terro im not sure who is my favourite grappler i love watching both of them.
Beren - January 31, 2012
i googled it myself own self.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5s_pzg8Bno
Beren - January 31, 2012
Good job.
Be warned that Ida and Michelle are teammates, so the roll may not be the most competitive. However, that usually bodes well for entertainment, like the Mendes brothers’ roll at the last Abu Dhabi Pro in no-gi – which was one of the best matches ever to watch.
Ben Thapa - January 31, 2012
Ah scratch that. This is one dem fine match. Very back and forth, although Nicolini comes much closer to finishes than Hansson.
Ben Thapa - January 31, 2012
Caio Terra was teaching right by my friend
And he chose to go with Muay Thai instead…
Farthammer - January 31, 2012
Id love to train with Caio, the man is beast! rolling with him and the diaz brothers would be awesome.
im going to Brazil and cuba for my 30th and im dragging my arse all the way down to train @ check mate just because they are awesome guard players. its going to be awesome, training with Nova is Rio is going to be crazy too :).
Beren - February 1, 2012
Saulo is the man.
I have to admit that I love seeing him simply maintain his power base while his opponent pulled half-guard and tried for the sweep or whatnot. Saulo crushed his hips, sunk in the cross choke, and called it a match. Bravo.
glib_mf - February 1, 2012
King of the Silverbacks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_T1R4QlR5s
ToffeeA - February 1, 2012
That would be
…“Victor’s final”. (Translated from the original teamspeak.)
ToffeeA - February 1, 2012
you lost me at
Our Bovine Public - February 1, 2012
would this be better?
“amid the media coverage and fan outcry that the sky is falling that was UFC on Fox 2”
T.P. Grant - February 1, 2012
nailed it
Our Bovine Public - February 1, 2012
Yup.
Kefka - February 1, 2012
Vieira vs Roger
This dream match will probably only happen at the 2012 Worlds (if Roger competes) in the absolue because they compete in different weight classes. There is always the chance Rodolfo Vieira moves up.
outlaw_GB - February 1, 2012
to be honest, these are some of the only articles on bloody elbow i read any more. i used to come to bloody elbow first, out of the sbnation sites, but with all the other opinion pieces on here, as of late, i’ve been going to mmamania first.
this article and the others like it are good, well-researched.
the fluff pieces talking about how " no one likes lighter weight classes" or “why CroCop is blah blah”…..are boring as ****
theworldsoldestsport - February 1, 2012
Correction
FYI, Clark Gracie has been trained under his dad Carley and Rodrigo Medeiros, not Kron and Rickson as stated in the article (it’s very possible that they’ve trained together, but not regularly).
DavidSB - February 2, 2012
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