2013 Worlds: Day two blue to brown; Vieira, Andre, Liera, Miyaos, Grippo shine

01 Jun, 2013

Rafael Henrique Pereira cheers from an exhausting position after winning the brown belt lightweight division. Photo: Erin Herle

Day two of the 2013 World Championship in the Long Beach Walter Pyramid was a long day of massive achievements. The blue belt females took their turn and the purple belts male and female had their divisions today as well. Brown belts started mid day, had an intermission and returned to the mats after 6 p.m. with two more weight divisions. The blue belt male and female opens were held and the brown belt finals ended the night at roughly 9 p.m.

Ana Carolina Vieira celebrates her win after winning her blue belt middleweight division. Photo: Erin Herle

Blue belt middle weight gold for the females went to Rodolfo Vieira’s sister Ana Carolina Vieira Srour. This is her second time in a row winning the world title in her division and as a first she was able to make her way to the top of the podium in the open weight division as well. Her double gold has put GFTeam in the first place position for female team points so far.

Marcio Andre wins the purple belt featherweight division. Photo: Erin Herle

In the purple belt featherweight division, Nova Uniao’s Brazilian superstar Marcio Andre achieved the grand slam after winning the gold. He had tough matches and with a hurt foot he managed to get through all of his matches without any hesitation or sign of weakness. Once the final match was over he was able to feel it kick in but maintained very humble whenever on the mat. You can see his final against Manuel Moreno below.

Michael Liera Jr wins the purple belt lightweight division with an ezekiel. Photo: Erin Herle

Michael Liera Jr. continued his great run this year by winning his second world title and gold in the purple belt lightweight division. His final against Mansher Singh Khera of Marcelo Garcia ended with an ezekiel from mount which secured his first place position. Earlier this year he took double gold at the Pan American Championship.

The brown belts are split for friday and saturday with lightweight and below taking the mats today. The Miyao brothers took the light feather division and closed in on it from both sides ending in a close-out between the two. Paulo has completed the grand slam as well now. We will see them in the open division tomorrow at 4:45 p.m. PST.

Gianni Grippo wins the brown belt featherweight division. Photo: Erin Herle

Featherweight and lightweight brown belts started in the evening and ended the night with their finals. The featherweight category was won by Gianni Grippo under Marcelo Garcia as he completes his goal of winning the worlds at every belt and also gains his sixth world title total. His final against Fabio Caloi was a battle of two Alliance members leaving the pyramid silent as the one match was left purely to the competitors with no coaching or cheering for either one.

Rafael Henrique Pereira wins the brown belt lightweight division. Photo: Erin Herle

Lightweight category was won by our pick in the 10 people who will make an impact at the Worlds article. Rafael Henrique Pereira of Gracie Elite Team defeated his opponent Matheus Rocha Fagundes by playing a solid top game and earning a win as Matheus had received a penalty in the match. The opposite of the prior featherweight final, this duel was intense as both sides had crowds that cheered so loud it felt as though the pyramid was full. It was the last match of the night and a great climax for day two.

To see the full results, click here.

And to catch all that we covered throughout the day, scroll down our Google+ page where all the action is documented as it happens.