2013 Worlds No-Gi: champions crowned on Sunday of thrills

The 2013 World No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu Championship has come to an end after a Sunday of emotions at the Long Beach Walter Pyramid.

The black belt division crowned it’s champions in a series of hair-raising finals.

The first encounter was between Caio Terra and Fabio Passos in the roosterweight.

Terra went right after his 6th world title without the gi.

Like last year, Caio managed a submission, this time by foot lock in under three minutes.

Then, Laercio Fernandes stepped on the mat to face Rafael Freitas in the lightfeather division.

After defending a guillotine choke, Fernandes got to Freitas’ back for the 4-0 that granted him gold.

In the featherweight division, Justin Rader bet on his takedown game to defeat Osvaldo Moizinho for the gold.

The match was tied all the way to the end and the refs decided in favor of Rader for being more active.

In the lightweight division, JT Torres finally made it to the top of the podium in a world championship as a black belt.

JT defeated Marcelo Mafra 2-0 with a takedown to comeback from the controversial defeat to Augusto Tanquinho last year.

In the middleweight division, after one of the best matches of the day in the semifinal against Lenadro Lo, Gilbert Burns went for the gold medal in the final with Victor Oliveira.

A takedown was enough for the 2-0 and the title.

In the medium-heavy divsion, Eduardo Telles and  Felipe Pena clashed in a nail-biting duel decided only in the last seconds.

Tied in points (2-2) but losing on advantages (2-4), Telles managed to take Pena’s back virtually in the last five seconds of the match for his first ever world title as a black belt.

In the heavyweight division, Jackson Sousa had his arm raised after gentlemen’s agreement with teammate Lucas Leite.

In the superheavy division, James Puopolo and Eliot Kelly made a all-american final.

Puopolo got the second submission of the finals with a guillotine close to the end of the match.

In the ultraheavy division, Rafael Lovato Jr managed to control the much heavier Fabiano Scherner and win by advantages (3-1) from near sweeps.

The absolute, as informed this Saturday, was decided in a gentlemen’s agreement between Leandro Lo and Murilo Santana.

Santana got the gold to crown his four wins, three submissions run.

The final academies results were as follows:

Adult Male
1 – Alliance – 68
2 – Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu – 54
3 – Atos Jiu-Jitsu – 49

Adult Female
1 – CheckMat – 33
2 – Maromba Academia International – 28
3 – Alliance – 24

Juvenile
1 – GF Team – 21
2 – Gracie Barra – 20
3 – Alliance – 19

Master and Senior
1 – Gracie Barra – 110
2 – Cleber Jiu Jitsu – 107
3 – Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu – 86

Here’s a photo gallery with the best images of the day.

For full results, go to ibjjf.com