The organizers of ADCC 2011 have just released the brackets for all the divisions of the submission wrestling tournament to unfold this weekend in Nottingham, England.
Check out who faces who below and the take of Ivan Trindade, the editor of the GRACIEMAG at the ADCC Blog.
And don’t forget to stop by the GRACIEMAG at the ADCC Blog for further coverage of ADCC 2011.
Under-66kg: In the upper part of the bracket, current champ Rafael Mendes will face his teammate Bruno Frazatto right off the bat. Robson Moura takes on Gregor Forsel. Also in the upper part of the bracket, Justin Rader and Ryan Hall are the two more favorites to earn berths in the quarterfinals. Below, Cobrinha debuts against David Marinakis. Baret Yoshida, Jeff Glover and Rani Yahya are also likely to make it through to the next stage. Two semifinals without surprises: Rafael Mendes vs. Robson Moura and Cobrinha vs. Rani Yahya.
Under 77kg: Marcelo Garcia takes on Davis Hart first and to make it to the final could have to go through Victor Estima, then Murilo Santana or Jorge Britto, and then probably face Kron Gracie in the semifinal. At the other end of the bracket, Claudio Calasans Jr. should meet the winner of Vagner Rocha-Tanquinho in one of the quarterfinals. Leo Vieira is the favorite to make it through to the other quarterfinal against JT Torres or Clark Gracie. Semifinal with no surprises? Marcelo Garcia vs. Kron Gracie and Claudio Calasans vs. JT (although Leo making it to the semifinal couldn’t be called an upset).
Under 88kg: Very evenly matched division, with Toquinho, David Avellan, Lovato and Rômulo all in the upper bracket as favorites to make it to the two quarterfinals. Below, Popovitch, Sérgio Moraes, Galvão and Gunnar Nelson are good picks to make it to round out the quarterfinals. Honestly, predicting the semifinals in this division is a tough call. From the quarters on up, only full-on beasts will be facing off. A prediction for the final? Lovato vs. Popovich; but who could rule out the possibility of Galvão vs. Rômulo or Sérgio vs. Toquinho?
Under 99kg: After some theoretically smoother opening matches, if they win, Xande Ribeiro and Lúcio Lagarto will face off in the quarterfinals. The same goes for Braga Neto and João Assis. In the lower bracket, Rodolfo Vieira makes his ADCC debut against Joseph Lee Baize and, if he wins, should have Antônio Peinado to contend with. Radk Turek, James Brasco, Dean Lister and Augusto Ferrari in a war without favorites for spots in the semifinals. Dream final? Xande vs. Rodolfo.
Over 99kg: Two-time champion of the event Fabricio Werdum opens against hard-to-handle Alexander Trans, who dominated the Jiu-Jitsu brown belt division in 2011. Then, he could meet up with Jeff Monson, Roberto Cyborg and Glover Teixeira on the way to the final. No cake walk. The lower bracket is clearly smoother sailing: Vinicius Magalhães should meet up with Bruno Bastos in the quarterfinals, while the revelation of ADCC 2009 Gerardi Rinaldi is the favorite to take a spot in the semifinals against Mick Wilson, Janne-Pekka or Rodrigo Artilheiro.
Under 60kg: Barring surprises, Luanna Alzuguir vs. Michelle Nicolini should be one of the semifinals. Kyra Gracie should await the winner between Hashi Takayo and Rosi Sexton, two unknown entities at this point. Prediction for the final? Luanna vs. Kyra.
Over 60kg: Gabrielle Garcia is the favorite for a place in the semifinal, but predicting who she’ll face is no easy talk. Penny Thomas and Talita Nogueira will repeat the medium heavyweight final from the 2011 Jiu-Jitsu World Championship, which Talita won by a narrow margin. In the bottom bracket, Hannette Staack is the firm favorite against Fiona Muxlow, Katrina Weilbacher and Ida Hansson, to make it through to the final. Prediction for final? Gabi vs. Hannette.