This Saturday the Arizona BJJ State Championship promoted by black belt Gustavo Dantas was held. The absolute black belt division paid out one thousand dollars to the winner and a number of gi-clad beasts took to the mats set up at the Westwood High School gymnasium.
Bruno Bastos at top of podium. Photo: Dan Gerous (publicity)
The big standout was Bruno Bastos. The Nova União rep had two matches on his way to taking the prize money in the open weight division.
“I faced Carlos Faria, a guy who weighs 130 kg, in the first match. Thank God he pulled guard and I won by 17 to 0. I faced Guybson Sá, a really tough opponent, in the final and won by a sweep. But another who did well was Gracie Barra’s Rafael Barata. He’s a roosterweight, but fought really well,” recounts Bruno Bastos.
Christian Broadnax celebrates. Photo: Dan Gerous (publicity)
Also in the black belt division, former UFC fighter Hermes França came up with a submission to capture middleweight gold. The winner of the purple belt category was WEC lightweight champion Ben Henderson, who showed how his ground game is sharp as ever winning his weight group and the absolute division to boot. Other standouts in the event with over 500 participants were the Broadnax twins Christian and Christopher, who won the featherweight and lightweight blue belt divisions. In the female category, Pan 2010 champion Kristina Barlaan won both her weight group and absolute at blue belt.
Check back on GRACIEMAG.com later for a photo gallery and team results:
Kids
1st – MMA Lab (88 pts)
2nd – Lion’s Den (86 pts)
3rd – Relson Gracie AZ (47 pts)
4th – Siege MMA/Lotus Club (44 pts)
5th – GD Jiu-Jitsu (42 pts)
Adult
1st – GD Jiu-Jitsu (249 pts)
2nd – MMA Lab (119 pts)
3rd – Rey Diogo/De Brazil (92 pts)
4th – Ruffhouse (74 pts)
5th – Megaton (64 pts)