Bastos, Claudinha,and Jacaré celebrate. Photo: Personal archive.
Another installment of the Naga grappling tournament went down last weekend in Dallas, Texas. The big standout was JJ Homes, who won his weight and absolute no-gi divisions, having beaten the likes of Jorge “Macaco” Patino.
Also putting in good performances were Bruno Bastos’s students at Octagon MMA Claudia Gadelha and Daniel “Jacaré” Almeida.
Claudia won both her weight division and the no-gi division as well as the absolute, with wins over athletes of the caliber of ATT MMA fighter Jessica Aguilar. Jacaré too won his weight division and the no-gi division, but took third in the absolute. In the bronze-medal dispute the black belt beat Hawaiian savant Baret Yoshida.
Jorge Macaco did well, taking second in the absolute no-gi category and first in his weight division.
The champions were awarded belts and samurai swords.
Also in attendance were such illustrious figures as Brock Lesnar’s Jiu-Jitsu coach and two-time absolute world champion Rodrigo Comprido and black belt Hillary Williams as referee.