Jason Gatti was the blue belt adult male absolute champion
Day 1 of the 8th Arizona International Jiu-Jitsu Open took place this Saturday at Phoenix College in Arizona. The kids opened the day and later on the adult blue belt division took over. Purple, Brown and Black belts fight this Sunday. In total, the event will have 550 competitors.
As usual, kids and teens gave their all on the mats.
The Teams’ results for Kids Division are:
1st – Gustavo Dantas JJ – 114pts
2nd – MWBJJ – 76pts
3rd – JCBJJ – 58pts
4th – BJJ Revolution – 57pts
5th – Primero BJJ – 49pts
After the kids, it was time for the blue belt division to get on the mats. Competitors from the juvenile to the senior displayed some good techniques at Phoenix College.
The most crowded weight class of the adult blue belt division was lightweight. With 12 competitors, the champion had to step on the mat four times. The ultimate glory went to the young talent of Adrian Nez, an 18-year-old who has trained Jiu-Jitsu since he was 11, most of the time at Gracie Humaita Las Vegas under Mica Cipilli, and recently with Team Megaton.
“My father was really into wrestling and one day he discovered Jiu-Jitsu. He took me to train and nowadays I train a lot more than him,” said Nez.
At Phoenix College, Nez managed to get two taps, first a reverse choke and then a triangle in the final match against GD JJ’s Sam Shapiro.
In the adult female blue belt open division, the top spot in the podium went to 27-year-old Tsui Jen, from GMA member Ruffhouse. She fought two times for the gold and in the final stretched Donna Morey’s arm after outscoring her adversary 23-0.
The adult male blue belt absolute champion was Jason Gatti, from Siege MMA. After placing third at lightweight, he came back in great style to fight three times in the open and get the gold medal.
“I got the tap by a guillotine choke in my first time and then won the next two by points,” he said.
In the final match, Gatti scored 5-0 on Thomas Keenan (GD JJ) with a takedown and a guard pass. Before being able to celebrate, he had to defend a tight triangle by Keenan, followed by an armbar.
“The good thing was that in the absolute I beat the guy who beat the guy who defeated me in the weight division,” he said.
In the end, it made sense!
That’s it for Saturday. This Sunday the action restarts 10 a.m. with the purple, brown and black belt divisions.
The teams’ results for the adult division after day 1 are as follows:
1st – GDJJ-95
2nd – Power MMA- 49
3rd – BJJ Revolution- 40
4th – Ruffhouse-36
5th – Team Megaton-32
Check out an exclusive photo gallery of Day 1 at the Phoenix College:
[flickr set=72157632961154120]
The Live Coverage continues tomorrow, Sunday.
Follow all the action on GOOGLE+.
The post Check out the best images and all the action of day 1 at the 8th Arizona Open first appeared on Graciemag.