Red belt Francisco Mansor in middle, with champions and promoters. Photo: Luca Atalla.
Sunday was elite-level Jiu-Jitsu day in Long Island, New York.
The tenth installment of Milton Regis and Eloy Santos’s Long Island Pride tournament crowned beasts of the caliber of Ricardo “Demente” Abreu and Lucas Lepri, who each took a belt home with them.
Lucas, an old acquaintance of the Long Island crowd, returned to the event and won yet again. In the final of the lightweight absolute division, the Alliance athlete overcame excellent featherweight Renan Borges, a black belt with fantastic defenses.
But Lepri, besides being much heavier, is extremely technical. With constant pressure and pace, the Jiu-Jitsu teacher living in New York kept the match favoring him throughout and won without any scares.
Lepri puts pressure on Renan. Photo: Luca Atalla.
Ricardo made his debut in the tournament winning the heavy absolute division. Nova União’s “Demente” took the belt after getting the tapout in all three of his matches, even the final against Guybson Sá. He did have a slight scare in the first match, though, when one of our GMA Vitor Shaolin’s brown belts caught him in a double attack (triangle/armbar). After the near shocker, he went on to have a good match and submit feisty brown belt Zander Heinen.
Now Hermes França did well to win his supermatch in the “teacher” category, in a lively bout with Leonardo da Silva that ended in points.
Another with cause for celebration was Shaolin, with his understudies winning the overall team contest in New York.
The next Long Island Pride is set for March 6 at York College.
For more information, http://lipridebjj.com.
Complete results:
SUPER BELT DIVISION
– 170 lbs
1) Lucas Lepri (Alliance)
2) Renan Borges (Braz Top Team)
+ 170 lbs
1) Ricardo Demente (Nova União)
2) Guybson Sá (SAS)
“Teachers” division
1st place – Hermes França (Elite MMA)
2nd place – Leonardo da Silva (American Top Team – Best Way)
Equipes
1) Vitor Shaolin JJ – 137 pts
2) Lotus Club – 96 pts
3) Kioto BJJ – 76 pts
Renzo Gracie – 72
Alliance – 64
Soca BJJ – 58
Cutting Edge – 52
SAS Team – 52
Gracie Barra LI – 34
Vamos BJJ – 24
Serra BJJ – 23
Black Belt – 22
Maxum – 21
American Jiu Jitsu – 21
Budokan – 20
Emerson Souza BJJ – 16
CMMA – 10
Conquest – 9
Gracie Buenos Aires – 6
Queens MMA – 3
Joe Darc – 3
Martial Arts Studio – 3
Aldo Batista – 1
Progressive MA – 1