Daryl Abshire of BJJ Revolution wins over Jeffrey Bunting of Art of Jiu-Jitsu in blue belt absolute division / Photo by Erin Herle
FOLLOW THE HOUSTON OPEN FULL LIVE COVERAGE HERE
The 2013 IBJJF Houston Open opened its doors to the blue belt adult weight classes at 9 a.m. Saturday morning on Feb. 16. The gymnasium on the University of St. Thomas was the location for many of these men and women to test their abilities.
From GMA Art of Jiu Jitsu, Mason Monsevais and Jeffrey Butler were able to close out the blue belt light-feather division. Coming from California with their professors, the Mendes Bros, they both worked their flexible guards and berimbolos to meet at the final. An agreement was made that Mason would take home the gold and Jeffrey would take the silver. Both entered the open division and Jeffrey was able to make it onto the podium, missing the first place by one match against the eventual winner.
Another standout was Daryl Abshire of BJJ Revolution team who took home the gold in the absolute and the silver in his weight category of medium-heavy. The absolute was home to the his weight and below as all of the heavy weights were wiped out before the medal rounds.
The females of blue belt were battling it out on the mats including Cristina Natalia Shepler of Alvarez BJJ who won her light-feather division. She had three matches and never had any points scored against her. In her first match she won by ten points, second match was twenty points and the final she won by five points.
The full results of day one can be seen by clicking here.
Tomorrow we have the purple to black belts with the Mendes Bros, Rafael Lovato Jr. and the Bastos brothers, Rico and Bruno. Don’t miss out and see who goes on when by clicking on the schedule here!
Pictures from the first day:
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