The 2022 IBJJF European Championships took place on February 15-20, live from Rome, Italy. The black belt finals took place on Sunday, and a number of new European champions were crowned.
Thalison Soares impressed in the final of the roosterweight division, making quick work of Welerson Da Silva. Soares quickly took Da Silva’s back and sunk in a collar choke in under three minutes. This was Soares’ first European championship.
Another standout was lightweight Espen Mathiesen, who also won his first European title. In the final, Mathiesen squared off with Marcelo Fausto. In an back-and-forth match, Mathiesen narrowly edged Fausto by a single advantage.
The middleweight final saw what was probably the most anticipated match of the entire event, as 2021 world champion Tainan Dalpra met 2020 European champion Tommy Langaker in a rematch of their 2021 Worlds match that Dalpra won by submission. The result was the same here, as Dalpra once again showed why he might be the best pound-for-pound gi grappler in the world. After an early guard pull, Dalpra and Langaker traded sweeps before Dalpra swept again and transitioned beautifully to an amrbar. The tap came at just under four minutes remaining.
Polish grappler Adam Wardzinski captured his first European title in the heavyweight division with a strong performance against Atos representative Dominique Bell.
And in the ultra-heavyweight division, Rafael Lovato Jr. won his first European title at 38 years old with a dominant performance in the finals against Guilherme Bacha.
Fellipe Andrew continued his dominance in the super heavyweight division, winning his third and fourth European titles, as he also won the absolute division. Andrew defeated Vinicius Ferreira in the finals of his weight division, and Yatan Martins Bueno in the finals of the absolute division.
And on the women’s side, Unity Jiu-Jitsu’s Mayssa Bastos strengthened her claim for the best female grappler on the planet, as she won the light-feather division for her third European title. Bastos needed just 45 seconds to collect an armbar against Rose-Marie El Sharouni in the final.
Dream Art’s Anna Rodrigues continued to dominate the featherweight division, capturing her second European title.
Fight Sports representative Maggie Grindatti won her first major title as a black belt, winning the medium-heavy division. In the final, Grindatti showed off patient pressure passing against Magdalena Loska to earn a 7-0 victory on the strength of a pass directly to mount.
Finally, Gabrieli Pessanha won both the super-heavy and absolute division, adding to Pessanha’s double-gold performance at the 2021 Worlds.
Below are 2022 adult black belt division champions:
Male divisions:
- Rooster – Thalison Soares
- Light-feather – Hiago George
- Feather – Diego Sodre
- Light – Espen Mathiesen
- Middle – Tainan Dalpra
- Medium-heavy – Bruno Lima
- Heavy – Adam Wardzinski
- Super-heavy – Fellipe Andrew
- Ultra-heavy – Rafael Lovato Jr.
- Open class – Fellipe Andrew
Female divisions:
- Rooser – Thais Loureiro Felipe
- Light-feather – Mayssa Bastos
- Feather – Anna Rodrigues
- Light – Nathalie Ribeiro
- Middle – Thalyta Silva
- Medium-heavy – Maggie Grindatti
- Super-heavy – Gabrieli Pessanha
- Open class- Gabrieli Pessanha
The post IBJJF Eureopean Championships Black Belt Results and Highlights appeared first on Grappling Insider.