The 2014 Las Vegas Spring International Open took place this Saturday, May 3.
Checkmat’s Jackson Sousa was the standout with double gold in the adult male black belt division.
In the open class, Sousa had three fights and finished all his opponents.
He first caught Nathan Mendelsohn with a leg lock.
After that, he faced Kalifa Oliveira, defeated with an armbar.
The big final was against Caio Terra Association’s Samir Chantre, who previously had fought once in the absolute.
Chantre caught Eliot Kelly with a surprise wrist lock to advance to the final.
The gold medal match started with Sousa pulling guard and managing a sweep while Chantre tried to pass.
On top, Jackson put pressure on Samir and passed, got the mount and later on took the back.
Samir defended bravely the submission attempts and managed to come out of the bottom to sweep.
The time ran out just after another sweep by Jackson, what put the final score in 15-4.
In the other black belt divisions, the results were.
Yuri Simões choked Chris Engle from the back for the super-heavyweight gold medal.
Jackson Sousa won the heavyweight when he finished Antonio Antonioli with an Ezequiel choke in the final.
In the medium-heavy division, Thiago Silva beat Bruno Antunes 4-0 for the gold. The final two points came when Antunes rolled out of bounds to escape a foot lock.
In less than 30s, Marcelo Mafra caught Lucas Rocha in a foot lock for the middleweight black belt gold.
Francisco Iturralde is the lightweight champion. He kneebarred Osvaldo Moizinho in the final.
In the featherweight division, Rafael Mendes stretched two arms to get to the final. First he beat Gerson Atoigue and then Nicholas Araujo.
His brother Gui Mendes choked two on his way to the final. The victims were Davin Maxwell and Vitor Paschoal.
The gold medal went to Rafael.
Gabriel Moraes is the 2014 Las Vegas Spring Open light-featherweight champion. He defeated Gustavo Carpio 1-0 on advantages after a 4-4 tie on points.
In the female black belt division, the only fight to take place was a very special one.
After almost six years away from competitions, Gracie Barra’s Ana Laura Cordeiro returned to the circuit.
She defeated Charlene Coats with a choke from the back for the medium-heayweight gold.
After the win, Ana Laura talked about the comeback: “I felt tired, but it was great!”
For more results, click here.
Here are the best images of the day:
IMG_1132 IMG_1155 IMG_1234 IMG_1237 IMG_1269 IMG_1296 IMG_1404 IMG_1406 IMG_1428 IMG_1554 IMG_1575 IMG_1584 IMG_1607 IMG_1663 IMG_1716 IMG_1780 IMG_1796 IMG_1858 IMG_1843 IMG_1845 IMG_2006 IMG_2094 IMG_2201 IMG_2232 IMG_2334 IMG_2400 IMG_2407 IMG_2467 IMG_2477 IMG_2487 IMG_2488 IMG_2490 IMG_2514 IMG_2557 IMG_2590 IMG_2617 IMG_2689 IMG_2756 IMG_2809 IMG_2875 IMG_2952 IMG_3004 IMG_3060 IMG_3138 IMG_3169 IMG_3244 IMG_3361 IMG_3439 IMG_3453 IMG_3532 IMG_3556 IMG_3559 IMG_3694 IMG_3712 IMG_3757 IMG_3787 IMG_3795 IMG_3844 IMG_3949 IMG_3976 IMG_4010 IMG_4023 IMG_4038 IMG_4046 IMG_4096 IMG_4125 IMG_4132 IMG_4152 IMG_4176The post Las Vegas Open: Jackson tops open class, Mendes finish all, Ana Laura returns; other results first appeared on Graciemag.