Leandro following his victory. Beatriz Lina
Another IBJJF Pan is in the books. This weekend the American continent’s strongest black-belts duked it out at Irvine, California’s Bren Center.
Leandro Lo, who was last year’s champion, returned to defend both his absolute and heavyweight titles, and by the end it was mission accomplished for the NS Brotherhood leader. To get there, Leandro had to face Tanner Rice (Alliance) in his weight division and Gutemberg Pereira (GFTeam) in the open.
In the men’s first final, Leandro swept and secured the win by 2-0. In the absolute, Leandro and Gutemberg had a great match. With his rubbery guard, Leandro contained Gutemberg’s pass attempts as he was making the passer’s life harder with a combination of hook and hand on collar.
Gutemberg managed to contain Leandro’s sweep attempts for a good chunk of the match, until at the last minute, from the closed guard, Leandro exploded with his bicep on Gutemberg’s ankle, unbalancing him. Leandro went up, scored two points and got on top on half-guard. Gutemberg was still able to restore guard, but with just ten seconds to go, nothing more could be done.
In the women’s absolute, it was an Atos blowout, with Luiza Monteiro and Bia Basílio closing it out for their team. Luiza had already closed out the middleweight division with Angélica Galvão — that was on top of Atos closing out two more podiums in the men’s section, with JT Torres and Michael Lieira Jr. at lightweight, and Lucas Hulk and Gustavo Braguinha at medium heavyweight.
Also noteworthy were ultra-heavyweight champion João Gabriel’s finishes, super-heavyweight Claudia do Val’s campaign, and Bia Mesquita’s run at lightweight.
In the men’s teams championship, Atos prevailed with 142, followed by Alliance (60) and Cícero Costha (44). On the women’s side, Alliance came out on top at 44, followed by Atos (36) and Gracie Humaitá (33).
Find the results of the black belt finals below, and click here for the complete results.
MEN
Rooster – Tomoyuki Hashimoto def. Koji Shibamoto 2-1 adv
Light feather – João Miyao def. Pablo Mantovani 6-4 pts
Feather – Gianni Grippo def. Shane Hill-Taylor 4-1 adv
Light – JT Torres and Michael Lieira Jr. closed it out
Middle – Gabriel Arges def. Marcos Tinoco 1-0 adv
Medium heavy – Lucas Hulk and Gustavo Braguinha closed it out
Heavy – Leandro Lo def. Tanner Rice 2-0 pts
Super-heavy – Keenan Cornelius def. Mahamed Aly 1-0 adv
Ultra-heavy – João Gabriel Rocha def. Ricardo Evangelista, armbar
Absolute – Leandro Lo def. Gutemberg Pereira 2-0 pts
WOMEN
Light feather – Gezary Matuda def. Talita Alencar, decision
Feather – Karen Antunes def. Jaqueline Moraes 4-0 pts
Light – Bia Mesquita def. Jena Bishop, choke
Middle – Angelica Galvão and Luiza Monteiro closed it out
Medium heavy – Nathiely de Jesus def. Carina Santi 8-6 pts
Heavy – Maria Malyjasiak def. Yacingta Nguyen-Huu 2-0 pts
Super-heavy – Claudia do Val def. Hillary Vanornum, omoplata
Absolute – Luiza Monteiro and Bia Basílio closed it out