Budoh-Kan Gym, in Japan’s capital of Tokyo, received the best of Asian Jiu-Jitsu this weekend. Our collaborator Fernando Ferreira watched it all up close and sent us in the some details about what went on at the Asian Open Championship.
Frenetic Tokyo, in publicity photo.
The grand champion of the black belt division was Marcus Yoshio de Souza (Bull Terrier Bom-Sai), winning his weight group and the absolute, after closing out the division with Abmar Barbosa (Drysdale). Neither of the two had it easy in getting to the decider, as the open weight podium featured some of the big names of world Jiu-Jitsu with Jonathan Torres and Mike Fowler taking third.
At light featherweight, Pablo Silva, the best at that weight in the world, became Asian champion after rallying back in his fight nearly at the end with a sweep in a close dispute. Meanwhile, Ominami Ryo, another Gracie Barra rep, took the featherweight division.
JT (in white) put on a show. Photo from archives: Luca Atalla.
At lightweight, Jonathan Torres (Lloyd Irvin) put on a show and submitted every one of his opponents. Besides taking the title, JT won himself a lot of fans with his aggressive game. Abmar Barbosa and Mike Fowler submitted their opponents on their way to the middleweight final. In the decider, Abmar pulled guard and notched four points upon making it to back mount. From there he moved to the crucifix, where he got the finish and claimed the gold for Drysdale JJ.
Roberto Satoshi was the standout at brown belt. Photo: publicity.
At brown belt, no big surprises. Roberto Satoshi (Bull Terrier Bom-Sai) got the tapout in all his matches with no problems. At medium heavyweight, Leandro Kussano (Ogawan Hekinan), too, won all his by submission, while at featherweight, Kako Takuko (Grappling Shoot) secured top spot on the stand. The best of the absolute was Roberto Satoshi, who beat Leandro Kussano in the final.
In the overall team score, Paraestra Tokyo took first, followed by Lloyd Irvin and Gracie Barra.
Check out the complete results here, and stay tuned to GRACIEMAG.com for more Jiu-Jitsu news.