Luiz Panza def. Manny Diaz. Photo: Luca Atalla/ Gallerr
The Los Angeles BJJ Pro IBJJF Championship, which took place last Sunday at California State University, in Los Angeles, was a stage to great matches and awarded its champions with prize money from blue belt to black belt masters’. In the adults’ black belt section, which had Luiz Panza, Tarsis Humphreys, Otávio Sousa and Gabriel Marangoni as standouts, the prize was 4,000 dollars for first and 1,000 for second of each category (feather, middle, heavy and ultra-heavy).
At featherweight, with four signed up, the winner was Gabriel Marangoni. The Caio Terra pupil only fought the final, since Michael Musumeci did not show up. In the semifinal that did take place, Rick Slomba (Atos Jiu-Jitsu) beat Rene Lopez 2-1 on advantages. Then Marangoni used a triangle on Slomba to bag the gold.
Four athletes also signed up for the middleweight tourney, and Otávio Sousa came out on top. In one semifinal, Nathan Mendelsohn (Coalition 95) beat Thomas Oyarzum (Fernando Terere Association) 8-2. Otávio defeated his Gracie Barra teammate Gabriel Arges via foot lock. In the final, a triangle gave Otávio Sousa the title.
Tarsis Humphreys. Photo: IBJJF
At heavyweight, world champion Tarsis Humphreys collected another gold. In the six-fighter competition, first Nick Schrock (Ribeiro JJ) subbed Arnaldo Maidana on the foot to advance to the semis. Then Tanner Rice (Soul Fighters) armbarred Inácio Neto (Gracie Barra) after scoring 13-0.
Nick Schrock was then faced with Alliance’s Tarsis Humphreys and lost 6-0. The other semifinal was Tanner Rice vs. Atos Jiu-Jitsu’s Keenan Cornelius, who won 6-0. The controversial final saw Keenan use a toe hold and Tarsis complain that Keenan had reaped the knee. The referees interrupted the match to watch the replay. After discussing at length, they reached the conclusion that Keenan had indeed acted illegally, which meant he was disqualified. That left Tarsis as champion.
Luiza Panza. Photo: IBJJF
Ultra-heavyweight Luiz Panza, of Checkmat, was victorious in his weight class. After subbing Eliot Kelly (Yemaso BJJ) via foot lock he had his ticket to the final. He was joined the by Manny Diaz, who beat fellow Soul Fighter João Gabriel Rocha 2-1 on advantages (4-4 on points). Panza again used his trademarked foot lock to finish first.
Gracie Barra won the teams’ contest, ahead of Checkmat and Atos Jiu-Jitsu.
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