Miyao brothers in photo by Dan Rod
The two big standouts in the female division on Friday at the Jiu-Jitsu World Championship were Cris Cyborg and Mackenzie Dern, as previously reported here on GRACIEMAG.com. But there was no lack of action in the men’s division either.
Brothers João and Paulo Miyao, who have been quite the sensation at purple belt, added another double win to their records in the light featherweight division, to the joy of their master, Cícero Costha.
Another who came up spades was Renzo Gracie student Gianni Grippo, who won seven matches at featherweight in getting his gold. “I trained like mad for this competition. Today was a battle,” he remarked to GRACIEMAG reporter Deb Blyth.
DJ Jackson celebrates. Photo: Dan Rod.
Another competitor who’s been turning heads lately is a product of our GMA Lloyd Irvin, DeAlonzio “DJ” Jackson. The purple belt has made it to world champion status without the gi and narrowly missed as a blue belt in the gi in 2010, his second year at the rank. This time Jackson made it all the way to the top of the podium as a middleweight. “I’m overjoyed; I had six matches today!”
Meanwhile, the men’s and women’s absolute blue belt divisions would see their champions materialize. Alliance’s Hannu Karjalainen took top open weight honors for Finland, while the female divisional gold went to Canada with Nicole Whissel.
For all the details, also check out the GRACIEMAG at the Worlds Blog.
For complete results from the competition, click here.