The teams after day two of the Moscow Open
The Saturday of the 2014 IBJJF Moscow International Open was far more busy than the previous day, with every division busier and the venue filled with enthusiastic competitors and supporters of all belts.
The black belt divisions, in turn, were also significantly more busy and competitive and the results of these are detailed below:
The lightweight division consisted of the same two competitors from the no-gi event the day before, Robson Maia of Alliance and Samuel Herzog of UAE Jiu-Jitsu, with the addition of Oliver Geddes of Roger Gracie, moving down from middleweight on the second day. In the opening match, Oliver and Robson clashed for 10 minutes, with the action being decided almost entirely from the half guards of both players. At the end of the time, the score was 12-8, putting Oliver through to the final. Robson and Samuel’s third encounter went the same way as the previous two, with Samuel victorious with a guard pass after another 10 minutes of his pressuring top game. This left the final between Oliver and Samuel, and it was a drawn-out and tactical affair. Samuel picked up an early advantage for coming on top off a double guard pull, and then maintained pressure from the top whilst looking for his opportunity to pass. Flattening Oliver out towards the end earned him a second advantage, and that was enough to give him the victory and his third gold medal of the competition.
Middleweight was the busiest division of the day, with five entrants slated to be competing for the gold. Sadly, it was not going to be as simple as that. To begin the division, Thomas Oyarzun of Alliance in Switzerland defeated Rogerio Maciel of UAE Jiu-Jitsu by 3 advantages to 0 after the match closed with a score of 2-2. On the other side of the bracket, Ryan Durbin of Gracie Barra Texas did not return to the venue after the previous day’s competition which allowed Jose Luis Huber, also of UAE Jiu-Jitsu to advance to the final unopposed. This left a semi-final match between Thomas Oyarzun and Russia’s own Leonid Gatovskiy. Unfortunately, an early slam from an overenthusiastic guard pass attempt led to Leonid being disqualified and whilst Thomas was being treated following the incident he briefly passed out. For safety reasons he was not allowed to contest the final (or the absolute, later in the day) and thus Jose Luis Huber also took the final match without contest. A disappointing set of circumstances from a division that had the potential to be extremely exciting.
The middle-heavyweight division consisted of a straight final between Lorenzo Fraquelli, recent black belt under Roger Gracie, and Lucas Fiqueredo Duarte Rego of Alliance. A dangerous spider guard with an opportunistic top game allowed Lucas to rack up a lead of 19 points to 0 before he was able to take advantage of Lorenzo’s desperation to finish the fight to lock on an armbar of his own and take the submission victory shortly before time, and with it the championship.
At heavyweight, the lone fight was a rematch from the previous day of competition. Jorge Elias, who had submitted Renato Tavares with a toehold in the absolute, would face him again in the gi. This time the match went the distance, with Renato getting his revenge and taking the victory by 3 advantages to 0 to become heavyweight champion.
Ultra-heavyweight was a complicated three man division, with friends and teammates being drawn against each other. Igor Silva of GFTeam and UAE Jiu-Jitsu submitted Marlon Queiroz of Gracie Barra in less than 30 seconds, taking the win with a quick guard pull to armbar. With Marlon and the third member of the bracket, Thiago ‘Monstro’ Borges of GFTeam being friends, Marlon allowed ‘Monstro’ into the final where he then elected to close out with his teammate, giving Igor the ultra-heavyweight gold medal.
The final and most prestigious black belt division of the day, the absolute, was another division characterized by close-outs. Robson Maia was victorious over Jose Luis Huber by 6 points to 4 in a battle of sweeps, whilst Thiago ‘Monstro’ defeated Jorge Elias with a takedown, pass, and collar choke from side mount. Samuel Herzog advanced to one side of the final with Renato Tavares and Thiago ‘Monstro’ making way for him, and Igor Silva finished his second fight of the competition in under a minute, defeating Robson Maia by way of a sweep to mount followed by an armbar. Samuel then stepped aside for his UAE Jiu-Jitsu teammate in the final, giving Igor Silva the absolute title to add to his divisional title and drawing the black belt divisions to a close.
See the full results here: http://static.ibjjfdb.com/