Pimenta (on top) and Joel Tudor were two of the big standouts among the veterans. Photo: Dan Rod.
The adult black belt division at the 2011 Pan featured a number of memorable battles, but the even more seasoned athletes, the masters and seniors, also put on a show and filled the competition areas in Irvine, California.
In the master division, GFTeam duo Denílson Pimenta and Theodoro Canal closed out the absolute division.
“Here in the USA the old guys are burly!” jokes Pimenta, who often signs up to fight as an adult. “I’d never had so many matches before! In the absolute division alone I had four before closing out with Theodoro,” he adds.
Further props go out to Joel Tudor, for beating Pimenta in the lightweight final, and our GMA Fabio Leopoldo, winner of the master heavyweight division, where the likes of Fernando “Soluço” Di Pierro (watch Leopoldo in action at the Pan in the video below).
Nor was there any lack of great champions in the senior division. Roberto Godói won weight and open weight in the senior 1 division. The category also included among its winners such standouts as Renato Tavares and Paulo Guillobel. In the senior 2 category the relentless Admilson Brites captured weight and open weight, the same as Kurt Johan Osiander did in the senior 3.
To find out all the results from the Pan, click here.