WORLDS NO-GI: reigning Xande, upsetting Tanquinho, pioneer Jackson, octa-Cobrinha

Xande Ribeiro ruled above all at the Long Beach Pyramid

One thing that you can’t say about Xande Ribeiro is that he rests on the laurels of past glorys.

Two times absolute world champion and four times winner of his category in the gi, Xande clearly hasn’t had enough.

Since the beginning of October, he has competed in three different tournaments: Worlds Masters & Seniors, Metamoris Pro and Worlds No-Gi.

On all those occasions, Xande achieved his goals.

This weekend, in Long Beach, he added two gold medals to his vast collection.

At super-heavyweight, he overcame three adversaries, including a dangerous João Assis in the final.

It was a tough fight, the result determined only by the referees, after a tie on both points and advantages.

In the absolute, Xande fulfilled his promise of not allowing Leandro Lo to run the show.

With a set strategy, Xande avoided the dangerous guard of his opponent, and with a near guard pass scored the 1-0 in advantages that granted him the gold medal.

After that, Xande celebrated the accomplishment with a bottle of champagne on the podium.

“People ask me why I keep competing. I say that I do it for the feeling, for the challenge and for the thrill”, said Xande in summary, when asked how he felt with yet another victory.

It’s already well known that Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes’s career was seriously threatened by a severe injury to his spinal cord.

He had to go through a delicate surgery and a long recovery.

“The worst of all was not being sure if I was going to be able to compete again”, said Tanquinho, right after coming back to the competition circuit.

So, for someone that lived through such an ordeal, it means nothing to be called a spoiler.

We call him that because that is what he was this Sunday.

First Tanquinho brilliantly defeated Leandro Lo in the lightweight semifinal.

With a precise game plan, he never gave Lo the opportunity to sweep or submit him from guard.

After that, he attacked Lo’s foot to score 2-0, and then passed guard and mounted to win 9-0.

Tanquinho was the only one of Lo’s opponents to manage to pass his guard.

In the final, he met Jonathan “JT” Torres, a fierce rival that really wanted the gold medal, which would be his first World Championship.

Very tactical, the fight went the distance, ending a 2-2 tie on advantages.

One of Tanquinho’s advantages came from a penalty suffered by JT, which cost the American the match.

JT and the Lloyd Irvin Team didn’t take the setback well.

The athlete left the Pyramid before the medal ceremony and the team leader refused to collect the second place trophy for the male adult team competition.

JT’s defeat was an almost solitary sad moment for Lloyd Irvin’s crew at the 2012 Worlds No-Gi.

His athletes left the building with their necks full of medals, including Lloyd himself, a senior 1 super-heavyweight champion.

The most important medal, without a doubt, was the one conquered by De Alonzio Jackson.

The middleweight defeated Clark Gracie 5-0 to become the first member of the team to be a adult black belt world champion.

Recently promoted to black belt, DJ is no longer a promise. He has arrived with a deep hunger for medals.

Another accomplishment that deserves mention regards Rubens Charles Maciel.

The 13-0 win over Justin Rader meant the eighth world title as a black belt for Cobrinha.

He has won four in the gi and four more without it.

Yet another piece of data to add to the resume of one of the greatest competitors Jiu-Jitsu has ever produced.

In the female division, Tammy Griego recovered from a defeat to Fernanda Mazzelli in the heavyweight final to beat Beatriz Mesquita in the open class gold medal decider.

The course of the final match was just like Tammy’s campaign in the championship.

She recovered from a 2-4 score, withstood a rear-naked-choke attack by Bia, and tied the score with a sweep.

In the end, her being more agressive caught the attention of the referees, who awarded her with the win.

The team results were as follows:

Adult Male: 1st – Alliance – 82; 2nd – Team Lloyd Irvin – 80; 3rd – Gracie Elite Team – 50.

Adult Female: 1st – Gracie Humaita – 53, 2nd – Gracie Barra – 38, 3rd – Alliance – 35.

Juvenile: 1st – Gracie Barra – 22; 2nd – Nova União – 21, 3rd – Carvalho Teixeira BJJ – 18.

Masters & Seniors: 1st – Gracie Barra – 103, 2nd – Brazilian Top Team – 86, 3rd – Nova União – 76

There was a lot more than that, and here is an amazing photo gallery to tell the stories. Over the 130 pictures, you will relive the thrills of the 2012 World No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

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