ADCC Heads Into Final Day
Jordan Breen May 6, 2007
At Trenton, New Jersey's Sovereign Bank Arena, Saturday's
competition set the stage for Sunday's grand finale of the Abu
Dhabi Combat Club's 2007 Submission Wrestling World
Championships.
Perhaps the most action-packed division so far, the 143-pound bracket, will resume on Sunday with semifinal bouts between defending divisional champion Leo Vieira and Tetsu Suzuki (Pictures), and Rani Yahira and Baret Yoshida.
Vieira had a spectacular Saturday, dominating North American Trials
champion Sim Go 17-0 on points, and taking a 2-0 points win over
Jeff Glover (Pictures) after nearly being submitted with
a brabo choke in the opening minutes. Suzuki earned his semifinal
berth by knocking off France's Renier Nicholas, before avenging his
loss to Naoya Uematsu
(Pictures) from the ADCC Japan Trials
two weeks ago. Rani Yahira made short work of his two opponents
thus far, choking out both Darrel Mooley and Bruno Frazatto, while Baret Yoshida also flexed his
submission skills to earn his spot in the semis, tapping out
Eddie Sanchez, and
eliminating Dokonjonosuke Mishima
(Pictures) with a superb triangle
choke.
As usual, the 168-pound division was a focal point at the ADCC World Championships, and will continue to be on the final day as the final four will pit two-time defending divisional champ and grappling superstar Marcelo Garcia against American stalwart Mike Fowler, while Pablo Popovich meets Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Andre Galvao.
With usual divisional kingpin "Jacare" Ronaldo Souza (Pictures) absent from competition this year, the 192-pound division will have a new champion in 2007, as the semifinals will see BJJ world champion Demian Maia take on Tarsys Humphreys, while "Cachorrinho" Flavio Almeida will meet Romulo Barral.
Maia emerged as the division's frontrunner on Saturday with wins over two-time Japan Trials champion Yushin Okami (Pictures) and BJJ standout Rafael Lovato Jr. However, Tarsys Humphreys put on one of the day's most impressive displays. After defeating Jorge Santiago (Pictures) in the opening round, Humphreys defeated David Avellan in arguably the day's most sensational match, coming from behind to choke the stubborn Avellan unconscious to advance. Almeida, the younger brother of Ricardo Almeida (Pictures), defeated Rick MacCauley and Sauli Heliemo to advance to the semifinals, while Barral knocked off Travers Grubb (Pictures) before leglocking Chris Moriarty to earn his spot on Sunday.
Like the 192-pound division, the 218-pound division will also crown a new king on Sunday, with the absence of defending champion Roger Gracie (Pictures). A quartet of well-established grapplers will square off in the semis, as BJJ world champions Xande Ribeiro and Robert Drysdale meet on the mats, while Braulio Estima takes on "Cacareco" Alexandre Ferreira.
The well-decorated Ribeiro had little trouble in his first two bouts, deftly armbarring Yukiyasu Ozawa before submitting Tim Carpenter with a Kimura. Drysdale took a decision win over Mario Miranda, before choking out Steve Rusk. Estima and Cacareco showed their finishing skills as well; Estima armbarred Poland's Tomas Szczerer and arm-triangled Brazilian Cristiano Lazzarini while Cacareco locked up a Kimura on African Trials winner Carl Bierman before choking out Poland's Radek Turek.
With the absence of standouts like Gabriel Gonzaga (Pictures) and defending champion Jeff Monson (Pictures), the 218-and-over division yielded little surprise on Saturday. Heavyweight grappling kings Fabricio Werdum (Pictures) and "Pe De Pano" Marcio Cruz (Pictures) each earned berths in the semifinals, where they will meet Darren Andy and Rolles Gracie respectively.
Werdum took easy submission wins over Elvis Sinosic (Pictures) and Karol Bedorf in his first two match-ups, while Darren Andy notched wins over Pat Staniol, and "Big Mac" Luis Theodoro. "Pe De Pano" encountered a bit more resistance in submittion a very game Janne Pietilainen, before taking a close and debatable decision victory over Marcos Oliveira while Gracie advanced by defeating Naomichi Nagata and Mario Rinaldi (Pictures).
In the female 121-pound class, Japan's most prominent female grappler Megumi Fujii (Pictures) choked out Rachel Wheatley; North American trials winner Felicia Oh defeated Leticia Ribeiro; Brazilian Trials winner Bianca Andrade knocked off Jean Alvisse; and Japan Trials winner Sayaka Shioda (Pictures) defeated Cindy Hales. The semifinals will see Fujii meet Oh, and Andrade face Shioda.
The star-laden 132-pound female class boasts a potent final four. Saturday's action saw Tara Larosa (Pictures) defeat Rebecca Atwood, Takayo Hashi (Pictures) best Vanessa Porto, and Smackgirl champion Hitomi Akano (Pictures) take a points win over Casey Blasso in a great match. Star Kyra Gracie was the division's most outstanding performer, locking up a beautiful armbar to defeat Caoimhe McGill. Sunday's semifinals will pit LaRosa against Hashi, and Gracie against Akano.
In 148-pound female action, Kelly Paul, Marloes Coenen (Pictures) and Stacy Cartwright all took submission wins over Fiona Muxloy, Keiko Tamai (Pictures) and Emily Kwok, respectively, while Hannette Quadros bested Shayna Baszler (Pictures) by decision. In the semifinals, Paul and Coenen will meet, while Cartwright and Quadros square off.
In the 148-and-over female category, Rosangela Conceicao submitted Jennifer Guiola, Lana Stefanac submitted Yoko Takahashi (Pictures), Penny Thomas submitted Shannon Hooper (Pictures) and Celita Schultz defeated Mary Anne Mullahy, setting up semifinal bouts between Conceicao and Stefanac, and Thomas and Schultz.
Sunday's action will see the semifinals and finals of the divisional tournaments, as well as the male and female open-weight Absolute divisions, and the ADCC 2007 super-fight between ADCC 2005 male absolute champion Roger Gracie (Pictures) and Jon Olav Einemo (Pictures). Einemo, a late replacement for the Dengue Fever-stricken Ricardo Arona (Pictures), is the last competitor to have beaten Gracie at ADCC, having defeated him on points in 2003 en route to winning the 218-pound division that year.
Perhaps the most action-packed division so far, the 143-pound bracket, will resume on Sunday with semifinal bouts between defending divisional champion Leo Vieira and Tetsu Suzuki (Pictures), and Rani Yahira and Baret Yoshida.
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As usual, the 168-pound division was a focal point at the ADCC World Championships, and will continue to be on the final day as the final four will pit two-time defending divisional champ and grappling superstar Marcelo Garcia against American stalwart Mike Fowler, while Pablo Popovich meets Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Andre Galvao.
Garcia was outstanding as per usual in his first two bouts, quickly
choking out BJJ black belts George Sotiropolous and Kurt Pellegrino (Pictures). While Mike Fowler was
unspectacular in his decision win over Renzo Gracie (Pictures), the American notched one of the
days most impressive feats in the quarterfinals, submitting
grappling legend Saulo
Ribeiro (Pictures) with a toehold. Popovich defeated
Erick Dahlberg and Japanese BJJ king Daisuke Sugie (Pictures), while Galvao took a submission
win over Chris Bright before tapping out Canadian stalwart Mark Bocek with an ankle lock in the
quarterfinals.
With usual divisional kingpin "Jacare" Ronaldo Souza (Pictures) absent from competition this year, the 192-pound division will have a new champion in 2007, as the semifinals will see BJJ world champion Demian Maia take on Tarsys Humphreys, while "Cachorrinho" Flavio Almeida will meet Romulo Barral.
Maia emerged as the division's frontrunner on Saturday with wins over two-time Japan Trials champion Yushin Okami (Pictures) and BJJ standout Rafael Lovato Jr. However, Tarsys Humphreys put on one of the day's most impressive displays. After defeating Jorge Santiago (Pictures) in the opening round, Humphreys defeated David Avellan in arguably the day's most sensational match, coming from behind to choke the stubborn Avellan unconscious to advance. Almeida, the younger brother of Ricardo Almeida (Pictures), defeated Rick MacCauley and Sauli Heliemo to advance to the semifinals, while Barral knocked off Travers Grubb (Pictures) before leglocking Chris Moriarty to earn his spot on Sunday.
Like the 192-pound division, the 218-pound division will also crown a new king on Sunday, with the absence of defending champion Roger Gracie (Pictures). A quartet of well-established grapplers will square off in the semis, as BJJ world champions Xande Ribeiro and Robert Drysdale meet on the mats, while Braulio Estima takes on "Cacareco" Alexandre Ferreira.
The well-decorated Ribeiro had little trouble in his first two bouts, deftly armbarring Yukiyasu Ozawa before submitting Tim Carpenter with a Kimura. Drysdale took a decision win over Mario Miranda, before choking out Steve Rusk. Estima and Cacareco showed their finishing skills as well; Estima armbarred Poland's Tomas Szczerer and arm-triangled Brazilian Cristiano Lazzarini while Cacareco locked up a Kimura on African Trials winner Carl Bierman before choking out Poland's Radek Turek.
With the absence of standouts like Gabriel Gonzaga (Pictures) and defending champion Jeff Monson (Pictures), the 218-and-over division yielded little surprise on Saturday. Heavyweight grappling kings Fabricio Werdum (Pictures) and "Pe De Pano" Marcio Cruz (Pictures) each earned berths in the semifinals, where they will meet Darren Andy and Rolles Gracie respectively.
Werdum took easy submission wins over Elvis Sinosic (Pictures) and Karol Bedorf in his first two match-ups, while Darren Andy notched wins over Pat Staniol, and "Big Mac" Luis Theodoro. "Pe De Pano" encountered a bit more resistance in submittion a very game Janne Pietilainen, before taking a close and debatable decision victory over Marcos Oliveira while Gracie advanced by defeating Naomichi Nagata and Mario Rinaldi (Pictures).
In the female 121-pound class, Japan's most prominent female grappler Megumi Fujii (Pictures) choked out Rachel Wheatley; North American trials winner Felicia Oh defeated Leticia Ribeiro; Brazilian Trials winner Bianca Andrade knocked off Jean Alvisse; and Japan Trials winner Sayaka Shioda (Pictures) defeated Cindy Hales. The semifinals will see Fujii meet Oh, and Andrade face Shioda.
The star-laden 132-pound female class boasts a potent final four. Saturday's action saw Tara Larosa (Pictures) defeat Rebecca Atwood, Takayo Hashi (Pictures) best Vanessa Porto, and Smackgirl champion Hitomi Akano (Pictures) take a points win over Casey Blasso in a great match. Star Kyra Gracie was the division's most outstanding performer, locking up a beautiful armbar to defeat Caoimhe McGill. Sunday's semifinals will pit LaRosa against Hashi, and Gracie against Akano.
In 148-pound female action, Kelly Paul, Marloes Coenen (Pictures) and Stacy Cartwright all took submission wins over Fiona Muxloy, Keiko Tamai (Pictures) and Emily Kwok, respectively, while Hannette Quadros bested Shayna Baszler (Pictures) by decision. In the semifinals, Paul and Coenen will meet, while Cartwright and Quadros square off.
In the 148-and-over female category, Rosangela Conceicao submitted Jennifer Guiola, Lana Stefanac submitted Yoko Takahashi (Pictures), Penny Thomas submitted Shannon Hooper (Pictures) and Celita Schultz defeated Mary Anne Mullahy, setting up semifinal bouts between Conceicao and Stefanac, and Thomas and Schultz.
Sunday's action will see the semifinals and finals of the divisional tournaments, as well as the male and female open-weight Absolute divisions, and the ADCC 2007 super-fight between ADCC 2005 male absolute champion Roger Gracie (Pictures) and Jon Olav Einemo (Pictures). Einemo, a late replacement for the Dengue Fever-stricken Ricardo Arona (Pictures), is the last competitor to have beaten Gracie at ADCC, having defeated him on points in 2003 en route to winning the 218-pound division that year.
