Mundials results and writeups...

I did not compete at, or work, the Worlds this year.... sadly! But I did watch as much of the Budovideos stream as I could. Thanks to Caleb and Jake for the color commentary; I know from personal experience how overwhelming it can be to try to watch and process 10 mats running at once. Bandwidth (literally and figuratively) is limited! But they did the best they could.

I noticed some serious problems at the Pan (they banned note-taking systems where the ring coordinator would write down, for the scorer and ref, the last names of who was fighting who and who should wear the green/yellow belt... this resulted in slowdowns of the matches, insane confusion, and skyrocketing stress levels for the RCs) and I wonder if they managed some improvements in the system. I hope next year IBJJF busts out the technology and integrates all the scoring tables with an online results system. If that were possible, then keeping Caleb and Jake in the loop would be far easier, and we who watched online wouldn't hear "Well, this is Marcelo Garcia, fighting an unknown opponent" for example.

I will say that the online chat forum was stupid. Just.plain.stupid. I would estimate 20-30 asinine comments for every one legitimate question. Shut the stupid thing down and save the bandwidth for a third screen, please.

You can get all the Mundials results in black and white here, at the IBJJF site.

How freakin' cool that MONGOLIA brought a team? Granted, they're judo people, but still, they got at least 2 golds and 2 silvers... not bad, not bad.

Graciemag put up a great writeup here....   And then Kirsch did too....

I'm borrowing from Jake's recap of the results (check out his excellent blog The Ground Never Misses...) sorry, I was watching on a smartphone, while driving, so my writeup (had I done one) would have sucked.

"Absolute Divisions:
Gabrielle Garcia is the first absolute champ of the day, overcoming Bia Mesquita by 2-0, coming close to finishing early on with a clock choke. With two gold medals, Gabrielle is the big name of the female division.

Rodolfo Vieira got the takedown, passed guard and mounted Bernardo Faria. With a score of 9-0, Vieira is the big winner in the men’s division.

The men’s division now has its champions. Check out who the current world champions are:

Heavyweight

Rodolfo Vieira beat Bernardo Faria by a guard pass, in the first of two encounters between the two on the day.

Roosterweight

Bruno Malfacine outpointed Caio Terra by 4-2, making Malfa four-time world champion.

Light Featherweight

Guilherme Mendes and Ary Farias closed out for Atos

Featherweight
Rafael Mendes and Augusto Tanquinho draw at 4-4 after exchange of sweeps, but Mendes leads by 2 advantage points to 1. It is the first time brothers Rafael and Guilherme are champions together at the same Worlds.

Lightweight
Gilbert Durinho outpoints Kron Gracie by 9-2. Kron took the lead with a sweep but Durinho swept back and followed up with a guard pass and then another sweep.

Middleweight
Marcelo Garcia scored two points early on against Lucas Leite. That was enough to secure Garcia his fifth world title. He ironically thanked Steven Seagal for helping him win.

Medium Heavyweight
Sérgio Moraes beat Rômulo Barral by 4 to 2. Both were awarded penalties. Moraes landed a takedown.

Super Heavyweight
Léo Nogueira edges Marcus Bochecha after 2-2 draw on points and draw on advantage points. Léo wins his first world title.

Ultraheavyweight
Antonio Braga Neto defeats Rodrigo Cavaca by a score of 7 to 0.in

Check out how the finals of the female division of the World Championship played out:

Light featherweight
Letícia Ribeiro outpointed Nyjah Easton by 3 to 2 in an emotional match. Leticia is now six-time world champion!

Featherweight
In a controversial match, Michelle Nicolini defeated Kyra Gracie 3-1 on advantage points following a 4-4 draw.

Lightweight
Luanna Alzuguir made quick work of Luiza Monteiro with a choke from back mount.

Middleweight
Hannette Staack submitted Ida Josefin with the most beautiful finish of the finals so far: a flying armbar!

Medium heavyweight
In an uneventful affair, Talita Treta outpointed Penny Thomas 4-0 to take gold.

Heavyweight
Gabi Garcia chased down Emily Wetzel and quickly finished with a choke."

Jen Flannery wrote up the brown/blackbelt womens' divisions and absolute on one of her blogs, Grappling Girls Guild:

"The women’s divisions did not disappoint this year! The feeling on the budovideos chat log was that the women’s division finals were much more interesting than the men’s. These ladies came out to fight and by all appearances were not satisfied to squeak out a win by advantages if they could help it. Whether the match actually ended by submission, points, or ref’s decision, it was clear that each woman on the mat was playing for keeps.

* Please note that they didn’t show all of the women’s matches so I don’t have exact play-by-play for all of them other than the finals.

PLUMA REVIEW
Gezary Matuda Kubis finished her first two opponents (Tove Sodersten and Claudia Martinez) by triangle/armlock and armlock respectively to meet up with Leticia who had a bye first round before besting her first opponent on the way to her match with Gezary. Leticia and Gezary battled it out with Leticia coming out ahead 8-6. On the other side of the bracket, Nyjah Easton bested her first 2 opponents before beating Jennifer Sutingco by a large point margin in the semifinals.

The final pitted the experienced black belt and reigning champion, Leticia Ribeiro versus Brown Belt, Nyjah Easton. Nyjah quickly pulled guard at the opening of the match. After a long stalemate, Leticia finally forced her to open and Nyjah quickly switched to De La Riva Guard. Leticia managed to secure 3 points for a pass before Nyjah exploded with a bridge and managed to roll Leticia over. Leticia managed to base out and in the scramble land back on top. Nyjah was able to secure a sweep to give her 2 points towards the end and the match ended 3-2 in favor of the current champion, Leticia Ribeiro.

PENA REVIEW
Michelle Nicolini defeats Kyra Gracie

Michelle Nicolini defeats Kyra Gracie
Fabiana Borges won her first match when her opponent was DQ’d for reaping the knee. Next she came up against Sayaka Shioda, coming off a win over Alliance’s April Robinson. Fabiana secured the win over Sayaka earning the spot against the legendary Kyra Gracie who was entering the match after a bye and a 15-0 then submission win over Heather Reynolds. On the other side of the bracket Michelle Nicolini and Ana Carolina Lebre would meet in the semi-finals, both coming off a bye in the first round and wins in the second. Michelle snapped a quick triangle on Ana from her signature spider guard and finished it fast. To no one’s surprise Michelle and Kyra were to meet in the finals on Sunday.

Kyra initiated the action by going in for a throw, but Michelle managed to pull closed guard. Michelle went to her signature spider guard and shot a triangle, it looked close for a second but Kyra managed to escape quickly and turn it into a pass. Michelle rolled out of the pass and landed back in open guard. Michelle hit a sweep and knocked Kyra down but fell back for a toehold instead of securing. She wasn’t able to secure the toehold and based out to come up for the sweep. She was now up 2-0 but landed in Kyra’s best spot, her closed guard. Kyra shot a triangle/omoplata combo but Michelle shook it off. She goes for another and a sweep but Michelle manages to sweep right back. Kyra comes up on a sweep, but lands in Michelle’s triangle. Kyra seemed to be attempting to feed the omoplata to get out but Michelle Nicolini didn’t take the bait and just kept working to keep the triangle until time ran out and she became the victor. I’m not sure if this can be claimed an upset since both are multiple time champions at different weights.

LEVE REVIEW
Shanti Abelha bested Ana Maria Gomes (known as Ana India) before succumbing to the superior Luanna Alzuguir in the semifinals, who entered the semis on a bye. On the other side of the bracket, Beatriz Mesquita had a bye while Luiza Monteiro fought Kiri Liao. Louiza managed to upset Bia and win a spot in the final against Luanna.

Luiza pulled De La Riva guard. When Luanna went in for the pass, she forced Luiza to turn away to avoid it. From there Luanna progressed to methodically take the back. First, she moved to a control position with a harness while Luiza was on her side. She then worked her second hook in while attacking the choke, sure to secure one or the other. Luanna Alzuguir finished Luiza with a bow and arrow choke.

MEDIO REVIEW
Hillary Williams and Ida Hansson met in the semifinals after beating Vanessa Oliveira and Emily Kwok respectively. Ida hip threw Hillary, then took her back and choked her. On the other side of the bracket Hannette bested Carolina Kowarick.

Hannette Staack wow’ed the viewers securing the gold medal with a flying armlock after a 3 minute long standoff on the feet. This should win her submission of the tournament!

MEIO-PESADO REVIEW
Penny Thomas first handled business with Karen Miller, then bested Fernanda Mazzeli in the semifinals. On the other side of the bracket, Tammy and Talita Nogueira met in the semifinals after overcoming Tracy D’Arcy and Kay Stephenson. Talita, still a brown belt, came out the victor and went on to meet Penny Thomas in the finals.

Talita pulls guard and Penny drops for a toehold. She loses it, Talita takes the top and receives 2 points. Talita manages to move to Penny’s back. But Penny escapes and lands passing to mount. As she’s trying to get Talita’s arm to take the back, a scramble ensues and Talita lands on top again. She’s now up 4-0 with about 7 minutes and 30 seconds down. Desperate, Penny shoots a triangle, but Talita easily gets out. Penny is able to come up on a takedown but for some reason the points are waived away (perhaps the knees were on the ground nullifying it – bogus rule in my opinion). Talita Nogueira surprises everyone with an upset win over Penny 4-0.

PESADO REVIEW
They didn’t show these matches. But Emily Wetzel and Gabriella Garcia met in the finals beating Lana Stefanac and Katrian Weilbacher on their way. Emily pulled guard but Gabi was able to pass pretty quickly. Gabi Garcia progressed up and tapped Emily with shoulder pressure/choke from side control.

ABSOLUTE REVIEW
I missed the earlier divisions of the absolute but Beatrize Mesquita won all her matches on her way to the semis against Lana, who she beat to earn her slot against Gabi in the finals. Gabi beat Penny Thomas to secure her spot against Bia.

Poor Bia had little to offer the much larger Gabi during the Absolute Division. She seemed to adopt the strategy Tammy Griego used at the Pan Ams earlier this year, turtling up and waiting for Gabi to get frustrated and over commit, giving her an opening. Bia was able to return to guard a few times but couldn’t get much going before repeatedly being forced to turn away and turtle. It comes as no real surprise that once again, Gabi Garcia was the Absolute Division victor."

Thanks Jake and Jen for the commentary I could pinch, you guys did a great job and it makes for interesting reading. I can't wait for the DVDs to come out :)

I am so busy at work again, I don't even have time to read many blogs like I used to. But I especially miss one that isn't being written any more... Dev's Fueled by Fear. He's off in the wild blue yonder, working for our government in a foreign country and without intertubes for now. I wish I could read his thoughts on things, training or otherwise. I'd love to tell him he's missed.