Second leg of the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu World Tour delivers full day of thrills with star-studded Sunday in Tokyo

October 23, 2016

felipe-pena-tokyo — Photo credit: Ivan Trindade/Gentle Art Media

Pena, Dern, Arges, Satoshi, Yuasa, Junior, Hashimoto, Bravo lead the pack of champions

With over 400 athletes registered, the second leg of the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu World Tour, an UAEJJF event, took place this Sunday, October 23, at the Big Turtle Fukaya Arena, in the outskirts of Tokyo, Japan. As seen in the first leg in Los Angeles, USA, the Japanese stage of the tour was the setting for some of Jiu-Jitsu’s biggest names to display their technique in the battles for their share of over US$100,000 in prizes. From the white belt juvenile to the black belt master 2 division, the love for the gentle art and the desire to win were constant presences on each one of the seven mat set up in the arena. As usual the adult black belt division for men and the adult brown/black belt division for women were the ones with most well-known names. Here is how each weight class played out this Sunday, in Japan.

Photo credit: Ivan Trindade/Gentle Art Media

Black belt (Male)

62kg – Japanese countrymen Tomoyuki Hashimoto, Kazuchiro Miyachi and Kei Ito fought for the title. Miyachi beat Ito in the only semifinal and went on to face Hashimoto in the final. One sweep in favor of Hashimoto was enough to settle the deal and earn him the gold medal.

69kg – Thiago Bravo fought twice to secure the title in the weight class. First he beat Yuto Hirao and then met Daisuke Shiraki in the final, which ended tin a tie. A split decision by the referees (2-1) decided in favor of Bravo and earned him the gold medal.

77kg – Roberto Satoshi also fought twice to win the gold medal. He first finished Anderson Takahashi and then caught Robson Tanno with a arm triangle in the final.

85kg – Faisal Al Kitbe beat Akihiro Kawakami 2-0 with a takedown to make it to the final. On the other side, Gabriel Arges outscored 2-1 on advantages after a 2-2 tie on points a tough opponent on South Korea’s Youngam No. In the final, a back take by Arges near the end of the match put him 4 points ahead of Kitbe to secure his second gold medal in the Grand Slam this season.

94kg – Most probably the most anticipated division of the day, the 94kg weight class had Xande Ribeiro and Felipe Pena as clear favorites for the final. They did not disappoint and brilliantly made their way to the gold medal match. Xande finished Alexandre Ogawa with a choke from the back and then caught Bruno Kikuchi with a triangle. Pena had only one match and choked Alan Fidelis from the back. In the final, one sweep made the difference. Pena swept first, but Xande fought back and tied 2-2. After a stoppage, Pena pulled guard and managed another sweep, going ahead 4-2. Xande still had time to tie again and went for a hail Mary sweep, but Pena fought bravely and allowed only an advantage, securing the gold medal.

110kg – The big guys also delivered. This time, José Junior earned his gold medal after finishing second in LA. He swept Andre Campos early in the final match and was able to secure the lead for the remainder of the six minutes to win the division.

Brown/Black (Female)

55kg – Playing the home crowd, Japan’s Rikako Yuasa was on fire. First she stretched the arm of Chinese Yuxing Xiong and then outscored her countrywomen Mei Yamaguchi 16-0 to win the title.

70kg – A fan favorite, Mackenzie Dern fought twice this Sunday, both times against Australia’s Meagan Green. First Mackenzie beat Green in the semifinal with a leg lock. After Meagan beat Brazil’s Isabeli Souza 1-0 on advantages in the round robin, they met again in the final. Mackenzie once again used the leg lock to finish her opponent and this time secure the gold medal.

In the teams’ competition, the podium was: 1^st) Axis Jiu-Jitsu – 8740pts; 2^nd) Infight Japan – 4200pts; 3^rd) Impacto Japan BJJ – 2520pts. Get the full results here.

The Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu World Tour returns in less than a month with the third leg in beautiful Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 12-13. Once again, prizes add up to more than $100,000 to be shared by the champions of each weight class. All Grand Slam events are open to athletes of all nationalities. The registration period for the Rio event closes on November 7.

About the UAEJJF

With the support and guidance of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation was established in November 2012 as the official authority for Jiu-Jitsu in the UAE.

The Federation plays a leading role in supporting Jiu-Jitsu and contributing to building a strong generation of UAE athletes to excel at the local and international levels. The Federation’s role is to implement policies that develop the sport in collaboration with various government entities, educational institutions and other partners in order to advance the sport locally, regionally and globally.