FEBRUARY 17th & 18th, Submission Wrestling de Campos 4- report and pictures Farol de Sao Thome beach at Campos, the arena staged for the fourth edition of Submission Wrestling de Campos at 17th and 18th of February was on fire when ground specialist wowed the crowd in the five different weight classes (-66kgs, -77kgs, -88kgs, -110kgs & absolute) of this event. The most anticipated match of the second night did not happen, as local idol and SHOOTO Brazil competitor Rodrigo “Riscado” Gripp was scheduled to collide against UFC #1 Light Heavyweight contender Renato “Babalu” Sobral in a submission super-fight. Small misunderstandings; and the Riscado’s announcement of going to be a Gracie Barra CT member were the reason for this fight not to happen.
The Finals Reviews:
The 16 man tournaments had some WOs results due to absence of a few fighters, so the review is focused on the final battles of the categories. At -66kgs: SHOOTO Japan’s Marcos “Loro” Galvao (Nova Uniao) clashed with a member of the Brazilian wrestling team, Daniel “Pirata” Malvino (RVT). After 10 minutes of fighting, Loro swept Pirata to obtain his first title at this traditional submission event. At -77kgs: Five-time submission events champion Rodrigo Damm (Alliance) made a resolution to gain weight after being frustrated with his third place finish at ADCC Brazilian Trials 2005, and he fought at his heaviest weight of -77kgs and looked impressive. In the finals, Eduardo Simoes (Gracie Barra CT) resisted the better stand-up skills of Damm. However, an arm-triangle was sunk at the 8 minute-mark of the fight by Damm and this stopped Simoes and put him to sleep. At -88kgs: RFT Luta-Livre team powerhouse Leonardo Lucio “Chocolate” Nascimento was featured in the under -88kgs weight class division against BJJ Pan-Arm champion Eduardo “Jamelao” Conceicao (Alliance). Jamelao’s experience was not enough to counter Chocolate, who imposed a good takedown game and a guard passage to lift himself to the first submission title of his career. At -110kgs: The lack of a weight class between -88kgs and -110kgs caused a discomfort to some fighters who jeopardized themselves against heavier opponents. One fighter who suffered was Bruno Bastos (Nova Uniao), as he reached the final against Olympic wrestler Antoine Jaoude of RVT. Both fighters implemented their games, with Bastos looking for the ground game and Jaoude looking for takedowns. Jaoude’s strength overwhelmed the polished ground-game of Bastos, who lost by referee’s decision. At Absolute: UFC 56 winner Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga (MGT) showed an unstoppable game at absolute division and dropped all of his 5 opponents including little warrior Damm, Bastos, and at the final he opened 3-0into his personal score of fights against Antoine Jaoude. Napao feared a little fighting on his feet and sat down on the mat to force Jaoude to play on the ground. Jaoude accepted Napao’s game, and after some time into Napao’s half guard, Jaoude got swept. He worked with a full guard and returned to the feet by pushing Napao’s chest. Napao sat down again, and tried to grab one of the Jaoude’s legs to bring the fight to the mat. The time seemed to be short for the Jaoude’s perspectives that once again missed an ankle-lock and watched Napao’s celebration after his third victory over him. Semi pro-division: The excess of athletes from same academies in the first day of competition at pro division forced some of them to compete into semi-pro division. Fighters like Paulo Boiko, and Matheus Miranda of BTT fought the final of the -88kgs division (Boiko came across like the champion), and we saw AFC competitor and MFC winner Carlo Prater (ThugJitsu) losing at -77kgs. At absolute woman: ADCC 2005 veteran Hanette Stack (Andre Negao) reigned supreme and did not have problems surpassing her adversaries and armbarred Fernanda Mazzelli (Fight Society) in the finals.