The big boys day at the pyramid. Keenan’s worm guard destroyed Lo, but then got him DQ’d in the quater finals. Rodolfo passed, passed and then passed some more. The Miyao boys showed they could berimobolo, foot lock from berimbolo, come up and pass from berimbolo, sleep, eat and live in the berimbolo. But this was all yesterday, and while watching them was awesome, today is finals and everyone knows it. All of the teams making noise, inaudible sounds, chants and foot stamps to show their pleasure or displeasure. A modern day coliseum. In the right corner the Team GB. Sitting directly in the middle is the Alliance crew. Behind mat one is GFT and then at the top and on the right side; Checkmat. Specked between them a few smaller groups (some crew Cicero Costha, a little bit of Lloyd Irvin and some Gracie Humita), and how could I forget! Atos! Who while small in number, have absolutely charged and had medal reps in every caterogry. Where as Gracie Baha have (anecdotally) been pretty quiet up until today, making up for it with a good representation at the black belt level. Interestingly it seemed that each team controlled an area, Alliance looked like it cleaned up in the purple ranks and then Team Lloyd Irvin, as a surprise package (but not so surprising when you think of kumite and the alumni) looked like they owned the brown belts, but who will take black?
However, I have a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. I will get to a list of fights I made (outside of the finals) to go watch but it is the finals that are on everyones mind. This bitter taste, particularly comes as a result of the AOJ boys, the Miyao’s and Bruno’s fight. More so the AOJ, but i recommend you go watch them, because it will divide the BJJ community, for at least the next twelve minutes. Joao and Bruno had a great to and fro battle which ended controversially but at least entertained with a good battle. Joao worked really hard throughout, attacking attacking and attacking. Personally, I was rooting for Bruno after sharing a small space on the mat together, but many felt that Joao should have been the victor. It could have easily been the case. His berimbolo was incredible and flexibility suffocated Bruno’s speed. It was a nervous fight to watch and hard to call, which makes you wonder if the refs are a little partial to those who have established themselves. I think in a normal fight Joao would have won, but you can be the Judge of it.
But it set the scene for Paulo to avenge his brother against Gui. Gui had been fighting really well and Paulo had been his normal aggressive self. As an aside, watching him, his brother and Lo warm up separately was interesting. They all have an abundance of energy. They twitch and move like kids, but with aggression or as if they are amped up on sugar, moving rhythmically back and forth waiting, like little Velociraptors. I think Cicero Costha does something special down there with the water or perhaps the immunisation program. But! This final, Gui V Paulo was berimbolo V berimbolo, and it should have been epic. However It was not. And let me preface that I am not against the evolution of positions. But 50/50. Thats all I need to say. Paulo worked so hard and almost tore Gui’s foot off, while the AOJ black-belt tactically played the ten minutes out, locking the game down with a lapel wrap and 50/50 guard. And somehow, somehow in the last 10 seconds Joao was awarded an advantage for the most aggressive toehold I have ever seen, causing the place to roar in joyous unioson, after systematically booing Gui for his less than fluid movement throughout (which many called out as “stalling”). And then just as quickly as the ref had given it, it was stripped pegging them even. And somehow Gui managed, after the fight, to be awarded an advantage for mirroring the same position. Remarkable. 
The place erupted. Aliance, GFT and checkmate were in arms against the atos crew, heckling Gui even harder than they hard throughout the fight. Boos and hiss’ at him from oneside and a supportive “pow—lo” boomed from about three quarters of the stadium. And Paulo was robbed. absolutely robbed. And he sobbed. The emotion of it all was overwhelming. He couldn't believe it, the crowd couldn't and Gui just ran around with his fingers up showing off how many world tittles he had won. As a comparison, when Rodolfo beat Bernardo, he hushed the crown and comforted the guy. A true gentleman and King of the sport who could teach a few things to his slight companions. I was heading to AOJ but have decided against it. Moral protest. This Also reminded me of the Estima calasans fight, another controversial decision which I have listed to watch. If in doubt…don’t leave it to the refs. I think that’s a dana white quote?
So after watching Gui receive his gold medal to a thunder of boos. Cobrinha stepped up to take on Rafa. This match was a little better, but not too much different. Rafa plated very tactically again, they exchanged sweeps from 50/50 until Cobrinha tried to open the game up and instead of carrying on with the see-saw motion (much to the joy of the crowd) he tried to pass and work away from Rafa’s guard. However I think it could be argued that DLR and 50/50 transition quite easily and those Mendes boys are awesome at DLR, so it was quite tricky for Cobrinha to stay away from, and inevitably he lost by the same two points he gave up when he open the guard up. So you have to give it the Mendes brothers. They can play tactics and it works. Four times world champions proves it. If you wanted to win the worlds, or a state comp, pull 50/50, stall for a bit, sweep, hold it, then lie on your side and attack the foot with straight ankle locks for the next couple of minutes. (or toe holds depending on your rank). Or. Start drilling and learning how to play against it and open it up. One things for sure, the loudest AOJ chants where coming from a huge group of 4ft 5 children, meaning that unless the IFBJJ decide they are going to play with the rules to change it, we are all going to have to learn how to avoid it, submit from it, tactically use it and sweep with it. But that’s enough of my finals commentary. You can go watch the rest and decide for yourself. In the meantime here are a list of awesome fights to search for, which i really enjoyed (forgive spelling, i rushed to type them and autocorrect has done me a disservice, feel free to correct!) :
Mario Reis V Rafa Mends. (Mario is my new favourite light weight fighter, behind cobrinha. Super technical and really good guard)
J.Miyao V Cavalcanti (?)
JT V Langhi. (Awesome exxhange between the two.I was really rooting for Langhi but alas)
Otavio Sousa V Vitor Oliveira. (Classic octavia. There is a reason why he is the worlds best middle weight and he put on a performance)
Leandro Lo V Santos
Barral V G. Campos (Controversial DQ but up until that point an awesome fight)
Lo V Estima. (This one is for Jase. Lo is pretty flat in this and estima almost tears his foot off with that special lock. Unfortunatiely Cicero Costha injects wolverine metal into his boys joints so no tap. But a great set up and awesome fight)
Simmoes V Bernardo
And for Kate and Sarah, watch these fights, will give you a feel of the intensity to work to in the gym
Ariadne de Olivera V Bandera. kate this one is for you. super light girls, super technical
Michelle Nicolline V Tammy Muscemi. not for the squeamish. Broken arm in this one. And she kept rolling. Couldn't believe it.
A
Right this very minute I’m on a train to san diego to catch up with the Atos crew for some fun drill sessions. Yewwww!
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