Weekend Recap: Yuri Simoes Makes Successful Return To Prep For Olympian

Weekend Recap: Yuri Simoes Makes Successful Return To Prep For Olympian

There was a LOT of jiu-jitsu happening around the world this weekend with events in Boston, San Jose, Rio de Janeiro and more. So let us recap it for you.

Jul 31, 2017 by Hywel Teague
Weekend Recap: Yuri Simoes Makes Successful Return To Prep For Olympian
There was a LOT of jiu-jitsu happening around the world this weekend with events in Boston, San Jose, Rio de Janeiro, and more. So let us recap it for you in our (wait for it)… Weekend recap! 

Yuri Simoes warming up for gi match with Olympian Travis Stevens

Two-time world no-gi champ and 2015 ADCC champ Yuri Simoes is, like most black belts, first and foremost, focused on the gi. The lifelong practitioner came back from a lengthy absence due to injury to compete this weekend in his adopted hometown of San Jose. 

Simoes cleaned up, taking double gold just a couple of weeks out from his superfight with Olympic silver medalist in judo Travis Stevens, which is scheduled for Fight To Win Pro 44 on August 12 in Boston.

Take a look at one of Simoes's matches below: 
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Keenan catches Grippo with armbar from worm guard

Shawn Williams provided us with a fantastic breakdown of Cornelius' tricky worm guard, and we saw the Atos black belt use it once again in the final of the absolute division in Boston. 

Meeting lightweight Gianni Grippo in the final, Cornelius used such the same setup as we saw in Shawn's breakdown to move into position for a match-finishing armbar.

You can watch the full match here: 
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And here's Keenan's final in the heavyweight division:
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Formiga does double Masters gold in Boston

Rafael "Formiga" Barbosa is best known as one of the founders of the Soul Fighters team. Still an active competitor but more focussed on the masters divisions, Barbosa has two big challenges coming up this month: a sub-only superfight at Fight To Win in Boston and IBJJF Masters Worlds

Barbosa got some productive mat time in this weekend and took double gold in Boston, winning both the heavyweight and absolute divisions. 


BLACK / Master 1 / Male / Heavy
1 - Rafael Monteiro Barbosa - Soul Fighters BJJ Connecticut
2 - Robson de Lima Rodrigues - GF Team
3 - Diego Jose Ramos - SAS Team USA

BLACK / Master 1 / Male / Open Class
1 - Rafael Monteiro Barbosa - Soul Fighters BJJ Connecticut
2 - Leonardo Delgado de Oliveira - Soul Fighters BJJ Connecticut
3 - Daniel Beleza G. de Andrade - SAS Team USA
3 - Diego Jose Ramos - SAS Team USA

Also from this weekend


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