Team Modolfo, the powerhouse team full of ADCC veterans, took first place in the AIGA Champions League quarter finals in Kazakhstan on Sunday, punching its ticket to the December finals despite a heartbreaking final round loss to the Dagestani team, Universal Fighters.

Universal Fighters, who — like Team Modolfo — went 2-1 in the round robin style team vs team tournament, took second place, and will also advance to the finals in December.

The final round between Team Modolfo and Universal Fighters went down to the wire, with both teams racking up three victories on the way to the deciding seventh bout.

Universal’s 60kg athlete, Teemev Magomedbek, defeated Modolfo’s Breno Peterson via rear naked choke to kick off the final round. Universal went up 2-0 after Abdulaev Ruslan took out Luke Griffith in a points victory.

Dante Leon gained momentum back for Modolfo, defeating Adilov Abduzhalil via armbar, before Zach Kaina of Modolfo lost to Shahbanov Magomed on points.

Modolfo rallied back with two leg lock submissions from Giancarlo Bodoni and Cole Abate, putting the deciding match on the shoulders of Fabricio Andrey and Gairbek Ibragimov.

The first two of three five minute rounds went scoreless, but Andrey showed strong wrestling against the Dagestani grappler. Late in the second, Andrey locked up a triangle, but lost position in part due to an out of bounds reset.

The third round was a display of high level wrestling, with Andrey securing a near backtake before falling behind in pace to Ibragimov. With three scoreless rounds, the match went to decision, where the judges awarded the match, and therefore the team victory, to Universal Fighters.

Still, Modolfo prevailed in the team standings, holding more individual victories and more submission victories in the tournament.

Modolfo and Universal Fighters will both advance to the finale in December, where they will face off again in a round robin tournament. They’ll join the Kazakhstan team, Battleforce, and the largely-Brazilian team, Açaí Republic, who won their round robin quarter finals tournament earlier in the year.

Modolfo athletes performed best when they got to quick submissions.

Cole Abate, the rookie black belt out of Art of Jiu-Jitsu, secured two heel hooks in his two matches. Giancarlo Bodoni secured a rear naked choke and a heel hook, and forced his opponent to quit after round one in the second team pairing after badly damaging his arm with a Mir lock.

Dante Leon had two armlock victories, including one over ADCC veteran Kenta Iwamoto.

Izaak Michell, Fabricio Andrey and Luke Griffith also locked up submission during Modolfo’s campaign.

In total, Modolfo defeated Al Leone and Team Nurmagomedov, while losing to Universal Fighters.

Universal Fighters defeated Al Leone and Team Modolfo. Nurmagomedov defeated Universal Fighters and Al Leone. Al Leone went 0-3, despite a strong performance from team frontrunner Jozef Chen, who collected two submission victories on the weekend.

AIGA Champions league returns for the final round in December 2023.

Watch the full event replay below:

Day 1

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Day 2

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