Keenan Cornelius continues his march toward the top of the rankings and more. Catch up on what you may have missed in your weekend recap. 

IBJJF Long Beach Open

The Atos wrecking crew were out in force again, this time at the IBJJF Long Beach Open in Long Beach, CA, on Sunday. The tournament took place at the Walter Pyramid, the iconic venue that also hosted the World Championships. It ran alongside the Long Beach Kids International and IBJJF Charity Day, with the net profits from both tournaments along with the proceeds from the various charity drives being donated to UNICEF.

Photo by KenPhotology

Cornelius was in fine form as to be expected, winning gold in both the heavyweight and absolute divisions. He beat Benjamin Lenyard of BTT in the final of the heavyweight and Gracie Barra’s Victor Silver in the absolute final.

Cornelius has already stated that his goal is to go after the top spot in the IBJJF rankings (which offers $15,000 as the grand prize). The gold medals in the heavyweight division and the open class earned him 27 and 40.5 points, respectively. He currently sits in seventh place and behind teammate Lucas Barbosa, but if Cornelius hustles between now and the end of the season (which is Worlds 2018) then he could indeed break into the top three or better.

Cornelius' Atos teammates Josh Hinger and Lucas Barbosa also took gold. Hinger had one fight in the medium heavyweight, fighting none other than featherweight Wellington "Megaton" Dias, father of Mackenzie Dern. 

Barbosa moved up to super heavyweight, winning gold in that division with a submission of Diego Gamonal in the final. 

Craig Jones vs. Kit Dale In Australia 

Bizarrely, teammates Craig Jones and Kit Dale had a legit (if lighthearted) submission-only superfight in Australia on Saturday, with Jones winning a decision.

The match was real even if the intensity wasn’t quite what we usually see in big matches. Jones and Dale know each other well, and so they were careful not to fall into each other’s traps. But Jones had the edge with his submission attacks and picked up a decision after 20 minutes.

Watch the match here:

Joao Gabriel Rocha Takes Double Gold

The U.S. Open went down in San Francisco, and the big news from there is that Joao Gabriel Rocha of Soul Fighters took double gold, beating Tarsis Humphreys in the final of the absolute on Sunday. 

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