IBJJF 2018 Euros: Purple Belt Results Start To Come In
IBJJF 2018 Euros: Purple Belt Results Start To Come In
Six out of ten of the male adult purple belt divisions at the 2018 IBJJF European Championships went down.
By Michael Sears
Competition in six of the 10 male adult purple belt divisions got underway at the 2018 IBJJF European Championships in Lisbon, Portugal, on Wednesday.
The heavy, super-heavy, ultra-heavy, and open classes will take place on Thursday.
Lightweight champ Guthierry Barbosa. Photo: Michael Sears
Guthierry Barbosa (Carlson Gracie) fought his way through probably the toughest purple belt bracket to win at lightweight. Barbosa submitted four out of six opponents on his way to gold.
In the final, he was victorious over Italo Moura (Cicero Costha) by a score of 4-2. Barbosa had earlier defeated Moura’s teammate Jeferson Guaresi by a close referee decision. In Moura’s semifinal, he defeated 2017 IBJJF purple belt world champion Victor Nithael (Nova Unaio).
Featherweight champ Mathias Luna. Photo: Michael Sears
Mathias Luna (Checkmat) emerged as the featherweight champion, defeating Julio Souza Arantes (Qatar BJJ) by referee decision in the final. Arantes had earlier in the day knocked off tough prospects Lucas Rodriguez (Atos) and Andy Murasaki (Brasa CTA).
The Cicero Costha team continued its domination at the first two weights classes, closing out both roosterweight and light-featherweight. The quartet of Thalison Soares, Johnif Rocha, Diego Batista (pictured in main image at top), and Jonas Andrade went 10-0 on Wednesday to sweep the two divisions. The four athletes recently closed out the two lightest categories at both the IBJJF No-Gi Worlds and the UAEJJF Abu Dhabi Grand Slam.
Alliance pair Rafael dos Anjos and Antonio Alencar closed out the middleweight division. Third-place Taylor Pearman (ZR Team) submitted teen prodigy Roberto Jimenez (Alliance) earlier in the bracket. Mebtouche Reda (Mako Team) won a hard-fought medium-heavyweight final over Tacio Alves (Qatar BJJ) in one of the most intense matches of the day.
Watch finals:
Roosterweight: Closeout
Light-featherweight: Closeout
Featherweight: Mathias Luna vs. Julio Souza Arantes
Lightweight: Guthierry Barbosa vs. Italo Moura
Middleweight: Closeout
Medium-heavyweight: Mebtouche Reda vs. Tacio Carneiro Alves