By Michael Sears | The male and female purple belt absolute divisions went down today in Lisbon, catapulting two new stars to the forefront of their rank during these early stages of the 2018 season.

After earlier in the day taking second in the heavyweight division, Cemil Karahan bounced back in a big way to win the male open class in dominant fashion. Karahan won his first two matches against Aleksandar Aleksandrov and Andy Murasaki by points before really turning it in the semifinal. 

Known for his tricky collar chokes, Karahan caught smash passing medium-heavyweight Reda Mebtouche going full speed at his guard with a loop choke in the semifinal. Mebtouche, the gold medalist at medium-heavyweight, had just defeated heavyweight champ Conor Deangelis in the quarterfinal. 

Karahan cinches in the loop choke vs Mebtouche. Photo: Will Safford

Turning down the available 14 minutes of rest time before his final, Karahan basically walked off one mat and straight to the other to meet his opponent in the final. Igor Tanabe was waiting for him there after defeating two opponents and having a bye on the other side of the bracket.

Karahan came out strong in the final, clearly fired up from his quick win in the semifinal. Blitzing Tanabe from the start, Cemil transitioned between several dominant positions before getting the submission with a shoulder lock.

Watch Cemil Karahan vs Igor Tanabe 

In the women’s purple belt open class, Gabrieli Pessanha of Infight JJ cruised through the bracket without much trouble. After winning her first two matches she met incredibly game Kira Sung in the semifinal, Sung had submitted her first two opponents in the open. Sung and Pessanha had won the middle and super-heavyweight divisions respectively earlier.

Super-heavyweight and absolute champ Gabi Pessanha. Photo: Nico Ball

While locked in a close 0-0 match for several minutes, Pessanha would eventually throw up a triangle from guard on Sung. Sung defended the triangle at first before Pessanha finished the match with a brutal armlock from the triangle position.

Gabrielli put on a brilliant display of guard passing in the final. Up against Vanessa Pereira, she would pass three times to easily take the gold. Winning gold in both her weight and the open, the young prospect has a shot at achieving the double grand slam in 2018. 

Watch Gabrielli Pessanha vs Vanessa Pereira