2018 World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship

American Men Set New Record With FIVE Gold Medals at IBJJF No-Gi Worlds

It was a good day for American black belts as they set a new gold medal record.

Dec 17, 2018 by Hywel Teague

American Men Set New Record With FIVE Gold Medals at IBJJF No-Gi Worlds

It was a good day for Americans as they set a new record for gold medals in the male black belt divisions.

Gianni Grippo and Josh Hinger impressed the most with submissions in their finals– the only black belts to finish their opponents– beating Marcio Andre and Marcos Tinoco respectively.

Tim Spriggs won a decision over Jackson Sousa in a razor thin aggressive battle that saw a lot of wrestling. Down on points, Spriggs utilized a tremendous workrate to dig deep and even the score and earned a unanimous decision when the match ended tied 4-4.

Gordon Ryan had his hands full with Roberto Abreu in the ultra-heavyweight final and latterly Yuri Simoes in the absolute final. Cyborg ended up DQ'd for accumulating penalties for stalling and slapping Gordon in the face. Yuri turned himself around for a much better performance compared to his 11-0 defeat earlier in the day to test Gordon's guard to the limit. Ryan narrowly beat the four-time World No-Gi black belt champion via a single advantage.

This is the first time American men have earned more than three black belt gold medals since 2013, when Justin Rader, JT Torres and Rafael Lovato Jr. were all crowned champion.