Fighters Only

Issue 008

September 2005

Submission Action in Brazil

Copa RipDorey de Submission 2005

August 14, 2005

Botafogo F&R Gymnasium

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

When I arrived at the Botafogo F&R Gymnasium I was surprised by the show’s attendance. It was almost full, and there was a great deal of crowd cheering during the novice bouts early on in the tournament. But I was surprised when I witnessed a pro Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter competing as a novice. It was Marcelo Dourado (Meca World FC competitor), who injured his shoulder before the final and couldn’t fight. Another pro MMA fighter, Andre Gustavo ‘Mau-Mau’ (IVC veteran) fought as an amateur instead of a pro and lost in his first fight on points! I don’t understand why pro fighters were competing as amateurs.

The tournament adopted the rules and regulations of the ADCC, with the exception of the first few minutes where points were scored. The referees were a little confused about the criteria and sometimes very similar situations resulted in different decisions, leaving some fighters and their aides disgruntled.

The individual and superfights were held between the end of the novice bouts and the start of the amateur/pro categories.

Marcelo ‘Nigue’ Sandes (Gracie Humaita) def. Alexandre ‘Baixinho’ Barros (Gracie Barra CT) by 4–2.

They exchanged a lot of neck and wrestling clinches until the first effective attack. Nigue was smart in this fight because he knew what Baixinho would do to take him down, so Nigue waited for Baixinho’s first takedown shot and counter attacked with his own takedown, which frustrated Baixinho and put him on his back on the mat. They came back to their feet and Baixinho tried to use his normal double leg attempt, he persisted and succeeded in taking Nigue down. Nigue worked well from the bottom and swept Baixinho off his feet. The fight was 4–2 to Nigue, who used his experience to walk around and escape from Baixinho’s attack to win the first single superfight.

Aritano Barbosa (RFT) def. William Parrudinho (BTT) by golden score.

These two fast guys worked at full pace from the start to the end of the match, with Barbosa making some magical moves when he tried a flying guillotine choke that was very well defended by the calm Parrudinho. Parrudinho had better wrestling skills; however, Barbosa shot a single leg and took Parrudinho down. They worked on the ground a bit with Parrudinho trying to get back on his feet, and he did. Barbosa was too confident and it harmed his strategy because Parrudinho managed to take Barbosa down while he was a little distracted from the fight. With the ten-minute mark being exceeded, the fight went to a ‘golden score’. Golden score is a rule that crowns the fighter who earns the first point in extra time as the winner. In this case, Barbosa took Parrudinho down. But Parrudinho sunk a guillotine choke and the point should rightly have been scored when Barbosa had liberated his neck from the guillotine but they weren’t. Even so, the referee gave the victory to Barbosa in spite of the BTT camp’s complaints.

Matheus Trindade (BTT) def. Eduardo Simoes (Gracie Barra CT) by

judges’ decision.

This was a methodical match, where Trindade used his better submission game from the bottom to sweep Simoes and score the first two points. Simoes evened up the score by takedown and the fight went to extra time. No points were

scored during extra time but the tenacity of Trindade gave him the victory by judges’ decision.

?Erado Paes (BTT) def. Felipe Borges (RFT) by 4–2.

Both fighters have their roots in Luta Livre, but Paes is a BTT fighter now and his training in a gi has sharpened his skills. In the end, his sweep and takedown were enough to overcome Borges. Paes won by 4–2.

Anthony Salles (Nova União) def. Marcelo Brigadeiro (RFT) by 4–0.

The Canadian, Salles, sunk a triangle early on in the fight while Brigadeiro defended well but didn’t do much from the top. Salles persisted with several moves from the bottom until getting Brigadeiro’s back, from where he tried chokes and an arm-triangle that didn’t work but were enough for a victory.

Alexandre ‘Cafe’ Dantas (Gracie Barra) def. Leonardo Lucio ‘Chocolate’ Nascimento (RFT) by 2–0.

The strength and will of these fighters was very similar — their double leg and clinches were of the same standard. With this in mind it was difficult to see who the ultimate winner would be. The question both fighters wanted answered was how to overcome an equal opponent? The answer — with calm and patience. Cafe fought Chocolate and tested his main skills, and then he started a clever strategy of getting to Chocolate’s nerves. It worked — Chocolate shot two inaccurate double legs and almost took off from a counter takedown applied by Cafe; 2–0. The fight was determined on this because after the first point was scored Chocolate didn’t have the confidence to keep up with the pace he set initially.

The tournaments

I was disappointed while covering some of the bouts in this tournament, only to mention the same Brazilians who dominate the 77kg–88kg class but had failed to reach the quarter- or -semi finals or the final itself. This is not BTT’s fault, but the organisers should pay more attention to it.

The best weight class of the whole tournament was the under 66kg class. The Shooto fighters Marcos ‘Loro’ Galvao (ranked number one in the world) and Jose Aldo Jr. beat Taede Mendonca (ADCC Brazilian Trials 2005 veteran) and Johnny Eduardo (Shooto Japan veteran) respectively, while at the other end of the class, Wellington Silva (Ruas VT System) dispatched three fighters including Nova União’s Marlon Sandro, who was surprised by a fast move of catching the backs provided by Silva. In any case, these three fighters decided not to fight in the finals, so this was one more class without a final.

The 66kg–77kg was a good contest between the WFC and RFT fighters and the rest of the teams. Several well-known MMA names were in this bout including: Felipe ‘Mongo’ Arinelli (BH Combat winner), Yan Cabral (Shooto Brazil veteran), Luis ‘Beicão’ Ramos (three-time Shooto Brazil winner), Diego Braga (Minotauro Fights winner), Suyan Queiroz (AFC Brazil winner), Edson Chulapa (two-time JFF winner), Rodrigo Damm (Shooto Brazil veteran), Leonardo Pecanha (Shooto Brazil winner), Leonardo Nogueira (JFF winner), Felipe Borges (Rio MMA Challenger winner) and Luis ‘Besouro’ Jr (MECA FC competitor), plus the submission experts Ivanilson Silva and Augusto Mendes. They battled in a class of 44 fighters and had the final match at around 12:10am!

The two survivors of the real war were Damm and Pequeno’s brother, Leonardo. They had a very good fight that displayed all the progress that Leonardo has made. Leonardo worked on the feet against the wrestling expert, who was supposed to be more dangerous on his feet than Damm. Leonardo, however, developed good positions when he had the chance. The fight went to extra time but they didn’t score points, so the decision was in the judges’ hands, and they gave it to Leonardo.

88kg–99kg weight class:

Just three fighters waited until the beginning of this class, and while Bruno Bastos of Nova União defeated Luis Felipe Simao, Alexandre ‘Cacareco’ Ferreira was already in the final, waiting for Bastos. When they collided on the mat, Cacareco shot two takedowns and Bastos sprawled. Bastos gained confidence in the stand up, however the third takedown attempt by Cacareco was overpowering and Bastos couldn’t take it. Cacareco worked timidly from the top, while Bastos couldn’t work well from the bottom — Cacareco was stronger than him. Bastos opened his guard and unbalanced Cacareco, who almost passed Bastos’s guard, but it was all done and Cacareco won by 2–0.

The whole event was well organised and showed good intention by adopting the ADCC rules — with minor changes. However, the large number of fighters in some classes, and the Brazilian culture of following the rules, was a minor problem that can be worked out for future events.

Full Results

Single Matches:

Marcelo ‘Nigue’ Sandes def. Alexandre ‘Baixinho’ Barros by 4–2

Aritano Barbosa def. William Parrudinho by Golden Score

Matheus Trindade def. Eduardo Simoes by Judges’ Decision

Erado Paes def. Felipe Borges by 4–2

Anthony Salles def. Marcelo Brigadeiro by 4–0

Alexandre ‘Cafe’ Dantas def. Leonardo ‘Chocolate’ Nascimento by 2–0

By teams:

Top Brothers — 485 points

Renovacão Fight Team — 310 points

BTT — 245 points