Gianni Grippo wins the black belt absolute defeating AJ Agazarm in the final. Photo: Erin Herle
The 2014 IBJJF New York Spring Open brought top black belts to the Nat Holman Gymnasium on the City College of New York campus. While some divisions only had one athlete, the absolute category brought those hungry athletes together.
Here are the results of each weight division and the absolute division:
ROOSTER
Washington Lima of GF Team defaulted gold as the only athlete registered.
LIGHT-FEATHER
Daniel Beleza of SAS Team defeated Mark Ramos of Ricardo “Rey” Diogo BJJ by one advantage earning him the gold as they were the only two in the division. The match was similar to their match at the Boston Spring Open only one week prior. Beleza jumped guard and Ramos worked his passing but also tried multiple times to leg drag and take the back. Beleza’s omoplata and sweep attempts gave him the advantage over Ramos for the gold.
FEATHER
Even though there were two athletes, Gianni Grippo of Alliance Marcelo Garcia defaulted gold as he was the only one to show.
LIGHT
Bricklin Welch of Team Redzovic defeated Diogo Almeida of Gracie Barra by armbar.
AJ Agazarm’s opponent in the bracket did not compete and so he went straight to the final against Brick. The match began with AJ going for a takedown and Brick defending enough to pull guard and go for a straight armbar. AJ defended even as Brick went “belly-down” to try and submit. Brick transitioned to an omoplata and swept to get on top and earn two points but AJ got out of the submission. AJ was able to utilize his top game well as he passed the guard three times, secured knee on belly and mounted at the end for a total of 15 points for Brick’s 2.
MIDDLE
There were only two athletes in this division but the skill level made this immediate final one to watch. Former teammates JT Torres, now of Atos Jiu-Jitsu, and DJ Jackson of Team Lloyd Irvin faced off for the gold. When the match began, JT jumped guard. A majority of the match had JT securing DJ in closed guard, opening for opportunities to submit or sweep. DJ also worked to pass, pushing for top half but at the end of the match the decision was left to the referees to decide and JT earned the gold.
MEDIUM-HEAVY
No athletes.
HEAVYWEIGHT
In the first match, Antonio Antonioli of Atos Jiu-Jitsu faced Fernando Moya of Renzo Gracie and an armbar secured the win for Antonio. He moved on to the final and faced Lincoln Pereira of Renzo Gracie. Lincoln jumped guard and not long after locked up a no-arm triangle for the gold medal.
SUPER-HEAVYWEIGHT
Tiago Almeida of Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu defaulted gold as the only athlete registered.
ULTRA-HEAVYWEIGHT
Diego Santana of Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu defaulted gold as the only athlete registered.
OPEN WEIGHT
AJ Agazarm defeated Washington Lima by choke,
Antonio Antonioli defeated Diego Santana by armbar.
Gianni Grippo defeated Diogo Almeida by 13-2 points.
Tiago Almeida defeated DJ Jackson by choke.
SEMI-FINAL
AJ Agazarm defeated Antonio Antonioli by 13-6 points.
Gianni Grippo defeated Tiago Almeida by two advantages.
FINAL
Gianni Grippo defeated AJ Agazarm by pulling guard, berimbolo-ing to the back and winning 4-0 points.
FEMALE
Nyjah Easton of Team Lloyd Irvin was the big winner as she defeated her only opponent, Bibiana Silva of inUFC Gym Stamford, in the lightweight division by kimura. The open weight division was a round robin with three females: Nyjah Easton, Bibiana Silva and Karen Peterson of Clockwork Jiu-Jitsu who defeated her opponent Jennifer Russell of Renzo Gracie in the medium-heavyweight division.
Nyjah defeated Bibiana in the first match, technically a semi-final by armbar.
Karen defeated Bibiana in the other semi-final by triangle armbar.
In the final, Nyjah aggressively pulled guard on Karen and was able to sweep right away. She passed as she came up and submitted Karen with a lapel choke from there.
Check out photos of the black belt weight divisions:
Gallery of the open weight divisions:
