Keenan Cornelius. Ivan Trindade/GRACIEMAG
The morning of this Saturday was one of big emotions at the 2020 European Championship, with the first shots being fired between black-belts in the adults’ age group. It began with the absolute brackets, which didn’t fail to impress the crowd present in Odivelas, Portugal.
On the men’s side of things, well-known fighters faced off in the hope of grabbing a spot in the final, which takes place tomorrow. The two who achieved that goal were Keenan Cornelius (Legion) and Fellipe Andrew (Zenith).
For Keenan, it took three wins to get there — against Gabriel Volante, José Macedo and Mahamed Aly, his former teammate at Team Lloyd Irvin.
Converging with him toward the center of the brackets was Andrew, who got past Santer Lilius, Patrick Gaudio and Fellipe Trovo.
Another outstanding character in the tale of the absolute was the brave Mikey Musumeci. Signed up also at light featherweight, the three-time world champion started by finishing the medium heavyweight Jacopo Pasquini from the back. Then Mikey met an ultra-heavyweight: Seif-Eddine Houmine, whom he beat on points. Mikey was only stopped in the quarterfinal round, when Mahamed Aly outscored him.
Jessica Flowers (Gracie Barra) and Ffion Davies (ECJJA) are the female finalists. Jessica got there by defeating Magdalena Loska, Amal Amjahid and Vedha Clemente. Ffion claimed her spot by beating Patricia Caiado, Charlotte von Baumgarten and Larissa Campos.
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