Vella tapped Demente and is still in the race. Photo: Luca Atalla
After the female division defined its finalists, it was time for the absolute to shake up the mats in Abu Dhabi, at the World Pro. With a number of the Gentle Art’s greatest competitors, a total of 75 athletes, the main division was replete with exciting bouts and unexpected results. The matches comprising the semifinals are as follows: Gabriel Vella vs Bráulio Estima and Alexandre Souza vs Claudio Calasans.
Calasans used his knowledge of judo, in which he is a black belt. Photo: Luca Atalla
Calasans is through to the semis without having to dispute the quarterfinals. At that stage, he had the help of teammate Rafael Mendes, who made way for his Calasans to advance. Rafael, to compete tomorrow in the under-65kg division, had a good run. He defeated the much heavier Luiz Big Mac, who overcame Rômulo Barral.
Light Rafa Mendes beat Big Mac. Photo: Luca Atalla.
Calasans will face off against Alexandre Souza, who didn’t have it easy making it through. He left in his wake André Galvão, who protested the result. He lost in the quarters by an advantage point.
Souza defeated André Galvão. Photo: Luca Atalla
Another monster in the event is Gabriel Vella, who is riding a wave of resounding success. The Ryan Gracie representative overcame Ricardo Demente – one of those who was favored to win – in the quarterfinals, by a score of two advantages to one. Vella faces Bráulio in the semifinal. As with Calasans, Bráulio didn’t need to fight in the quarterfinals, with Gracie Barra teammate José Jr opening the way.
Bráulio submitted Guto Campos. Photo: Luca Atalla
Among the absolute semifinalists, only Alexandre Souza is not in his weight division final, having lost to Gabriel Vella.
Stay tuned to GRACIEMAG.com for all there is to know in Abu Dhabi.
Purple, brown and black absolute semifinals:
Gabriel Vella (Brazil) vs Bráulio Estima (Brazil)
Alexandre Souza (Brazil) vs Claudio Calasans (Brazil)
Purple, brown and black weight group finals:
Under-65kg
Final: Guilherme Mendes (Brazil) vs Rafael Mendes (Brazil)
3rd) Almiro Barros (Brazil)
3rd) Kataniwa Katsunori (Japan)
Under- 74kg
Final: Gilbert Burns (Brazil) vs Claudio Matos (Brazil)
3rd) Michel Maia (Brazil)
3rd) Celso Venícius (Brazil)
Under-83kg
Final: Braulio Estima (Brazil) vs Claudio Calasans (Brazil)
3rd) Delson Heleno (Brazil)
3rd) Gustavo Campos (Brazil)
Under-92kg
Final: Alexandro Ceconi (Brazil) vs Romulo Barral (Brazil)
3rd) Zumbi Larara (Brazil)
3rd) Carlos Alexandre “Baby” (Brazil)
Over-92kg
Final: Ricardo Abreu (Brazil) vs Gabriel Vella (Brazil)
3rd) Luiz Felipe Theodoro (Brazil)
3rd) Marcus de Almeida (Brazil)
White and Blue:
Under-63kg
Final: Tarek Al Kutbi (UAE) vs Ahmed Gloum (UAE)
3rd) Raymond Lee Massa (New Zealand)
3rd) Ghaleb Odeh Ahmad (Jordan)
Under-68kg
Final: Matheus Luckmann (Brazil) vs Jacob Sandoval (EUA)
3rd) Talib Saleh (UAE)
3rd) Kevin Mahecha (USA)
Under-73kg
Final: Daniel Svensson (Sweden) vs Daniel Agard (United Kingdom)
3rd) Issa Able (USA)
3rd) Takatoshi Matsumoto (Japan)
Under-78kg
Final: Khaled Abdul Kareem (Jordan) vs Jonathan Tuck (Guam, USA)
3rd) Zaid Jarandoka (Jordan)
3rd) Mario Marwan Kamal (Iraq)
Under-83kg
Final: Kit Dale (Australia) vs Gustavo Silvestro (Brazil)
3rd) Faisal Al Souqi (Jordan)
3rd) Wesley Charles (South Africa)
Under-88kg
Final: Majid Al Naqbi (UAE) vs Krysztof Saganowski (Poland)
3rd) Tamer Sameer (Jordan)
3rd) Sami Mohamed (Jordan)
Under-93kg
Final: Celson Frabetti (Brazil) vs Faisal Al Kutbi (UAE)
3rd) Bjoernar Beylich (Norway)
3rd) Brandon Kalapu (New Zealand)
Under-98kg
Final: Yahya Mansoor (UAE) vs Marcelo Tarso (Brazil)
3º) Tarek Matar (UAE)
3º) Orlando Sanches (USA)
Over-98kg
Final: Hideki Sekine (Japan) vs Willie Leonard (USA)
3rd) Mohammad Al Menhali (UAE)
3rd) Alevs Fraser (Canada)
