Victor Estima earned his way to Abu Dhabi by winning the under-83kg division at the tryouts in Portugal. Personal archive photo.
Yesterday in the city of Cascais, Portugal, the latest leg of the Abu Dhabi WPJJC Trials went down. Promoted by black belts Sergio Vita and Ze Marcello, the tournament featured over a hundred European competitors with their eyes on the all-expenses-paid travel to Abu Dhabi for next April’s main event.
It was a close race in the brown/black belt division but there was no absolute. The winners of the brown/black weight classes and the blue and purple belt absolutes earned free travel and board to compete in the United Arab Emirates.
Check out who placed at the top in each division:
Black belt
Under 65kg – Luis Lopes (Icon Jiu-Jitsu) defeated Cristofer Martin (Icon Jiu-Jitsu)
Under 74kg – Ilke Bulut (Icon Jiu-Jitsu) defeated Maxime Oliver (CheckMat)
Under 83kg – Victor Estima (Gracie Barra) defeated Mathias Fernandes (Alliance)
Under 92 kg – Marcelo Bernardo (United BJJ) defeated Boualem Benaissa (Nice Jiu-Jitsu)
Over 92 kg – Julien Genin (Nova União) defeated Sergio Anjos (Unidet BJJ)
Purple belt
Purple belt under-74kg absolute – Rui Alexandre (Nova União) defeated Daniel Svensson
Purple belt over-74kg absolute – Danny Feliz (Icon Jiu-Jitsu) defeated João Paulo (Unidet BJJ)
Under 74kg – Daniel Svensson (Prana Mascarenhas) defeated Rui Alexandre
Under 83kg – João Paulo Bonfim (Unidet BJJ) defeated Flilip Sadowski (Drysdale Jiu-Jitsu)
Under 92kg – Laurent Melinard (CheckMat) tapped out Edivaldo Gomes (Gracie Lisboa)
Over 92kg – Ruben Fonseca (Gracie Barra) defeated Kambe Toledo (Icon Jiu-Jitsu)
Blue belt
Under-74kg absolute – John Sheridan (East Cost Jiu-Jitsu) defeated Bruno Borges ( Unidet BJJ)
Over-74kg absolute – Gerard Labinski (Copacabana) defeated Gabriel Almeida ( Icon Jiu-Jitsu)
Under-65kg – Pedro Ramalho (Nova União) defeated Marco Cairo (PRBJJ)
Under-74kg – John Sheridan ( East Cost Jiu-Jitsu) tapped out Bruno Borges (Unidet BJJ)
Under-83kg – Gerard Labinski (Copacabana) defeated Gabriel Almeida (Icon Jiu-Jitsu)
Under-92kg – Luis Ramos (Gracie Barra) defeated Nelson Marta (Romana Jiu-Jitsu).
Over-92kg – Duarte Fonseca (Unidet BJJ) tapped outIsaac Almeida (Gracie Lisboa)
