Faisal Al Kitbe. Ane Nunes/Gentle Art Media
Day 1 of the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu World Tour, this Friday in Abu Dhabi, was entirely devoted to no-gi divisions. Hundreds of athletes fought to the end in search of the ultimate glory of becoming champions in the world-famous IPIC Arena.
Once again, the highlight of the day was the black belt division, both for adults and masters. Many big names in the competition circuit stepped on the mats to showcase their high-level technique and their drive to win. Here are the results of each weight class in the black belt division.
Michel Maia vs. Thiago de Souza. Ane Nunes/Gentle Art Media
Master 1 – Male
60kg – Antonio Santana beat Andre Silva by referees decision after a tough match that ended in a tie.
67kg – Thiago Marques and Bruno Lopes gave all they had, but after 6 minutes the score was a tie. The referees pointed Marques as the champion.
75kg – Michel Maia caught Thiago de Souza with a choke from the back to win the division in a thrilling final.
92kg – Felipe Bobrick beat Celso Junior 1-0 on advantages to become the division’s champion.
108kg – Paulo Pinto outscored Pablo Leite 3-0 to claim the gold medal.
Thiago Pessoa vs. Pablo Popovitch. Ane Nunes/Gentle Art Media
Adult – Male
67kg – Wellington Lima outscored Abdallah Nabas 6-0 with a dominant performance to claim the gold medal.
75kg – Adriano Araujo was able to score one advantage on Nicholas Robinson to secure the gold medal in a close final match.
83kg – More active throughout the match, Faisal Al Kitbe became the champion after a referees decision win over Marcos Costa.
92kg – Thiago Pessoa fought hard against a powerful Pablo Popovitch to win the title with a 2-0 lead.
108kg – Jiddu Lemos scored one advantage on Mauricio Lima to claim the gold medal in the heaviest weight class.
In the master 1 brown belt division, crowd favorite Yahya Alhammadi made all the way to the gold medal with two wins. In the 108kg final, he beat Tyler Edworthy 11-0 with a dominant performance. Click here for the complete results of day 1 of the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu World Tour in Abu Dhabi.
The action resumes this Saturday at 11 a.m. (Abu Dhabi time; 2 a.m. in N.Y.) with gi divisions featuring big names like Xande Ribeiro, Bia Mesquita, Gabriel Arges, Talita Alencar, Edwin Najmi, Luiza Monteiro, Paulo Miyao, among many others.
