Pedro Machado displays his two gold medals on the absolute podium.
Thursday, June 1st, saw the first day of the 2017 World Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship in Long Beach. Kicking off the action at the Walter Pyramid were the white-, blue- and purple-belts in the adult divisions.
Most noteworthy were events that transpired in the women’s purple belt absolute and the men’s blue belt. American purple-belt Jessica Guendry, of Soul Fighters, nabbed double gold, as did Brazilian blue-belt Pedro Machado, of Gordo Jiu-Jitsu.
Medium heavyweight Guendry won four bouts in her weight division, including the final opposite Emily Sheil (JR Academy). In the open division, Guendry won three more matches before facing and defeating Kendall Reusing (Gracie Barra).
Pedro Machado, a medium heavyweight blue-belt under Paulo “Rabicó” Perrota, won his weight division’s final over Reda Hamzaoui (GF Team) by sweeping and scoring 2-0. That meant he had beaten a massive field of 66 other athletes, all told. In the open division, he defeated three opponents to reach the final against Taylor Kettler (Renato Tavares Association), which he won as well.
You can click here to see the results of the 2017 Worlds so far.
