The first stage of the Rio Mineirinho Circuit, which took place this Saturday (March 21), at Club Municipal (RJ), brought great competition at black belt. Beasts like Leandro Ataídes (Nova União) and Vinicius Marinho (GFTeam) were among the highlights. Furthermore, FJJD-Rio paid tribute to Helio Gracie and sports undersecretary Bruno Castro. Check out what happened at the event:
Black belt
The biggest champion of the day in the main graduation was Leandro Ataídes. The Nova União fighter won first place in the super-heavyweight and absolute divisions. In the weight category, Ataídes defeated Renato Fraga (GFTeam) with a guard pass and secured the victory. In the absolute, Leandro beat three opponents. After finishing the first with a standing clock choke, he went through the second on points and, in the final, against Jorge Luiz (Checkmat), he took a takedown and finished with a half-guard choke.
The most contested weight category at black belt was middleweight. Beasts like Vinicius Marinho, Rafael Formiga, Zorobabel Junior, Wallace Castro and absolute finalist Jorge Luiz competed for gold. On one side of the bracket, Vinicius Marinho (GFTeam) defeated his first opponent with a sweep. On the other side, Rafael Formiga (Soul Fighters) first beat Wallace Castro (GFTeam) with a choke from the back, after passing guard and mounting. Then, to guarantee a place in the final, he swept and passed the tough guard of Zerubbabel (Gordo JJ). In the very final, in a very disputed fight, the best was Vinícius Marinho. The fight tied 4-4 (sweeps), but Marinho secured the gold by one advantage.
In the lightweight category, Teodoro Canal first defeated Luciano Martins (HBT) by a large points advantage and then Alexsandro dos Santos “Leque” (Checkmat) with a guard pass and knee to the stomach (5-0) to close the category with his partner team Vitor Silva, who reached the final after submitting Helio Junior (HBT) with an armbar. In the featherweight division, another double for GFTeam. Denílson Pimenta, after passing the guard three times and mounting, finished with a choke. His partner, Bruno Barbosa, finished with a lapel choke, from one hundred kilos, to guarantee the podium.
In the featherweight category, the victory went to Douglas Rufino (Checkmat). Against Michel Boiteux (Tatá) he swept, passed the guard twice and put his knee in the belly twice (12 to 0). Douglas Silva (Behring) went all out and quickly submitted Fabrício Araujo (Mestre Wilson) with an armbar to secure gold in the light heavyweight division. Debuting as a black belt, Rafael Bettega (Checkmat), in addition to coming first in the heavyweight division, had a good performance in the absolute, having lost in the semifinals.
The heavyweight category featured a good performance from Bruno Mathias (Checkmat), who overcame beasts like Ricardo Evangelista (GFTeam) to reach the final. On the other side of the bracket, Rafael Carino (Nova União), a former UFC fighter, returned well to competition and beat two opponents to the decision. In the final, the one who came out on top was Mathias, who, after placing his knee on his stomach, finished with a choke hold.
Female
Two of the highlights of the female category were MMA fighters Ana Maria “Índia” (Checkmat) and Claudinha gadelha (New Union).
India defeated her opponent, Priscila Bispo (BZ JJ) by a large number of points in the middleweight brown belt division. Also in the middleweight category, but at purple belt, Claudinha submitted a Roberta Dutra (DDR JJ) armbar.
Other Highlights
In the master black belt category, Rodrigo Thiago (Checkmat) was number one among the middleweights. At light heavyweight, the ever-present Gustavo Granha had two fights and secured another title.
As an adult brown belt, Osvaldo Augusto (Soul Fighters) finished all three of his fights to climb to the top spot on the podium among featherweights. In the light heavyweight division, Milton Junior (UGF) had two fights and defeated Thiago Couto (Orlando Araujo) in the final.
Results by team:
1st – GFTeam
2nd – Sardella
3rd – HBT
4th – Checkmat
5th – Soul Fighters
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