2008 Pan-American Black Belt Finals Matches
Super-Featherweight:
Carlos “Esquisito” Holanda (Gracie Barra) vs. Samuel Braga (Gracie Barra)
-Gracie Barra teammates Carlos “Esquisito” Holanda and Samuel Braga opted not to fight in the final and determined who would take gold with a good old-fashioned game of “rock, paper, scissors”. Esquisito is declared the winner.
Champion: Carlos “Esquisito” Holanda (Gracie Barra)
Featherweight:
Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles (Alliance) vs. Bruno Frazzato (Brasa)
-There was a change in relation to the featherweight category. Bruno Frazzato, not the Japanese grappler Yukinori Sasa as indicated earlier, would face Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles in the finals. The match lasted the entire ten minutes, which was a high-octane battle between representatives of two rival schools in Alliance and Brasa. In the end, the score was 2-2 with the win going to Cobrinha for having accumulated two more advantage points than Frazzato.
Champion: Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles (Alliance)
Lightweight:
Celso “Celsinho” Vinicius (Ryan Gracie) vs. Lucas Lepri (Alliance)
-In the lightweight final, Celsinho Venicius, who was representing the recently deceased Ryan Gracie, executed two successful sweeps to earn him the 4 points to defeat Lucas Lepri. Lepri had managed only one takedown, which made the final score 4-2 in favor of Celsinho.
Champion: Celso “Celsinho” Vinicius (Ryan Gracie)
Middleweight:
Guto Campos (Rickson Gracie) vs. Otávio Souza (Gracie Barra)
-In the middlweight finale, Gustavo Campos, a Rickson Gracie representative, leg-locked Otávio Souza of Gracie Barra to take the gold.
Champion: Guto Campos (Rickson Gracie)
Medium-Heavyweight:
André Galvão (Brasa) vs. Tarsis Humphreys (Alliance)
-André Galvão (Brasa) vs. Tarsis Humphreys (Alliance) in the medium-heavyweight finale was one of the best finals matches on paper. Unfortunately, in the midst of their heated 4-4 chess match, Galvão got an underhook that popped Humphreys’ shoulder. The medical staff attended to Humphreys shoulder injury, but he was forced him to pull out of the match.
Champion: André Galvão (Brasa)
Heavyweight:
Rafael Lovato Jr. (Saulo Ribeiro) vs. Roberto Tussa Alencar (Gracie Barra)
-Rafael Lovato Jr. and Roberto Tussa Alencar competed in the most action-packed finale of the day. Lovato, repeated his Pan-American success as he swept and took the back of Alencar in the closing seconds of a back and forth battle of attrition. The sweep (2 points) and back (4 points) gace Lovato the gold with the 6-0 victory.
Champion: Rafael Lovato Jr. (Saulo Ribeiro)
Super-Heavyweight:
Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu (Nova Geração) vs. Arthur Jacinto (UGF)
-The super-heavyweight title will go home with Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu. Representing Nova Geração, he managed to defeat Arthur Jacinto of UGF by a score of 2-0.
Champion: Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu (Nova Geração)
Ultra-Heavyweight:
Luis “Big Mac” Teodoro (Godói JJ) vs. Bruno Paulista (Gracie Barra)
-In the ultra-heavyweight finale, Luis “Big Mac” Teodoro earned two points for a takedown and held on to lead for the entirety of the 10 minutes of the match to win the ultra-heavyweight gold medal over Bruno Paulista.
Champion: Luis “Big Mac” Teodoro (Godói JJ)
Absolute:
André Galvão (Brasa) vs. Roberto Tozi (Godói JJ)
-André Galvão is the big name of the 2008 Jiu-Jitsu Pan-American. Along with winning gold in his own medium-heavyweight category, the Brasa black belt also impressed in the absolute division by submitting Robeto Tozi of Godói JJ with a collar choke from the back 6:20 into the match.
Champion: André Galvão (Brasa)
Caleb from the Fightworks Podcast did an excellent pla by play and many more results here:
http://thefightworkspodcast.com/