Copa RipDorey de Submission 2005

Copa RipDorey de Submission 2005
August 14th - 2005 at Botafogo F&R Gymnasium, Rio deJaneiro - BRAZIL

When I arrived at the Botafogo F&R Gymnasium, I got surprised with the attendance of this show. It was almost full and the crowd was rooting a lot during the first fights of the event - at the novice category. However I got surprised for the second time when I watched a pro MMA fighter competing at the novice category. He was Marcelo Dourado, who injured his shoulder before the final and couldn't fight. Other pro MMA fighter, Andre Gustavo 'Mau-Mau' fought at
amateur instead pro and lost in his fight by points. I still didn't understand why pro fighters competed like amateurs, but let's take a look at the rest of the event.

The rules and methods adopted were the ADCC rules, exception for the first minutes, where the points were scored. And I need to mention that the referees were a little confused about the criteria, sometimes the same position or situation had two different arguments into the event; and it left some fighters pissed off of the referee's attitude. The single/super-fights were held between the end of the novice category and the start of amateur/pro categories and the description of each super fight you can see below:

Marcelo 'Nigue' Sandes def. Alexandre 'Baixinho' Barros by 4-2

They exchange a lot neck-clinches and wrestling clinches until the first effective attack. Nigue was so smart on this fight because he knew what Baixinho
should do to take him down, so Nigue waited for the first takedown-shoot of Baixinho and countered-attack with a takedown which frustrated and put Baixinho with the backs on the mat. They came back to their feet and Baixinho tried to insert his normal double-leg attempt, he insisted and got to take Nigue down. Nigue worked good on the bottom and swept Baixinho. The fight was 4-2 to Nigue, who used his experience to walk around and escape from the Baixinho's attack to win the first single/super-fight.

Aritano Barbosa def. William Parrudinho by golden score

Two fast guys, working a 100km/h's game from the startto the end of the match. Barbosa started to make some magic moves when he tried a fly-guillotine choke, very well defended by the calm Parrudinho. Parrudinho had a better Wwrestling skill, however Barbosa shoot a single leg and took Parrudinho down. They worked a bit on the ground with Parrudinho trying to return to his feet and he did. Barbosa was too much confident and it harmed his strategy because Parrudinho got to take Barbosa down when Barbosa was a little distracted on the fight. So the 10 minutes of the fight elapsed and the fight went to the golden score. Golden score is a kind of rule that crown the fighter who did the first point, so when the extra-time started Barbosa took Parrudinho down, however Parrudinho sunk a guillotine choke and the points just should be scored when Barbosa had liberated his neck from the guillotine, what didn't happen. Even so the referee gave the victory to Barbosa in spite of the BTT camp's complains.

Matheus Trindade def. Eduardo Simoes by judges' decision

A methodical match; where Trindade used his better submission game, from the bottom, to sweep Simoes, and score the first 2 points. Simoes tied-up the score by takedown and the fight went to the extra time. No points were scored at extra time but the more will-power of Trindade rendered him the victory by judges decision

Erado Paes def. Felipe Borges by 4-2

Both fighters have their roots in Luta-Livre, but Paes is a BTT fighter now and for sure he's training with a gi, what, for sure, sharpened his game. So his sweep and a takedown were enough to overcome the takedown of Borges. And score 4-2

Anthony Salles def. Marcelo Brigadeiro by 4-0.

The Canadian Salles sunk a triangle early on the fight, Brigadeiro defended well, but didn't do much from the top. So Salles insisted in several movies from the bottom until get the Brigadeiro's back, from where he tried chokes and an arm-triangle, that didn't work but were enough to render him the victory.

Alexandre 'Cafe' Dantas def. Leonardo Lucio
'Chocolate' Nascimento by 2-0

The strength and will of these fighters were similar, the double-leg and clinches the same level. So, how to surpass an opponent with the same game? The answer is, with calm. Cafe fought Chocolate and felt the main tools of him, and then he started his good strategy of let Chocolate nervous. It worked when Chocolate shoot two inaccurate double-legs and almost flew by a counter-takedown applied by Cafe, 2-0. The fight was defined on this detail, because after the point scored, Chocolate didn't have the same confidence to keep the good pace.

The tournaments:

I really got disappointed on covering some brackets' tournament, just to mention the same Brazilian culture happened once again when simply 7 BTT's fighters
dominated the 77kg-88kg bracket and didn't fight the quarter, semi or finals. This is not a BTT's fault, but for sure the organizers should pay more attention to it.

The best weight class of whole tournament was the upto 66kg. The SHOOTO fighters Marcos Louro and Jose Aldo Jr. beat respectively Taede Mendonca(ADCC Brazilian Trials 2005 veteran) and Johnny Eduardo(SHOOTO Japan veteran), while in the other side of the bracket, Wellington Silva (Ruas VT System) dispatched three fighter on the road, including the Nova Uniao's Marlon Sandro, who was surprised by a fast movie of catching the backs provided by Silva. Anyway, these three fighters resolved to not fight the finals and this was more one bracket without final, in spite of all, it was a good bracket.

The 66kg-77kg was a good dispute between the WFC and RFT fighters against the rest of the teams. Names like Felipe Mongo, Yan Cabral, Luis 'Beicao' Ramos, Diego Braga, Suyan Queiroz, Edson Chulapa, Rodrigo Damm, Leonardo Pecanha, Ivanilson Silva, Augusto Mendes, Leonardo Nogueira, Felipe Borges and Luis 'Besouro' Jr battled in a bracket that there were 44 fighters and had the final match around 12:10am!!!
The two survivors of the real war were Damm and the Pequeno's brother, Leonardo. They did a very good fight that displayed the all evolution of Leonardo,
who worked on the feet against a wrestling expert(Damm). For sure, Damm was most dangerous on the feet, however Leonardo developed good positions when had a chance. The fight went to the extra time, and they didn't score points, so the decision stayed in the judges' hands who gave it do Leonardo, who besides fought nearly an equal wrestling level than Damm, attacked an ankle-lock.

88kg-99kg weight class:

Just three fighters waited until the beginning of this bracket and while Bruno Bastos of Nova Uniao defeated Luis Felipe Simao. Alexandre Cacareco was already in the final, waiting for the Bastos. When they collided on the mat, Cacareco shoot takedowns twice and Bastos sprawled. Bastos got confidence on fighting on the feet, however the third takedown attempt of Cacareco was overpowering and Bastos couldn't take it. From the top, Cacareco worked timidly, while Bastos couldn't to work well, since Cacareco was stronger than him. Bastos opened his guard and unbalanced Cacareco, who almost passed Bastos' guard, but it was all and Cacareco won by 2-0.

The whole event showed a good organization and a good intention of adopting ADCC rules with small changes. However the excess of fighters in some brackets - 44!!! - and the Brazilian culture of accepting the rules were a minor problem which can be worked for the next events.

ALL RESULTS:
Single Matches:
Marcelo "Nigue" Sandes def. Alexandre "Baixinho"
Barros by 4-2
Aritano Barbosa def. William Parrudinho by golden
score
Matheus Trindade def. Eduardo Simoes by judges'
decision
Erado Paes def. Felipe Borges by 4-2
Anthony Salles def. Marcelo Brigadeiro by 4-0
Alexandre "Cafe" Dantas def. Leonardo Lucio
"Chocolate" Nascimento by 2-0

Tournaments
Up to 66kg:
Wellington Silva / Ruas VT System
Jose Aldo Jr. / Nova Uniao
Marcos "Loro" Galvao / Nova Uniao

66kg-77kg:
Leonardo Nogueira / WFC
Rodrigo Damm / Alliance
Ivanilson Silva / Cafe JJ

77kg-88kg:
Eduardo Rios / BTT
Roan "Jucao" Carneiro / BTT
Paulo Boiko / BTT

88kg-99kg:
Alexandre "Cacareco" Ferreira / BTT
Bruno Bastos / Nova Uniao
Luis Felipe Simao

Women under 66kg:
Monique Reis
Ana Maria
Monique Carvalho

By teams:
Top Brothers - 485 points
Renovacao Fight Team - 310
BTT - 245
Nova Uniao - 150
BUDOKAN - 145