MAY 07, 2022, LUBON, POLAND, held the second edition of the European, Middle Eastern, and African trials of the ADCC, a tournament created to select the second challenger of this region to the event’s World Championships held in Las Vegas, USA, in September this year.
The ADCC is well-known as one of the top, if not THE top, submission-grappling promotion on the planet, and as expected these trials appealed to plenty of the sport’s big players. Below is a short description of what went on in each division and the results of the main matches.
66KG: Sam McNally (ECBJJ / IRE)
77KG: Tommy Langaker (Wulfing Academy / NOR)
88KG: Santeri Lilius (Lilius Barnatt MA / FIN)
99KG: Luke Griffith (New Wave / SA)
+99KG: Daniel Manasoiu (New Wave / ROM-USA)
60KG: Julia Maele (OXY / NOR)
+60KG: Eleftheria Christodoulou (CYP / ZR Team)
66-KILO
A strong 66-kilogram division with a few of Europe’s toughest featherweights, names such as Sam McNally of East Coast JJ (IRE), rising Israeli purple belt Yarin Shriki, Thomas Halpin (IRE), Daniel Groot (HOL), and more.
Names aside, it was all down to one of Ireland’s most proficient BJJ black belts, Mr. Sam McNally. Showing his country (and in particular his team, ECBJJ) is one of the strongest hubs for jiu-jitsu in Europe right now, McNally went through 6 tough opponents finishing 4 of them with submissions.
Quarter-Finals:
– Sam McNally def. Samuel Gibbs via 3×0
– Roine Bohlim def. Bruno Amaddeo via 5×2
– Tomas Tovey def. Tuomas Kokkonen via decision
– Daniel Groot def. Thomas Kartas via 3×0
Semi-Final:
– Sam McNally def. Daniel Groot via heel hook
– Roine Bohlim def. Tomas Tovey via armbar
Final:
– Sam McNally def. Roine Bohlim via 3×0
3rd Place:
– Daniel Groot def. Tomas Tovey via straight ankle-lock
77-KILO
Despite the array of no-gi grappling specialists on deck, the tournament went the way of a gi player, collar-and-sleeve stylist no less! The Norwegian athlete dominated the 77-kilogram division with relative ease, taking out both of the category’s favorites, Ross Nicholls and Mateusz Szczecinski. Langaker had a marathon in Luboń, Poland, with 7 matches, 3 of which he won by submission, and without suffering a single point in all 7.
Quarter-Finals:
– Tommy Langaker def. Thomas Barry via 3×0
– Mateusz Szczecinski def. Jozef Chen via straight ankle lock
– Ellis Younger def. Lee Hammond via 2×0
– Ross Nicholls def. Christopher Wokcik via decision
Semi Final:
– Tommy Langaker def. Ross Nicholls via 6×0
– Mateusz Szczecinski def. Ellis Younger via armbar
Final:
– Tommy Langaker def. Mateusz Szczecinski via RNC
3rd Place:
– Ross Nicholls def. Ellis Younger via 2×0
88-KILO
A very big division with a whole lot of Polish grapplers, though the dominant displays of Finland’s Santeri Lilius and Portugal’s Bruno Lima ended up spoiling the party for the local crew.
The final match was spent mostly standing with Lima, the current IBJJF European Open gi champion, initiating a lot of the exchanges. Despite his solid work rate, Bruno ended up on the bottom during one of those scrambles near the final seconds of the match. It was unclear what the referee decided here, but it appeared as though they took the maneuver as a guard pull and therefore awarded a negative point to Bruno and victory to Lilius. Santeri himself had 7 hard-fought matches to glory and will be a very worthy representative of the continent’s grappling proficiency.
Quarter-Finals:
– Piotr Fręchowicz def.Konrad Olszewski via 3×0
– Bruno Lima def. Johan Oosthuysen via RNC
– Santeri Lilius def. Ben Dyson via 3×0
– Otto Kuikka def. Marcin Maciulewicz via decision
Semi Final:
– Bruno Lima def. Otto Kuikka via 4×0
– Santeri Lilius def. Piotr Fręchowicz via armbar
Final:
– Santeri Lilius def. Bruno Lima via decision
3rd Place:
– Piotr Fręchowicz def. Otto Kuikka via dead orchard
99-KILO
Another John Danaher purple belt making waves in the sport, Mr. Luke Griffith is the current heir of a strong line of ADCC Trials high achievers developed by the revered grappling instructor. Originally from South Africa, Griffith took out a few of the division’s favorites, including Hungary’s Kristof Szucs by submission on his way to glory. 4 matches, 3 submissions, and a beautiful performance by Luke, who was the only African winner of the tournament.
Quarter-Finals:
– Freddy Vosgroene def. Jan Kogel via 3×0
– Owen Livesey def. Adem Crnalic via 11×0
– Luke Griffith def. Kristof Szucs via heel hook
– Dawid Drobina def. Kasper Larsen via heel hook
Semi-Final:
– Owen Livesey def. Freddy Vosgroene via injury
– Luke Griffith def. Dawid Drobina via RNC
Final:
– Luke Griffith def. Owen Livesey via RNC
3rd Place:
– Dawid Drobina conquered 3rd place as Vosgroene was unable to compete.
+99-KILO
Although not a big name on the world stage, Muslim Patsarigov – a former freestyle wrestler from Chechnnya – has competed against many of the world’s top grapplers, and (to our knowledge) had never been taken down in BJJ/Grappling before today. We write this to explain the level of talent behind the man who took him down, New Wave’s Daniel Manasoiu.
Daniel – whom we believe is still a blue belt – had 4 matches on his way to winning this weekend’s trials, taking three of those via submission. He is talented, very big, and well-rounded, making him one of the rising stars to watch in the near future. We are very excited to see what type of damage he can cause to the ultra-heavyweight division at the big show in September.
Quarter-Finals:
– Mateusz Juskowiak def. Paulo Brasil via penalty
– Muslim Patsarigov def. Akseli Kaasalainen via 2×0
– Daniel Manasoiu def. Aiden Woodley via heel hook
– Francis Prana def. Seif-Eddine Houmine via 2×0
Semi-Final:
– Muslim Patsarigov def. Mateusz Juskowiak via penalty
– Daniel Manasoiu def. Francis Prana via 3×0
Final:
– Daniel Manasoiu def. Muslim Patsarigov via katagatame
3rd Place:
– Francis Pana def. Mateusz Juskowiak via injury
60-KILO
Not too many household names on the bracket, but a terrific performance by the 29YO black belt from OXY, one of Norway’s foremost gyms. Julia had 4 matches and 2 submissions.
Quarter-Finals:
– Naiomi Matthews def. Ashley Bendle via decision
– Peyton Letcher def. Nora Schultz via decision
– Julia Maele def. Amanda Schurtz via anaconda
– Naomi Mathews def. Laila Ohlhoff via 6×0
Semi-Final:
– Naiomi Matthews def. Peyton Letcher via 3×0
– Julia Maele def. Naomi Mathews via decision
Final:
– Julia Maele def. Naiomi Matthews via RNC
3rd Place:
– Janette Gloger def. Naiomi Matthews via RNC
+60-KILO
In one of the most stacked divisions of the tournament, it was all down to Cyprus’s top prospect Eleftheria Christodoulou, an athlete who has had her fair share of bumps along the road in her career. Part of coach Ievgen Skyrda’s army of grapplers at ZR Team’s professional squad in Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine, Christodoulou has recently returned to her home country, likely due to the current dire situation in Eastern Europe. Despite this drawback, Eleftheria pulled through and will be representing the Old Continent at the World Championships in September.
Ahead of Eleftheria were big names of the sport such as England’s rising star Nia Blackman, the super accomplished Maria Malyjasiak and Magdalena Loska from Poland, Ane Svendsen, to name a few.
Quarter-Finals:
– Magdalena Zaszczudłowicz def. Duyen Tran via kneebar
– Ane Svendsen def. Julija Stoliarenko via 6×0
– Eleftheria Christodoulou def. Nia Blackman via decision
– Maria Malyjasiak def. Selma Essahli-Vik via RNC
Semi-Final:
– Ane Svendsen def. Magdalena Zaszczudłowicz via 3×0
– Eleftheria Christodoulou def. Maria Malyjasiak in overtime points
Final:
– Eleftheria Christodoulou def. Ane Svendsen via 2×0
3rd Place:
– Magdalena Zaszczudłowicz took 3rd place as Maria Malyjasiak did not compete.
