After the tremendous success of this year’s European Open in Portugal, the old continent keeps pushing the pace for high level grappling in jiu jitsu’s 2016 calender. This past weekend, on the 31st of January, we witnessed another fantastic event, this time organized by BJJ black belt Sada Kurimori – the Pro Neuchatel Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Challenger, which took place in the city of Neuchâtel – Switzerland.
Competing were some of Europe’s rising jiu jitsu stars, who battled against an army of world wide grapplers. The event had both veterans and new comers which led to some very exciting style clashes in both superfights and three talent dense Grand Prix’s. Check the full results below:
Bruno Frazatto (Atos) vs Lucas Dantas (Kimura/Nova Uniao)
The veteran and multiple time World Championship medalist, Frazatto faced the Kimura-NU representative Lucas Dantas, a team with strong roots in Switzerland. In the end the more experienced Bruno beat Dantas on points.
Edwin Najmi (Gracie Barra) vs Ilke Bulut (Icon)
Two of the strongest lightweights in the world, the American Edwin Najmi faced the Turk Ilke Bulut. As expected, both grapplers were very evenly matched, with the victory going to Najmi by referee decision.
Christian Rodrigues (Gracie Barra) vs Ricardo “Pezao” (Alliance)
A great match-up between two veteran competitors who have been stationed in Europe for many years. In the end Gracie Barra’s Rodrigues beat one of the very few Fernando Terere black belts, the illustrious Ricardo Oliveira with a straight ankle lock.
Danny Feliz (Icon) vs Eldar Rafigaev (Jungle)
In a battle of brown belts, Anderson Pereira’s student – Danny Feliz of Icon Jiu Jitsu beat Edgar “Yakuza” on points.
In the black belt Grand Prix we saw a highly accomplished Alan “Finfou” do Nascimento, going up against the new breed of the sport in Gabriel Arges of Gracie Barra and the Italian Luca Anacoreta of Aeterna Jiu Jitsu. We also saw the veteran Brigadeiro black belt from Uruguay: Gregório Thomaz in action.
The tournament was very even, but the lighter “Finfou” showed just why he has been at the top of the game for such a long time with solid performances that led to his victory. To win the GP Alan beat Luca Anacoreta (2×2 + 3×1 advantages), Gregório Thomaz (triangle) and the promising Gabriel Arges (by DQ – knee reaping). Arges on the other hand beat Anacoreta (advantages) and Thomaz (armbar) to take 2nd place.
Champion: Alan Finfou (3 wins)
Runner-up: Gabriel Arges (2 wins)
Some of jiu jitsu’s brightest stars of the lightweight divisions, Robson Tanno of Infight Japan, who just two weeks ago placed 2nd in the European Open, beat both Victor Oliveira of Icon and Ruben Lemos of Gracie Barra.
A great sign of how healthy the state of Jiu Jitsu is in Europe right now was mirrored in this heavyweight GP. Athletic and technical the king of the event was the Polish: Adam Wardziński of Checkmat, who competes under the tutelage of Alan Finfou.. Adam has been pointed for quite some time as one of the most dominant grapplers in the world wide grappling circuit in the lower belts, and confirmed his favouritism with dominant performances, defeating the Swiss Uros Domanovic (Frota Team), Britain’s Bradley Hill (Gracie Barra) and Clifford Edwards who resides in the Netherlands.
Pro Neuchatel Challenger website: neuchatelbjjopen.com
