JULY 12, 2020. Another edition of Third Coast Grappling’s tournament – Kumite, took place last night, a heavyweight tournament under no-gi rules which featured some of the bigger names of the newer, older, and current generations of athletes.
THE TOURNAMENT
With so much talent on the mat, it was the veteran – Roberto Cyborg, who shined brightest in Texas. A fantastic performance by the former ADCC open weight champion who defeated many high-level athletes on his way to gold, including Roberto Jimenez (semi-final), a man 19 years younger than the Fight Sports leader. Playing exclusively from the top, either by enforcing his superior wrestling or by choice of his opponents, Roberto showed incredible stamina, outlasting everyone on the mat.
Cyborg came in sharp, using the rules to his advantage and staying away from any real danger throughout the tournament. On the entertainment portion of the event, runner-up Fellipe Andrew was a pleasure to watch, seeking the submission from start to finish. The Zenith athlete had two fast matches, both spent at a very high pace, in which he submitted both Lucas Barbosa – who hadn’t been subbed since 2017 and Gabriel Almeida.
LOW POINT
The event also featured a series of colored belt super-fights in between the tournament’s bouts. It was in one of those matches that we saw the lowest point of the event and, dare we say, the lowest point in the sport this year, which came by way of Dacota Hope, a representative of the War Training Centre whose appalling sportsmanship against Victor Seabra, his opponent last night, is worthy of reference.
There aren’t many superlatives that can capture the full scope of what we saw as Hope came in to a jiu-jitsu match looking for a fist-fight. After some heavy head-snaps early on, which were very close to crossing the border between a slap and snap (and we would argue did cross that line), Dacota kicked Seabra in the leg, and then kicked him again in the midsection.
Not content with this, as the match was stopped for a word of caution by the referee and Seabra’s coach stood up to call out on this poor sportsmanship, Dacota launched at the instructor, trying to fight him with someone who looked like Hope’s cornerman also in the mix looking to add fuel to the scuffle. After being separated from Victor’s coach, Dacota then launched on Seabra who was still on the mat at this point.
The event was stopped for a few minutes before resuming and we are unsure at this point if anyone was hurt in the process. As we stand, in 2020, the sport has long surpassed this type of behavior.
KUMITE IV RESULTS
Quarter-Finals
– Roberto Jimenez DEF. Nick Rodriguez via decision
– Roberto Cyborg DEF. Arnaldo Maidana via golden score
– Fellipe Andrew DEF. Lucas Barbosa via triangle-armbar
– Gabriel Almeida DEF. Guilherme Augusto via decision
Semi-Finals
– Roberto Cyborg DEF. Roberto Jimenez via decision
– Fellipe Andrew DEF. Gabriel Almeida via inside heel-hook
Final
– Roberto Cyborg DEF. Fellipe Andrew via 10 finger guillotine (standing)
SUPER FIGHTS RESULT
– M. Bailey DEF. Natalia Santoro via tech. fall
