FEBRUARY 21, 2021, somewhere in the São Paulo area we had the pleasure of watching the 2nd edition of the Big Deal Pro (BDP) tournament, a professional jiu-jitsu event that gathered some of the sport’s prime competitors in a male and a female Grand Prix, to which the promoters added a solid line-up of super-fights, featuring international names such as Fábio Alano, Rider Zuchi, Mauricio Oliveira, Henrique Cardoso “Ceconi”, Alex Munis and Servio Túlio, to name a few.
A very nicely put Grand-Prix, the BDP middleweight tournament had no boring matches, truly a pleasure to watch these young men go to war.
One of the matches of the night was that of Leo Lara vs Marco Aurélio. Aurélio showed excellent stand-up and aggressive scrambles, but the relentless pace set forth by Lara wore the Pirâmide Grappling team member down. With Marco’s gas tank empty, Leo was able to impose his game, dominating the exchanges near the end.
Arguably the two best kept secrets in the São Paulo circuit, Matheus Spirandeli and Marcos Martins “Petcho” dominated their matches on their way to the final, with excellent forward-moving jiu-jitsu, playing from the top and bottom.
The final was a perfect example of their styles, taking the match to wherever it went with comfort. Although the match had so many fun scrambles, it was hard to score them given how evenly matched these two grapplers were and how hard it was to hold them. In the end, it was Spirandeli who got the match-winning sweep.
MALE GP RESULTS
QUARTER-FINALS
– Leonardo Lara DEF. Marco Aurélio via 11×0 pts
– Matheus Spirandeli DEF. Eduardo Andrade via choke from back
– Marcos Martins DEF. Douglas Pittan via katagatame
– Rafael Mansur DEF. Denis Silva via ref. decision (0x0 pts)
SEMI-FINALS
– Matheus Spirandeli DEF. Leonardo Lara via 5×0
– Marcos Martins DEF. Rafael Mansur via 1×0 adv, 0x0 pts
3RD PLACE
– Leonardo Lara DEF. Rafael Mansur via 1×0 adv, 0x0 pts
FINAL
– Matheus Spirandeli DEF. Marcos Martins via 2×0
The biggest international names on the card were those of Sabatha Laís and former UFC fighter Ericka Almeida – whose recent tragic personal struggles we covered here. Ericka looked perfect in her first match, showing flawless jiu-jitsu, but fell to Dulce Rosenthal in the semi-final. Rosenthal, in our opinion, was the breakthrough athlete of the tournament.
A member of the Equipe A, Dulce looked phenomenal in her run-up to the final, submitting hot prospect Duda Tozoni with an early toe-hold / toe-hook, then taking out Almeida, and finally meeting the favorite Sabatha in the final. Dulce started the match poorly against the veteran but showed incredible resilience, coming back very strong and taking the Brazilian National Champion to the limit of her abilities, losing by the tightest of margins. A match well-worth revisiting.
FEMALE GP RESULTS
QUARTER-FINALS
– Silvana Monteiro DEF. Edy Magalhães via 2×0 pts
– Sabatha Laís DEF. Victória Ulrich via points
– Luciane Santos DEF. Desiree Favoreto via 7×0 pts
– Ericka Almeida DEF. Izabel Seki via via armbar
– Dulce Rosenthal DEF. Duda Tozoni via toe hold
SEMI-FINAL
– Sabatha Laís DEF. Luciane Santos via pressure
– Dulce Rosenthal DEF. Ericka Almeida via points
3RD PLACE
– Ericka Almeida DEF. Luciane Santos via armbar
FINAL
– Sabatha Laís DEF. Dulce Rosenthal via 3×2 pts
Many great matches on offer last night for the event’s super-fight schedule, but we would point to Alex Munis x Henrique “Ceconi” as the most intense of the night (and also the most controversial of the lot). These two left it all on the mats and could barely stand by the end of their clash, which was non-stop action from start to finish.
Another solid win last night was that of Rider Zuchi. The talented super-heavyweight continues to climb the jiu-jitsu ladder, this time taking out one of Mario Reis’ top students – former brown belt world silver medalist, Fábio Alano (Kamikase) – in a dominant fashion while playing from the top position.
– Emerson Silva DEF. Wellington Monalisa via points
– Yago Espindola DEF. Jaison Silva via advantages (0x0 pts)
– Alex Vieira DEF. João Mesquita via points
– Diogo Nascimento DEF. Bruno Quintanilha via crucifix choke
– Wellington Alemão DEF. Rafael Paganini via 4×2
– Alex Munis DEF. Henrique Cardoso via decision (2×2 pts)
– Mauricio Oliveira DEF. Servio Túlio via decision (0x0 pts)
– Rider Zuchi DEF. Fabio Alano via RNC
