JUNE 27, 2021, SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL. Another solid night by BJJ Stars, one of the premier professional jiu-jitsu promoters in the world today. As mentioned in our preview piece, this weekend’s edition suit the purpose of crowning the promotion’s side-show, The New Star, with its female and male champions. A reality show broadcasted last month on the BJJ Stars YouTube channel.
With a star-studded line-up, the event showcased the cream of the crop when it comes to grappling talent with a varied range of entertainment, from the stalemate performances of Dimitrius Souza x Rudson Mateus and Michael Langhi x Claudio Mattos to the fiery clashes of Matheus Spirandeli x Henrique Cardoso or Felipe Pena x Patric Gaudio. For further commentary check below.
PRELIMS
Fantastic performances by Spirandeli and Cardoso “Ceconi”, who put on a backward and forwards match for the fans. Equally entertaining was Dina Sena, the young talent who looked tremendous against Ershiley, pushing the pace, taking chances, and stealing the win via submission.
– Matheus Spirandeli DEF. Henrique Cardoso via 6×2 pts
– Dina Sena DEF. Ershiley Kessy via Choke from the back
– Dimitrius Souza DEF. Rudson Mateus via advantages (0x0 pts)
THE NEW STAR FINALS
With a solid cash prize for the taking, this wasn’t the time to put on flamboyant performances, but rather take home the “W”. This is exactly what the athletes involved in the finals did, playing forward, for the win, but very conscious of the stakes at hand. Both finals were very evenly matched across the board, and it showed in the grinding performances of the winners and the losers.
– Lucas Gualberto DEF. Natan Chueng via decision (0x0 pts)
– Izadora Cristina DEF. Ingridd Alves via 4×2 pts
MAIN EVENT
A lot of solid matches at the main event. Bianca Basílio was one of those in her dominant performance, taking the back and mounting Checkmat’s Gabriela Fechter. Fechter is also worthy of praise here, as she also competed at the IBJJF Rio Open on Sunday, making it to the finals of the light-featherweight (gold) and open weight (silver) of the tournament, but beforehand she traveled all the way to São Paulo (Saturday) to compete against the current 60-kilogram ADCC Champion – Bianca Basílio (one weight class above Gabi) – at BJJ Stars. Although outmatched against the Almeida JJ representative, Fechter’s hard work is commendable.
Tainan Dalpra was just s dominant as Bianca in his performance against Athos Miranda, taking the match to the Minas Gerais native from “post-to-post” and ending the match with the Submission Of The Night.
Felipe Pena “Preguiça” had a tough match against Patrick Gaudio – one of the most active and successful heavyweights of today – but overcame Patrick’s early offense, sweeping the Dream Art athlete and then mounting a series of world-class attacks from the top position. Beautiful work and a finish against one of the best in the game.
The Hulk Vs Matheus Diniz Controversy
No great cards can go without controversy, this time the spotlight fell on Lucas “Hulk” Barbosa (Atos) and Matheus Diniz (Marcelo Garcia Academy / Alliance). The match was spent mostly on the feet at a good pace, with both athletes being evenly matched across the board, albeit, with Lucas taking a slight advantage after forcing Diniz to his butt, taking 2 advantages for his attempts. On one of the match’s resets, Diniz was penalized for debating with the referee. Hulk received 2 points for the penalty.
With two seconds to go, another scramble ended with Matheus holding on to a crucifix/back position (no hooks) and a one-handed RNC locked in. The match finished, but Diniz held on to the choke unopposed (possibly did not hear the bell) and the referee did not step in. The choke was locked for around 5 seconds after the buzzer which put Lucas to sleep, but, as it happened outside regulation time, victory went to Lucas.
– Bianca Basilio DEF. Gabriela Fechter via 8×0 pts
– Tainan Dalpra DEF. Athos Miranda via Choke from the back
– Erberth Santos DEF. Gutemberg Pereira via decision (0x0 pts)
– Michael Langhi DEF. Claudio Mattos via 2×0
– Yuri Simões DEF. Mahamed Aly via decision (0x0 pts)
– Lucas Barbosa DEF. Matheus Diniz via 2×0
– Felipe Pena DEF. Patrick Gaudio via Choke from the back
