MAY 10, 2021, THE PONTCHARTRAIN CONVENTION & CIVIC CENTER set the scenery for the third edition of the IBJJF New Orleans Open, one of the top jiu-jitsu tournaments of the month and one of the last major Spring events. Below is a description of the action and a sum of the results.
Gracie Barra’s Austin Baker & TLI’s Kieran Kichuk Steal The Show:
The first day of the NOO featured a few of the top-ranked grapplers on the planet, including Richar Nogueira, Yago Souza, and Caio Caetano. But from this ocean of veteran talent, it was two of America’s newest black belts who made waves, namely Austin Baker and Kieran Kichuk.
The first to show up on the mat was Kichuk, a product of Team Lloyd Irvin. Kieran proved to be a submission machine as a brown belt, and he’s kept this tradition pro-level, currently running on a 100% finish rate in 3 tournaments as a black belt. In New Orleans, Kichuk set the pace very high on both day 1 (gi) and day 2 (nogi) with 4 submissions, including finishes over big names of the lightweight divisions such as Alexandre Molinaro and Francisco Cuneo.
Later in the day, it was Austin Baker who stepped in. Baker dismantled one of Leandro Lo‘s top black belts, Caio Caetano, twice on the same day (once in the ultra-heavyweight division and later in the open class) as well as the highly-rated Giancarlo Bodoni, taking home double gold.
A Dominant Performance By Matheus Gabriel And 10th Planet’s Marvin Castell
Without the gi it was IBJJF World and Pans champion Matheus Gabriel who stood out. The Checkmat Texas athlete is not known for dwelling in nogi very often, this was in fact his first tournament in this ruleset since the ADCC back in September 2019, nevertheless, Gabriel had a field day on the mats yesterday.
Traditionally a featherweight, Matheus opted to come in as a middleweight (79 kilograms), a division where he submitted both Tyler Scalisi and Michael Trasso. Not pleased with one gold medal, Matheus decided to step into the open weight class. There he beat the dangerous super-heavyweight Tex Johnson, as well as Francisco Cuneo, and Diego Ramalho.
Another pleasant surprise in the New Orleans No-Gi Open was featherweight Marvin Castell of 10th Planet. The talented grappler took gold with two submission wins and a particularly strong performance against one of the top IBJJF ranked athletes, Richar Nogueira.
ADULT / MALE / BLACK / LIGHT-FEATHER
1# Marcus Beddor
2# Igor Gabriel P. Mancebo
ADULT / MALE / BLACK / FEATHER
1# Richar Emiliano Nogueira
2# Orlando Fernando Castillo Andaviza
3# Marco André Flores Teran
3# Damion Oranday
ADULT / MALE / BLACK / LIGHT
1# Kieran Robert Kichuk
2# Peygan John Lafont
3# Alexandre Faria Molinaro
ADULT / MALE / BLACK / MIDDLE
1# Alexander Scott Lane
2# Michael Ray Trasso
ADULT / MALE / BLACK / MEDIUM-HEAVY
1# Yago Vinicius de Souza
2# Joshua S. McKinney
3# Charles Kilyan Mcguire
ADULT / MALE / BLACK / HEAVY
1# Giancarlo Bodoni
2# Nathan Albrecht Mendelsohn
ADULT / MALE / BLACK / SUPER-HEAVY
1# Joaquin Torres
2# Jae Peirce McIntosh
3# Robert Dunn
ADULT / MALE / BLACK / ULTRA-HEAVY
1# Austin Baker
2# Caio Caetano Soares
ADULT / MALE / BLACK / OPEN CLASS
1# Austin Baker
2# Caio Caetano Soares
3# Alexander Scott Lane
3# Giancarlo Bodoni
ADULT / FEMALE / BLACK / LIGHT
1# Janaina Maia de Menezes
2# Jessica Ann Buchman
ADULT / FEMALE / BLACK / OPEN CLASS
1# Janaina Maia de Menezes
2# Juliana Teles Gassaway
ADULT / MALE / BLACK / LIGHT-FEATHER
1# Marcus Beddor
2# Reynaldo De Leon
ADULT / MALE / BLACK / FEATHER
1# Marvin Castell
2# Damion Shaun Oranday
3# Orlando Fernando Castillo Andaviza
3# Richar Emiliano Nogueira
ADULT / MALE / BLACK / LIGHT
1# Kieran Robert Kichuk
2# Francisco Cuneo
ADULT / MALE / BLACK / MIDDLE
1# Matheus Gabriel Pinheiro Barros
2# Michael Ray Trasso
3# Tyler Scalisi
ADULT / MALE / BLACK / MEDIUM-HEAVY
1# Joshua David Mancuso
2# Steven J. Patterson
3# Charles Kilyan Mcguire
3# Waseam Azzam Dannaoui
ADULT / MALE / BLACK / HEAVY
1# Giancarlo Bodoni
2# Alika K. Angerman
ADULT / MALE / BLACK / SUPER-HEAVY
1# Diego Dias Ramalho
2# Jae Peirce McIntosh
3# Robert Dunn
ADULT / MALE / BLACK / OPEN CLASS
1# Matheus Gabriel Pinheiro Barros
2# Diego Dias Ramalho
3# Francisco Cuneo
3# Giancarlo Bodoni
