The 2003 Pan American World Championship took place the weekend of April 26th and 27th at the University of California at Santa Barbara Robertson Gym located in Santa Barbara, California. With almost 900 competitors, the event was the largest Pan-American World Championship to date. -Click on READ MORE for the best report on the Pan Ams available online, with a full rundown of ALL Texas competitors! Thanks to Tracey Graham of austinbjj.com .
The 2003 Pan American World Championship took place the weekend of April 26th and 27th at the University of California at Santa Barbara Robertson Gym located in Santa Barbara, California. With almost 900 competitors, the event was the largest Pan-American World Championship to date.
Other than the fights, notable issues at the event were the long wait time for competitors to register and weigh-in, fight matches twice being interrupted for announcements of bomb threats (later determined to be a hoax), and, of course, the who’s who of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu that attended the competition. Once mat time got under way, the event ran smoothly with what seems to be a continuous upgrade in the level of competition of the best in BJJ.
The 2003 Pan American World Championship began with Team USA vs. Team Brazil in a match-up of Brazilians vs. Americans in each weight bracket and belt rank. A few upsets were made, however, overall Team Brazil simply had too much firepower for Team USA. Led by the awesome 6’6″ 260 lb. Marcio “PeDePano” Cruz, Carlos Gracie Jr.’s Gracie Barra team provided many of the champions in the USA vs. Brazil tournament as well as dominating the 2003 Pan American.
Texas sent her top representatives in BJJ to compete at this International World Championship with competitors from Paragon BJJ in Corpus Christi (“FRANJINHA”) with head coach Aurelio Gallegos Jr., Texas Punishment Crew from Silsbee (ROYCE GRACIE) with head coach Pat “Hawk” Hardy, Lavato’s School of BJJ and Vale Tudo from Oklahoma affiliated with Texas’ Carlos Machado (MACHADO/Dallas) with coach Rafael Lavato Jr., Mohler Jiu-Jitsu from Ft. Worth (ALLIANCE) with head coach Allan Mohler and assistant Yousef Alirezaei, Lutter’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from Ft. Worth (MACHADO/Dallas) with head coach Travis Lutter, Alvis Solis Martial Arts (MACHADO/Dallas) with head coach Alvis Solis and assistant Travis Tooke, and Vandry Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from Austin (MACHADO/Dallas) with head coach William Vandry.
The Texas schools performed well with many wins and a great show of guts. Our competitors have hearts of warriors. The quality of instruction and dedication of the instructors and students alike to the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is more and more evident with every year. Texas will catch up with California, and Brazil, in no time. I was in awe of our competitors to step on the mat and test their skills. Win or lose, they represented Texas well and I hope to join their ranks next year. Here are a few points and highlights from Texas competitors that were interesting.
Rafael Lavato Jr., Brown belt, seemed to be in control of his opponent and winning the match when his opponent claimed Lavato Jr. had in fact “heel-hooked” him. A Heel-hook is an ankle lock in which the heel is torqued that causes damage to the ankle, knee, and even the hip, this is barred at the Pan American Competition. Lavato Jr. himself claimed he never heel-hooked his opponent and there were no other witnesses that supported his opponent either. Nonetheless, the referee disqualified Lavato Jr. to what appears to be a very unfortunate stroke of bad luck. Lavato did place 3rd in the Brown belt Heavyweight division.
Yousef Alirezaei, known in Texas for his experience as a wrestling champion overseas, has grown into his body maturity from years past competing in tournaments. Alirezaei seems to have finally filled out his prime bodyweight and comfortable as a brown belt and in the heavyweight Masters division. Alirezaei, an intensive BJJ player, is a humble man and no doubt will fight more in the future.
Brown belt Travis Tooke is known for his absolutely focused style which is mainly pace and his disposition never changes during a match, like Texas black belts Vandry and Lutter. Tooke had a lightning fast paced match with eventual Gold medallist Braulio Estima. Tooke, with his smooth guard, swept Braulio, and then recovered from a pass. Down 3-2, with less than 30 seconds to go, he attempted to pass the guard and finally did and got to side – right as the whistle blew. Tooke did not get the full 3 second pin on side for the three points for passing the guard, but definitely showed he is among the top levels of Brown belts, period. Tooke has showed a great poise and may be at the Mundial.
Allan Shebaro, Brown belt, placed a respectable 3rd place after a grueling match with his final opponent. Shebaro, who won the 2003 Arnold Classic, is in peak form and has also expressed interest in competing at the Mundial.
Alvis Solis, Brown belt, took home two gold medals. He was on the mat ready to fight when competition organizers notified him his opponent had dropped out. He has expressed interest in dropping a weight division for his next competition, the Mundial.
Two of Texas’ highlight competitors were Black belts Travis Lutter and William Vandry. Both were in very tough divisions against two very well known BJJ Black belt competitors. Lutter competed against multiple world title-holder and eventual silver medallist Fabio Leopoldo. Lutter is a Black belt under Carlos Machado and is well known throughout Texas as a respected competitor in BJJ, NHB, and Abu Dhabi. He is known for his Saulo-like half guard, a position once thought to be defensive in nature. Lutter fought tooth and nail attempting near sweeps from his half guard many times proving the half guard is very much an offensive game. Lutter fights like a lightweight, as evidenced in one of the fastest paced matches in his division. Despite losing, Lutter is looking forward to competing again. Teammate and fellow black belt William Vandry stated, “Travis has one of the most talented half guards out there, he will be back, and I look to see him fighting in other BJJ tournaments and possibly NHB this year.”
Vandry, like Lutter, is under Carlos Machado and showed great poise and grit matching a fast paced exciting match against world-renowned Rickson Gracie fourth degree Black belt Jorge Pereira. Pereira is known worldwide for winning multiple BJJ world championships, Vale Tudo matches, and is last years Pan American Gold medallist in his weight class and open class. Pereira and Vandry had a duel that had Vandry dropping to guard every chance he had, but Pereira being the more cautious of the two, kept the fight mostly on the feet. At one point, Vandry, who is known in Texas for his ability to leg-lock and especially create new angles and ways to find the knee-bar from the guard, dropped to guard, defended for about two minutes and went for the knee-bar. In almost a pause of silence, the leg slipped and he went back to guard. In a bizarre halt to their match, announcers twice interrupted to notify competitors and spectators of bomb threats made. Vandry and Pereira were given the option to leave or fight. Neither wanted to leave in the middle of a match and both elected to stay and fight. As Vandry sat to the guard, Pereira pushed him flat and was awarded points for a take down. With very little time remaining, Vandry attempted a hook style sweep then shifting to a half guard sweep until time ran out. World-renowned champions Rigan and John Machado were coaching Vandry and congratulated him on his performance. John stated “Pereira is one of the toughest guys around, I fought him when we were blue belts, I think William has definitely demonstrated his level of skill with his performance today, through studying with my brother Carlos, and from time to time training with us here in California.” Rigan Machado when asked on Vandry’s performance said, “William is a soldier, but as good as William’s skill level is now, he has not yet reached his full potential. A soldier’s job is to fight, and that is what William did.” Vandry’s chief instructor, Carlos Machado, was reached for comment Wednesday night, “I talked to my brothers and they said he fought a very good fight with Pereira, and complimented William on his skills. What is funny is most of us forget William is legally blind. However, he does not let any form of self-pity, doubt or fretting enter his mind. Like my brother Rigan says, William is a soldier and understands that a soldier fights with no questions. He is an inspiration to me.”
Here are the results of all Texas competitors and contact information for their respective Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academies.
Enjoy! Tracey Graham
TEXAS PUNISHMENT CREW 409-385-5527, www.tpcjiujitsu.com
Pat “Hawk” Hardy, Brown Belt Senior 3, Super-Heavy-1st Place, Open-3rd Place
Clay Copeland, Blue Belt Juvenile Male, Lightweight-3rd Place
Shane Thibideaux, Blue Belt Master Male, Light-3rd Place
Casey Strobel, Blue Belt Master Male, Super-Heavy-2nd Place
Marcus Runnels, Blue Belt Senior 2 Male, Light-1st Place
Jay Crain, Blue Belt Senior 2 Male, Medium Heavy-2nd Place, Open-2nd Place
Mike Ellender, Purple Belt Master Male, Heavy-3rd Place
Ashley Mathews, Blue Belt Adult Female, Light-3rd Place
PARAGON BJJ CORPUS CHRISTI email: ParagonBJJ@netscape.net
Aurelio Gallegos Jr., 1st match won via points 15x 0, 2nd match lost via foot lock (lost to the guy who got 2nd) Blue Belt Adult, 173lbs (middle weight)
Ruben Arredondo Jr., 1st match lost via omoplata, escaped 5 submissions and sweeps (awesome fight against 4 stripe blue), white belt fought as a blue belt, 173lbs (middle weight) Blue Belt Adult
LAVATO’S SCHOOL OF BJJ AND VALE TUDO 405-942-7740, www.lovatojiujitsu.com
RAFAEL LAVATO Jr. 3RD, Heavy Brown Belt, Adult
JUSTIN SHANE 2nd, Blue Belt Juvenile
TRAVIS LUTTER’S BJJ (MACHADO) 817-838-8013, www.nextgenbjj.com
TRAVIS LUTTER Loss
RANDY COX 3RD, Senior 3, Supersuperheavy Blue Belt
ALAN SHEBARO 3rd , Superheavy Brown Belt, Adult
BRAD REHOR 1st , Supersuperheavy Brown Belt, Senior 3 Open Class 1ST
KATHRYN “Kit” ROBERTSON 1ST, Lightweight Female, Blue Belt
ALVIS SOLIS MARTIAL ARTS (MACHADO) 281-540-8443, www.solismartialarts.com
ALVIS SOLIS 1ST, MediumHeavy, Brown Belt Senior 1, 1st Open Senior 1
TRAVIS TOOKE Loss
VANDRY BJJ (MACHADO) 512-585-1289
WILLIAM VANDRY 1ST, Supersuperheavy Senior 1, 2ND Open
DAVID THOMAS 2ND, Superfeather Purple Belt Senior 1, 2ND Open class S1
PAT VANOVER 1ST, Middleweight, Blue Belt, Senior 3
ALLAN MOHLER JIUJITSU (ALLIANCE) 214-738-0640, www.mohlerjiu-jitsu.com
ALLAN MOHLER 2ND, Featherweight, Senior 2, Black Belt
YOUSEF ALIREZAEI 2ND, Masters Brown Belt
MARCUS HICKS 2ND, Middleweight, Adult Blue Belt
PHILIPE ESPINOSA 3RD, Masters Heavyweight, Blue Belt
JACOB OROZCO Loss
PATRICK MCGRAW Loss