DALLAS, TX, May 7, 2012 – The International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation made their latest Texas tournament appearance with the 2012 IBJJF Dallas Open held this past Saturday at TWU’s Kitty Magee Arena.
The tournament featured teams from around Texas and Oklahoma with others yet coming from out of the southern to compete in the latest run-up to the upcoming IBJJF World Championships (Mundials) scheduled for May 31st-June 3rd in Los Angeles, California.
Aside from those preparations, several large teams were on hand to try to make a run at the team championships at this event.
In the end, the Nova União contingent held serve with dominating wins in both the adult and kids divisions. Led by Prof. Bruno Bastos, the The NU team boasts several branches in the Dallas area and repeated a feat they accomplished at the same tournament last year with their impressive first place finish.
Coming in second and third were two other teams that brought a large presence to the tournament in Lovato Jiu-Jitsu and Renato Tavares Association. Led by Rafael Lovato Jr. / Justin Rader and Renato Tavares / Piet Wilhelm respectively, the two academies performed admirably in the competition.
Last but not least, Gracie Barra also came in to change things up in the team standings with a third place finish in the kid’s brackets this time around.
Dallas Open 2012 – Adult Team Results
1 – Nova União – 298
2 – Lovato Jiu-Jitsu – 168
3 – Renato Tavares Association – 148
Dallas Open – Kids Team Results
1 – Nova União – 37
2 – Renato Tavares Association – 22
3 – Gracie Barra – 12
Divisional Competition Highlights
Robert “Cyborg” Abreu won the adult black belt open class to complete his successful day in Texas with Lovato’s Travis Serna and Albert Hughes of Genesis / Fight Sport taking third place respectively.
Colorado’s Michael Tousignant (Easton BJJ) accomplished the same feat in the brown belt adult division while Adley Lobato (Avengers) accomplished the same feat at purple with a very impressive win in the finals over Shiloh Roberts (Lovato). Dallas Niles of Lovato BJJ completes the list of absolute winners with his gold in the blue open division.
On the women’s side, the tournament featured some good wins by several ladies – including Kristine Felts (Peak Performance) who won in the purple open (masters) and Danielle Alvarez who won the open at blue.
The juvenile divisions were led by some terrific performances by a multitude of grapplers including Jay Gloria and Yuri Santos of Nova União, Isaih Calderon of Team Tooke, and many others.
Full individual results from the 2012 IBJJF Dallas Open can be found here.
Photo Gallery and Match Videos
Full photo coverage of the event can be found on the TXMMA Facebook Page.
Those interested in ordering prints can do so directly and easily through the event album on SmugMug.
Last but not least, check out select match videos from the event on the Texas Grappling Channel. Make sure to subscribe for future vids from tournaments all around Texas as well.
Here’s just one of them from the 2012 Dallas Open – a great match between Justin Rader (Lovato BJJ) and Pablo Silva (Gracie Barra).