BJJ Classic Recap – Black Belt Results, Photos and Videos

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11 years Ago

By TXMMA Staff | Photos by Mike Calimbas (BJJ Journalist / Photographer)

No time limits and submission only at the 2013 BJJ Classic Texas State Championships

DUNCANVILLE, TX, October 29, 2013 – It was off to the Bob Knight Fieldhouse in Duncanville for a fun day of grappling at the BJJ Classic Texas State Championship this past Saturday, October 26^th.

BJJ Classic tournaments feature something truly unique for the Texas event circuit in that in order to win, all competitors much finish their opponent – that means no points and no time limits. Submission is the only way to win.

“We want to return BJJ to its roots with our tournaments,” said tournament organizer Christopher Story, a 1^st degree BJJ black belt who has been training since 1999 and head instructor at DFW-based Evolve BJJ.

“We feel that tapping out your opponent is the purest and most uncontroversial way of victory. Being able to survive and go until that point is the ultimate display of skills and technique and is a testament to one’s character, win or lose. Whenever you compete at a BJJ Classic tournament, we want you to both get your money’s worth but also to learn something about yourself and take away some valuable lessons to build on for the future.”

With the BJJ Classic Texas State Championship being the first tournament we (TXMMA) covered personally for the series, we did have some concerns heading into last Saturday – namely how a tournament would flow given the no time limit specification on matches and also the rules and how they applied in such a sub-only situation. We were pleasantly surprised with the answers to both our questions. The tournament ran swiftly despite some of those long , character-building matches and nobody got hurt given that the tournament pretty much goes by standard (IBJJF) rules minus the points and time limits. With only 4 mats for 140 or so competitors, the format is entirely scalable and something to look forward to wherever they hold their next tournament – which should be in Texas early next year.

New BJJ Classic Match Record – 1 hour 20 minute long match in the orange belt division

Speaking of long, character-building matches, two young grapplers in orange belts Brenna Tromble (Evolve BJJ) and Keegan Swindell (Open Door Academy) wowed the crowd and set a record with their 1 hour 20 minute long match, a new BJJ Classic match record. The two competitors traded sweeps and submission attempts for the duration of this back-and-forth match which ultimately ended in a triangle-armbar submission victory for Brenna but both kids definitely walked out winners in this one.

$3,000 Black Belt Division ends with another win for Carlos Diego Ferreira

Another featured attraction at the BJJ Classic 2013 Texas State Championships was the inclusion of a black belt prize money division with a whopping grand prize of $3,000 going to the winner. If memory serves right, this was the largest prize amount given to any individual superfight division winner in Texas this year so naturally it drew some names, including eventual winner Carlos Diego Ferreira and the others listed below.

Chris Westfall (Team Lutter)
Marc Ayub (Evolve BJJ)
Albert Hughes (Genesis)
Jason Soliz (TX3CMMA)
Carlos Diego Ferreira (Team Ferreira)
Rico Bastos (Nova Uniao)
Robert Yamashita (Elite MMA)

There were some exciting matches all around in this black belt division but match of the day had to go to Elite MMA’s Robert Yamashita and Nova Unaio’s Rico Bastos. The two went almost forty minutes in their contest with Yamashita attacking a toe hold and omo plata in impressive fashion while Rico went to his armbar twice with the last ultimately scoring him the victory.

As for Carlos Diego, he didn’t spend more than five minutes on his matches – submitting Jason Soliz in the first round in around 3-4 minutes and following that up with quick victories over Chris Westfall and Albert Hughes in the semifinal and finals respectively.

Below is a short pictorial summary of all the black belt division matches followed up by match videos for all the contests plus more at the BJJ Classic.

► Note: You can find the entire gallery of high-resoluton photos (1,500+) available for prints and downloads here – http://www.mikecalimbas.com/BJJ/BJJClassic2013TXChampionships