By TXMMA Staff | Photos by Mike Calimbas (Texas Sports Photographer)
2013 Texas Open most efficient tournament yet for Fight to Win / World Grappling Circuit
HOUSTON, TX, November 18, 2013 – Fight to Win and World Grappling Circuit put on their latest Houston BJJ tournament event this past November 9th with the 2013 Texas Open taking place at the Competitive Edge Sports Complex in Spring.
With 520 or so competitors, the tournament sure attracted a lot of folks but it ran like a tournament half its size with all the action concluded before 4:30pm that Saturday. Tournament organizers Seth Daniels and Brett Boyce credited a new hybrid bracketing system borrowed from amateur wrestling for the successful event. The pair also instituted a couple of other tweaks for the second event in a row leading up to their 2014 season that commences with Tournament of Champions 13 on January 13th in Houston at the same location.
Team Results – 2013 Texas Open
- 1st – Solis Martial Arts (159)
- 2nd – Gracie Barra (154)
- 3rd – Elite MMA (135)
- 4th – Team Tooke (92)
- 5th – Alliance Team Gacho (70)
2013 Texas Open – Individual Highlights
Purple Belt and Above
Jordan Henry of Gracie Barra Woodlands did well to win the purple belt absolute division over a field that included Ralph Sebexen of AFC/SMMA. Also performing well at purple were Jordan Burton (GB Texas), Ricardo Castaneda (GB Southlake), Jonathan Naranjo (BJJ Revolution), and Jonathan Wheeler (TPC) amongst several others who all won their divisions in the men’s divisions while Veronica Messina won over Gabriella Mueller in the only upper rank action of the day on the women’s side.
As for the adult brown belt divisions the most exciting matchups of the day came in the two involving BB’s Robert Yamashita (Elite MMA) and new-arriving Misael Miranda (Alpha & Omega), now of Angleton. Though edged out by Robert once and won again by him via armbar the second time, Miranda showed that he will be a forced to reckon with moving forward here in the Texas BJJ scene.
Also performing well in brown/black belt gi action were John Alfeche (Elite MMA), Josh Hill (Rilion Gracie), and Shawn Key (SMAA).
Meanwhile in the nogi men’s advanced divisions, Yamashita and Julian Vega both won once again in their divisions while young Dennis Sisson put up quite the admirable performance against Yamashita to gain second. Cody Hoffstatter and Cody Wheeler both won theirs while Veronica Messina won on the women’s side, closing out with teammate Chastity Villarreal.
Lower Belts and Intermediate Divisions
Lower Belts and Intermediate Divisions
Some of the grapplers that stoof out in the lower belts included Matthew Kim of BJJ Revolution who won the absolute and blue belt and Voddie Bauchman of Team Tooke who did the same for the white belt division. Also winning at blue was Kim’s teammate and undefeated pro MMA fighter Domingo Pilarte and GFT’s Dave Smith, just to name a few. Another pro MMA fighter in Jose Santibanez also rolled and won in the no gi. Likewise, Ryan Hollis also rolled and picked up second to purple belt Jordan Burton in their intermediate division.
Women’s Lower Belt
As for the women, Charity Combs of SMAA had a great performance and beat Julia Ottolino in the blue belt absolutes. Meanwhile Chastity Villarreal (who did not compete in the absolute) continued on with her dominant performance streak in her division while younger sister Kayla Deleon did the same in hers. Also looking good on the women’s side were Pearl Baez of Paragon along with Julie Rodriguez and Gina Barrera of Paul Thomas BJJ.
Teen Divisions
As for the teen guys, Roberto Jimenez had an awesome performance in winning the absolute division for Alliance Team Gacho with Walker Whidon of Team Tooke Cypress taking second.
Also looking good was Austin Oranday and Mailk Wilson, both out of Eite, along with Anthony Jimenez of GB Woodlands and a host of others.
Make sure to check out the complete results via Fight to Win and enjoy all the pics and vids below!
2013 Texas Open – High-Resolution Photo Gallery
Photos available on Facebook via the links below:
WOMENS | TEENS | KIDS | MEN’S BJJ | MEN’S NO GI | COACHES AND CROWD
2013 Texas Open – Select Match Videos (50+ matches)
