At Trenton, New Jersey's Sovereign Bank Arena, Saturday's competition set the stage for Sunday's grand finale of the Abu Dhabi Combat Club's 2007 Submission Wrestling World Championships.
Perhaps the most action-packed division so far, the 143-pound bracket, will resume on Sunday with semifinal bouts between defending divisional champion Leo Vieira and
Tetsu Suzuki (Pictures), and Rani Yahira and
Baret Yoshida.
Vieira had a spectacular Saturday, dominating North American Trials champion Sim Go 17-0 on points, and taking a 2-0 points win over
Jeff Glover (Pictures) after nearly being submitted with a brabo choke in the opening minutes. Suzuki earned his semifinal berth by knocking off France's Renier Nicholas, before avenging his loss to
Naoya Uematsu (Pictures) from the ADCC Japan Trials two weeks ago. Rani Yahira made short work of his two opponents thus far, choking out both Darrel Mooley and
Bruno Frazatto, while
Baret Yoshida also flexed his submission skills to earn his spot in the semis, tapping out
Eddie Sanchez, and eliminating
Dokonjonosuke Mishima (Pictures) with a superb triangle choke.
As usual, the 168-pound division was a focal point at the ADCC World Championships, and will continue to be on the final day as the final four will pit two-time defending divisional champ and grappling superstar
Marcelo Garcia against American stalwart Mike Fowler, while Pablo Popovich meets Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Andre Galvao.
Garcia was outstanding as per usual in his first two bouts, quickly choking out BJJ black belts George Sotiropolous and
Kurt Pellegrino (Pictures). While Mike Fowler was unspectacular in his decision win over
Renzo Gracie (Pictures), the American notched one of the days most impressive feats in the quarterfinals, submitting grappling legend
Saulo Ribeiro (Pictures) with a toehold. Popovich defeated Erick Dahlberg and Japanese BJJ king
Daisuke Sugie (Pictures), while Galvao took a submission win over Chris Bright before tapping out Canadian stalwart
Mark Bocek with an ankle lock in the quarterfinals.
With usual divisional kingpin "Jacare"
Ronaldo Souza (Pictures) absent from competition this year, the 192-pound division will have a new champion in 2007, as the semifinals will see BJJ world champion
Demian Maia take on Tarsys Humphreys, while "Cachorrinho" Flavio Almeida will meet
Romulo Barral.
Maia emerged as the division's frontrunner on Saturday with wins over two-time Japan Trials champion
Yushin Okami (Pictures) and BJJ standout Rafael Lovato Jr. However, Tarsys Humphreys put on one of the day's most impressive displays. After defeating
Jorge Santiago (Pictures) in the opening round, Humphreys defeated
David Avellan in arguably the day's most sensational match, coming from behind to choke the stubborn Avellan unconscious to advance. Almeida, the younger brother of
Ricardo Almeida (Pictures), defeated Rick MacCauley and Sauli Heliemo to advance to the semifinals, while Barral knocked off
Travers Grubb (Pictures) before leglocking Chris Moriarty to earn his spot on Sunday.
Like the 192-pound division, the 218-pound division will also crown a new king on Sunday, with the absence of defending champion
Roger Gracie (Pictures). A quartet of well-established grapplers will square off in the semis, as BJJ world champions Xande Ribeiro and Robert Drysdale meet on the mats, while Braulio Estima takes on "Cacareco"
Alexandre Ferreira.
The well-decorated Ribeiro had little trouble in his first two bouts, deftly armbarring
Yukiyasu Ozawa before submitting
Tim Carpenter with a Kimura. Drysdale took a decision win over Mario Miranda, before choking out
Steve Rusk. Estima and Cacareco showed their finishing skills as well; Estima armbarred Poland's Tomas Szczerer and arm-triangled Brazilian
Cristiano Lazzarini while Cacareco locked up a Kimura on African Trials winner Carl Bierman before choking out Poland's Radek Turek.
With the absence of standouts like
Gabriel Gonzaga (Pictures) and defending champion
Jeff Monson (Pictures), the 218-and-over division yielded little surprise on Saturday. Heavyweight grappling kings
Fabricio Werdum (Pictures) and "Pe De Pano"
Marcio Cruz (Pictures) each earned berths in the semifinals, where they will meet Darren Andy and Rolles Gracie respectively.
Werdum took easy submission wins over
Elvis Sinosic (Pictures) and Karol Bedorf in his first two match-ups, while Darren Andy notched wins over Pat Staniol, and "Big Mac" Luis Theodoro. "Pe De Pano" encountered a bit more resistance in submittion a very game Janne Pietilainen, before taking a close and debatable decision victory over Marcos Oliveira while Gracie advanced by defeating
Naomichi Nagata and
Mario Rinaldi (Pictures).
In the female 121-pound class, Japan's most prominent female grappler
Megumi Fujii (Pictures) choked out Rachel Wheatley; North American trials winner Felicia Oh defeated Leticia Ribeiro; Brazilian Trials winner Bianca Andrade knocked off Jean Alvisse; and Japan Trials winner
Sayaka Shioda (Pictures) defeated Cindy Hales. The semifinals will see Fujii meet Oh, and Andrade face Shioda.
The star-laden 132-pound female class boasts a potent final four. Saturday's action saw
Tara Larosa (Pictures) defeat Rebecca Atwood,
Takayo Hashi (Pictures) best
Vanessa Porto, and Smackgirl champion
Hitomi Akano (Pictures) take a points win over Casey Blasso in a great match. Star Kyra Gracie was the division's most outstanding performer, locking up a beautiful armbar to defeat Caoimhe McGill. Sunday's semifinals will pit LaRosa against Hashi, and Gracie against Akano.
In 148-pound female action, Kelly Paul,
Marloes Coenen (Pictures) and Stacy Cartwright all took submission wins over Fiona Muxloy,
Keiko Tamai (Pictures) and
Emily Kwok, respectively, while Hannette Quadros bested
Shayna Baszler (Pictures) by decision. In the semifinals, Paul and Coenen will meet, while Cartwright and Quadros square off.
In the 148-and-over female category, Rosangela Conceicao submitted Jennifer Guiola,
Lana Stefanac submitted
Yoko Takahashi (Pictures), Penny Thomas submitted
Shannon Hooper (Pictures) and Celita Schultz defeated Mary Anne Mullahy, setting up semifinal bouts between Conceicao and Stefanac, and Thomas and Schultz.
Sunday's action will see the semifinals and finals of the divisional tournaments, as well as the male and female open-weight Absolute divisions, and the ADCC 2007 super-fight between ADCC 2005 male absolute champion
Roger Gracie (Pictures) and
Jon Olav Einemo (Pictures). Einemo, a late replacement for the Dengue Fever-stricken
Ricardo Arona (Pictures), is the last competitor to have beaten Gracie at ADCC, having defeated him on points in 2003 en route to winning the 218-pound division that year.