The prohibitive favorite to win the under-99-kilogram division,
Alexandre "Xande" Ribeiro delivered, defeating surprisingly game upstart Gerardi Rinaldi to claim the title.
Ribeiro's 2-0 points win came courtesy of a sweep from the deep half guard fairly early in the 20-minute bout. In the rest of the affair however, Ribeiro showed his brilliant defensive technique and prowess, as the fearless Rinaldi locked up an omoplata, went for kimuras on top while Ribeiro played the deep half, as well as a kneebar and heel hook, to boot.
In spite of Rinaldi showing a well-versed submission attack and some dynamic guard passing, one of the pound-for-pound best grapplers in the world stopped his techniques from scoring points and closing the gap against the two-timw Mundials absolute champion.
In the third place bout of the division,
Vinny Magalhaes got his third sensational submission of the weekend over
Glover Teixeira.
After an early sweep to mount, Magalhaes transitioned brilliantly from an armbar to a triangle, and then to an omoplata. Though Teixeira escaped, Magalhaes was able to take his back with hooks in, which led to a deft armbar set-up. As Teixeira tried to escape a second time, Magaelhaes locked up a triangle and extended the armbar for the tap and the bronze medal.
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