Day one of IBJJF Pan Ams has just concluded. Plenty of black belts stepped on the mats to showcase their skill! Day1 has seen some of the most exciting fights to the date with plenty of excitement from all the competitors.
There were no big upsets in weight classes however there were a match or two that turned heads. One such fight was AJ Agazarm vs Alliance’s Joao Paulo – the Brazilian ended up causing an upset and beating AJ 2-0.
Elsewhere John Combs managed to get sub over Marcos Tinoco. It was also disappointing for many when Mansher Munch Khera of MG Dream Team got disqualified late in the bout against Marcio Andre.
In the open weight division there was plenty of excitement and even a few upsets. One big surprise was Fresh new black belt from Checkmat Esdras Barbosa defeating Yago De Souza of NS Brotherhood. Sadly Barbosa’s inexperience later caught up to him and he was stopped by Ricardo Evangelista.
Lucas Lepri also fell short of the finals. The versatile lightweight managed to get to quarterfinals before losing to Joao Gabriel Rocha in one of the most exciting bouts.
This is where the tournament got even more interesting – absolute semifinals featured two great matches: Leandro Lo against the relative newcomer Nicholas Meregali and Joao Gabriel Rocha against Erberth Santos.
In a surprising turn of events Joao Gabriel Rocha prevailed against Santos and even managed to get a sub! Santos started off strong even taking the back at one point but he couldn’t close and after some struggle ultimately got submitted by katagatame.
Leandro Lo ended up using his experience against Meregali and managed to win on points 3×0.
On the other hand in the female absolute finals we will be seeing Tayane Profirio who cut through Bia Mesquita and Bianca Basilo. She will be going against Jessica Flowers who had one of the biggest upsets of the day eliminating Andresa Correa.
