Worlds’2015 Bonus Part: Impressions

When we have been interviewing athletes for our Worlds’2015 Blue & Purple series (Part I, Part II and Part III are here) we also asked them whose performance did impress them the most this year in the Long Beach? And here are their impressions:

Tracy Pham from Gracie Elite Team, Pleasanton, California: “I really enjoyed watching Bruno Malfacine’s matches and the light feather black belt females’ final was very exciting!”

Gianni Crivello from CheckMat, Costa Mesa, California, US: “I enjoyed watching my coach, Lucas Leite, and anyone that has a similar game to mine. I think that the black belt heavyweight division had the most exciting fights, everyone looked fast, aggressive, and technical”.

Espen Mathiesen, from Nova União, Egersund, Norway: “The most impressive athlete in my opinion was Gustavo Dantas, competing and even wining his first match at black belt adult even though he is over 40. The most spectacular match was for sure Rafa Mendes against Cobrinha, Rafa performed on another level and showed beautiful jiu jitsu”.

Bruno Malfacine vs Joao Miyao IBJJF Worlds Finals 2015

Jessie Carpenter from Team Jucão USA, Keene, New Hampshire, US: “The crowd loved the Miyao brothers matches in Male Rooster (João vs. Bruno Malfacine) and Light-feather (Paulo vs. Daniel Beleza) Black Belt finals, Paulo finishing Daniel by submission. Also, notable attention was drawn for Leandro Lo vs. Keenan Cornelius and Bernardo Faria with double gold.

In the female divisions, the Feather weight Mackenzie Dern vs. Michelle Nicolini finals were suspenseful and fun to watch, Dern finishing Nicolini by submission. Dominyka Obelenyte of Alliance also made the scene with her impressive double gold”.

Nicholas Meregali from Alliance, Porto Alegre, Brasil: “The most impressive for me was Lucas Lepri’s performance. Due to his very calm and precise movements, it was looking like Luke was training in the gym. Black belts’ open weight division was very exciting, due to Buchecha, who did put pepper in the division”.

Ketra Bartek from Gracie Humaita, Austin, TX, US: “Sunday morning’s black belt men’s matches were amazing.  I have a fun image in my head of Leandro Lo blocking a takedown by jumping like superman.  Of course, I later go online and find some of the women’s matches”.

Danny Feliz from Icon BJJ, Geneva, Switzerland: “It’s hard to say. There were a lot of good fights but I think the most impressive performance was brown belt Champion Mahamed Aly. This guy is a machine. I fought him at Europeans 2 years ago in purple and it was very hard fight where I lost by points ( 4-2) but now he is just amazing. I like to see him fighting because he is very aggressive and technical. The other one whose I’m a big fan of are the Miyao brothers. Sometimes I train with them and I never seen anyone who is focused and dedicated so much and I’m very happy for Paulo for his world title and so sad for Joao because he should win this fight. Nevertheless, Joao will win next year it’s no doubt!”

Livia Gluchowska from Maromba Academia International, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: “In the women’s divisions, I think the feathers, lightweights and light feathers showed the most spectacular jiu jitsu. You can’t look past Mackenzie and Michelle.

In the men’s division – Rafa vs Cobrinha was a treat to watch, as well as beautiful jiu jitsu from Michael Langhi, Lucas Lepri and JT Torres. I can’t wait to go home and analyse Lepri’s passing and Langhi’s impassible guard.

It will also be interesting to watch some up and coming purple belts go through the ranks, such as Bianca Basilio and Mayssa Bastos”.

Madeleine Håkansson from Yamasaki Academy Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden: “There were a lot of really talented athletes putting on exciting matches, but both Miyao brothers impressed me a lot. The most exciting division was probably the blackbelt male featherweight division, with Mendes’s finishing Mario Reis in spectacular fashion and the unforgettable final against Cobrinha”.

Tommy Lilleskog Langaker from Atos Jiu Jitsu, Haugesund, Norway: “There were two guys who impressed me, Espen Mathiesen in light weight purple wich took the second place, and my professor Rafael Mendes when he took his 5th world feather weight black belt title”.