Highlights and Technical Observations on the BJJ World Championship (gi) 2012

Worlds 2012 (day 3)
Some highlights of the IBJJF World Tournament 2012 as seen on Budovideos.com livestream

Quarters-Semifinal Rounds
 For blackbelt quarterfinals-semifinals I've tried to keep track of the number and types of submissions used.  I've counted 13 submission wins.  They are listed below with the winner (when I know who it is).

1. armlock (Caio Terra)
2. rear naked choke
3. lapel choke from back
4. straight ankle lock (Thiago Abreau)
5. bow and arrow choke (Malficine)
6. standing choke?? (G. Mendez)
7. arm in eziekiel (Lepri)
8. armlock (R. Viera)
9. ??? (Leo Nogiera)
10. triangle (Pe De Pano)
11. choke with own lapel (B. Fario)
12. flying armlock (X. Ribiero)
13. lapel choke from back (R. Viera)

Some great matches that did not end in submission where Leandro Lo vs Satoshi (sunday pt 3 11.33).  Lo used the spider guard to one-leg x guard position to the far side of the foot on bicept for some great sweeps.  He also used some great bullfighter passing.  Lucas Leite vs Sousa was a great back and fourth match with Lucas loosing on advantage but getting some points with his halfguard sweeps.  Victor Estima and Claudio Calasans was also won by an advantage.  Pe De Pano v M. Amieda was also a very exciting match.  M. Almieda got up at the beginning of the match but had to hang on at the end to keep the win after Pe De Pano got a sweep from closed guard and was working for the pass or back control. The leg pummeling position was very prevalent in the competition, as was the double guard pull.  All four of the matches above had leg pummeling and double guard pulls. 
Finals
There were 3 referees decisions.  Lo won by one advantage over Lepri.  Sousa beat Calisans by one negative point.  To me this indicates the need for some rules changes or some type of overtime proceedure such as freestyle and folkstyle wrestling has in place.  Also I do think that there needs to be some objective criteria for when a position is not going anywhere(stalemate in scholastic wrestling).  The official can then step in and break up the position. Of course this leave room for the official to have more influence on the outcome of matches, but, it may eliminate an outright referees decision in some cases.  It may also make the action better for fans. It also seems that there needs to be some clarification or rules change on how takedowns and pulling guard are called.
I found the heavier weights more entertaining this year for the first time in the 10 years I've been watching IBJJF tournaments.  Of course there have always been some great bigger guys such as Roger Gracie. Generally it seemed like they where more cautious and less dynamic.  This year the bigger guys where going after submissions and did not seem to employ as much inverted guard.  The inverted and 50/50 guards are legitimate position of course.  I do think that they become much more prevalent because of the current rules in ibjjf.


Techniques/positions that stood out for me

•  Caio Terra and Mendez brothers going underneath and getting a cross body type back control
• Lepri going from cross knee through the middle pass to back control or arm in eziekiel
• Lo's bullfight passing transitions
• Lo's spider gaurd sweep
• Seated De La Riva sweep/single leg.  Variations used by both Sousa and Barral.

Other great action that I think is worth rewatching when Budovideos does the replay and dvd's is Xande's flying armbar and M. Almieda's wristlock from mount to set up the regular armbar.  Also techniques that we've seen before but are worth noting are Victor Estima's inverted triangle and Lucas Leite's half guard sweeps in the earlier rounds.  We will try to post the times that these techniques come up on the Budovideos replay when it comes out.  Check back in.

Thank you to www.Budovideos.com for streaming the event.  I enjoyed watching from home in Pittsburgh this year.  Jiu jitsu is gaining a huge fan base partly thanks to your efforts.  The absolute match of R.Viera vs M. Almieda already has almost 500,000 views on youtube!

-Warren

www.renzograciepittsburgh.com