Thaispider
05-31-2010, 03:46 PM
Some quick stats & thoughts from me... (it goes without saying, FRAT warning).
This is the 15th Mundials of the modern era (1996 - ) and promises some of the best divisions we have seen in recent years and the opportunity for Xande or Roger to stake their claim as the greatest Modern BJJ player.
Some random Mundial stats to start us off:
*Roger has won 8 golds (6 weight and 2 absolute)
*Xande has won 6 golds (4 weight & 2 absolute).
*Saulo Ribeiro and Robson Moura have both won 5 golds at their weight.
*Royler Gracie, Fabio Gurgel, Roberto Magalhães (Roleta) & Rubens Charles (Cobrinha) won 4 golds at their weight.
*Robson Moura won his first black belt gold in 1997 and his most recent in 2007, the longest span in terms of first and last golds.
*Only 4 men have won 10 or more medals at Black Belt: Xande Ribeiro (10), Saulo Ribeiro (10), Comprido (10) and Roger (13)
*Roleta and Cobrinha have both won the Pan Ams and the Mundials 3 years in a row.
*Royler, Robson and Cobrinha have won their divisions 4 years in a row.
*Saulo won a different weight division 4 years in a row (1997 - 2000 Medio, Pesado, Meio Pesado, Super Pesado).
*Roger Gracie has been in his weight category final 6 years in a row, winning all 6.
*** The Divisions***
Competitors to date: http://www.ibjjf.org/checagemmundial2010.pdf
*** Black Adult Masculino - Galo ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Bruno Malfacine
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Bruno Malfacine
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Bruno Malfacine
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Bruno Malfacine
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: N/A
The Contenders?
A small field this year (pun intended), but some highly decorated grapplers none the less. The tale of the tape suggests that Bruno never learnt to share; hovering up golds at all the major competitions in the past year barring the World Pro Gi which he and many other Alliance fighters declined to enter. Terra, Pitel, Costa, Teixeira and Freitas (somehow cutting from his usual Pluma) will all be looking to the podium, but I don’t think any of them will have what it takes to take down Malfacine from his pedestal.
Random facts
*Malfacine will be going for his third Mundials gold, with Costa and Terra gunning for their second.
*Felipe Costa has five bronze medals in this division, only Comprido has more Black Belt bronze at the Mundials (six).
*** Black Adult Masculino - Pluma ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Guilherme Mendes
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Pablo Santos
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Holanda Vieira
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Guilherme Mendes
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: N/A
The Contenders?
A good supporting cast including Beleza, Yoshioka and Megaton (who has competed in every Mundials as a black belt) but this is likely to be a repeat of last year’s final between Mendes and Braga, hopefully without a repeat of Braga’s antics after the whistle, but probably with a repeat win for Guilherme
Random Facts
*Braga will be going for a third mundials title.
*If Guilherme wins this and Rafael wins Pena, they will join the Ribeiro brothers and the Correa brothers (aka Gordo & Gordinho) as world champion siblings, but they will be the first to have done it in the same year.
*** Black Adult Masculino - Pena ***
winner @ 2009 mundials: Rubens Charles Maciel
winner @ 2009 cbjje mundials: Mário Reis
winner @ 2010 pan ams: Rubens Charles Maciel
winner @ 2010 brasilieros: Rafael Mendes
winner @ 2010 world pro gi: Rafael Mendes
The Contenders?
Is anyone going to bet against a Mendes/Cobrinha final? I’m sure Hall, Reis, Canal, Willcox and a couple of others would like to throw their hands up, but I think they will all be competing for bronze with the 2 best Pena grapplers since Royler in this division. Cobrinha has stated he may retire from competition this year; Mendes may just go on to be the one to surpass Royler and Cobrinha’s record of 4 Pena Gold in a row.
Random facts
*If Cobrinha wins this year, he makes it 5 Mundial Golds in a row in the same division, a new record.
Mario Reis has medaled at black belt each of the last seven years, but will be hoping he can add to his 2 golds from 2003 and 2004.
*Cobrinha has won the mundials and pan ams in the same year, 3 years in a row – if he wins this mundials, it will be 4 in a row, a new record.
*With Braulio injured, Xande & Mendes are the only people who could potentially be reigning ADCC and Mundials champions after this Mundials.
*Gabriel Willcox is the lightest person to ever win his weight (Pena) and the absolute at an IBJJF Black Belt competition (2006 Masters & Seniors).
*** Black Adult Masculino - Leve ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Michael Langhi
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Claudio Cardoso
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Michael Langhi
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Gilbert Burns
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: Gilbert Burns
The Contenders?
This division is pretty open and probably the deepest in this Mundials, with, Vinicius, Langhi & Lepri, Gurgel, Frazatto & Durinho, Barbosa, JT Torres & Eliaquim (and maybe one or two others) all no doubt confident of medalling. Depending on the brackets, I would expect to see Langhi & Lepri, Durinho and Celsinho in the semi finals. Torres must have had a big confidence boost after recently submitting Lepri, but Durinho or Langhi may still be too big an ask at this stage of his young yet already accomplished career. I think Durinho may just take this one.
Random facts
*Celsinho will be looking to make it four mundial black belt golds.
*** Black Adult Masculino - Medio ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Marcelo Garcia
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Luis Gustavo
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Kayron Gracie
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Murilo Santana
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: Claudio Calasans
The Contenders?
With three reigning or former champions, probably the deepest field in Medio for a while - Barbosa, Santana, Garcia, Cooper, Fin-Fou, Calasans, Leite, Kayron, Moraes and Luis Gustavo all understandably thinking they will go home with a medal. Calasans will be confident after beating Braulio twice in both finals at the recent World Pro Gi tournament, Kayron and Murilo will similarly be boosted by recent tournament success, but with the presence of the greatest middleweight player since Terere, they will have to do the unthinkable and beat him to claim gold. Marcelo has not lost at his weight in these championships since 2003 (only Roger has beaten him since then).
I’m going to go for the upset and say that Marcelo won’t win this year, with Calasans as my pick.
Regardless of who gets there; let’s hope we don’t see paper, scissors stone in the final this year.
Random facts
*Garcia is going for his fourth Mundials Black Belt Gold.
*If Kayron, Kron (or the newly promoted Clark) medaled, they would be the only Gracie other than Roger to have done so at Black Belt at the Mundials since Royler in 2000.
*** Black Adult Masculino - Meio-Pesado ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Romulo Barral
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Evandro Pena
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Otavio Sousa
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Tarsis Humphreys
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: N/A
The Contenders?
Although a large field at more than 40 strong, this division seems to lack some of the depth and star power of the last 5 or 6 years. Tarsis and Barral must be considered favourites to make the final (with Barral my pick to win), with Telles, Guto Campos, and Otavio Souza likely to figure in contention for bronze. Aside from those 5 men, no names really jump out as being in serious contention for the title.
Random Facts
*Romulo will be going for his 3rd gold in this division and must fancy his chances in the absolute as well, with two silvers from the past 3 Mundials.
* Barral is the only man in this field to have taken gold previously.
*** Black Adult Masculino - Pesado ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Braulio Estima
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Fabiano Junior
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Bernardo Faria
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Alexandre Ceconi
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: Alexandre Ceconi
The Contenders?
Even with reigning champion Braulio out with injury, this is set to be a compelling division. Faria’s confidence must be sky high after a series of golds this year, including double gold at the Brasilieros, but even without mentioning Ceconi, Lovato, Pinheiro or Xande Souza, the not insignificant obstacle of one of the 2 best BJJ fighters of the last decade will stand in his way. Having missed last year and seen Roger match his feat of 2 double golds, Xande will be keen to surpass him here and become the first man to secure 3 double golds at the Mundials. One would expect Xande to win this, but it won’t be easy, and with Xande away from Gi competition since 2008, a tough bracket and Ceconi on a tear recently, an upset is not impossible.
Diniz and Nino, whilst talented, are surely undersized for this division.
Random facts
*Xande Ribeiro will be gunning for his 7th (and 8th) black belt gold at these championships.
*Xande has only lost a weight category final once in the past , in 2005 when he went up to Super Pesado to face Roger twice in those championships.
*Despite the experienced field, the only other man in this field to have won black belt gold is Xande’s teammate, Rafael Lovato Jr.
*** Black Adult Masculino - Super-Pesado ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Roger Gracie
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Thiago Gaia
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Antonio Braga Neto
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Thiago Gaia
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: Ricardo Demente
The Contenders?
How do you solve a problem like Roger? With 9 submissions from 9 matches and two golds (a parallel feat to his 2005 ADCC run), only the wildest optimist in this division can visualize themselves beating him. Traditional Super Pesado campaigners such as Tozi and Braga Neto have gone to Pesadissimo, but this is still reasonably sized field. Ricardo “Demente” is probably most likely of the others to make the final, but the only Dark Horse in this field seemingly is Andrew Dudderar’s team name.
Random facts
*Roger has won this division 5 times, winning every final by submission.
*Double gold here would see Roger become the first man to achieve this feat 3 times and would take his Black Belt medal haul to 10 gold and 5 Silver.
*** Black Adult Masculino - Pesadissimo ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Gabriel Vella
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Cláudio Godoy
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Gabriel Vella de Freitas
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Rodrigo Cavaca
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: N/A
The Contenders?
The presence of Peinado, Cavaca, Braga Neto, Abreu, Big Mac, Vella, Tozi, Pe de Pano and Corleta contrives to make this one of the more compelling Ultra Heavy Mundials of recent years. One suspects at least a couple of entrants would have been more comfortable at Super Pesado, but fancy their chances at the higher weight rather than becoming an addition to Roger’s highlight reel. Pe De Pano has taken a lot of time away from the gi in recent years, his last major wins being gold at the 2009 European championships and double gold at the 2005 Pan Ams, but one cannot discount the experience that “old hands” like he and Corleta have. I would expect to see Pe De Pano, Braga Neto, Vella and Big Mac make the semis.
Random facts
Pe De Pano will be going for his 4th (& potentially 5th) Black Belt Gold. He is the only Ultra Heavy fighter to have won the Absolute and 1 (or even 2) more gold at this mundials would cement his place as the pre-eminent Pesadissimo fighter of the last decade.
*** Absolute ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Roger Gracie
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Mario Reis
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Bernardo Faria
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Bernardo Farias
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: Claudio Calasans
The Contenders?
It would be easy to see this as a straight two horse race and send everyone bar Roger and Xande home, but whilst Roger seemingly has a permanent berth in the final booked (7 finals in 7 years), Xande has sometimes been taken out in the semis (by Barral in 2007, Braulio in 2005 and Jacare in 2004). With some serious competition this year I don’t think anyone can definitively pick this one. If Roger and Xande face off, one can only assume Roger will not try to fight Xande with Judo for the first 9 minutes as in 2008. Let's not forget that Pe De Pano will also be looking for a third Absolute gold, a final against Roger would allow the latter his first opportunity for revenge since their 2003 Absolute Final.
Random facts
*Xande Ribeiro, Amauri Bitetti, Marcio Cruz (Pe de Pano), Rodrigo Medeiros (Comprido), Roger Gracie, & Ronaldo Souza (Jacare) have all won the Absolute division twice.
*Margarida (2001), Pe de Pano (2002) & Jacare (2005) have won their weight division and the absolute in the same year (Jacare couldn't contest the Meio Pesado final in 2004).
*Xande (2006, 2008) & Roger (2007, 2009) have won their weight and the absolute in the same year twice.
*Roger Gracie has been in the absolute final 7 years in a row, winning 2.
The Absolute winners to date
1996 Amauri Bitetti (Meio Pesado)
1997 Amauri Bitetti (Meio Pesado)
1998 Jose Mario Sperry (Super Pesado)
1999 Rodrigo Medeiros (Pesado)
2000 Rodrigo Medeiros (Pesado)
2001 Fernando Pontes (Pesado)
2002 Marcio Cruz (Pesadissimo)
2003 Marcio Cruz (Pesadissimo)
2004 Ronaldo Souza (Meio Pesado)
2005 Ronaldo Souza (Meio Pesado)
2006 Xande Ribeiro (Pesado)
2007 Roger Gracie (Super Pesado)
2008 Xande Ribeiro (Pesado)
2009 Roger Gracie (Super Pesado)
2010 ?
not my work guys , a very cool member over at efn forum posted this and i thought it was a really interesting read.
the guy is like a BJJ statistic whizz.
i got the mendes bro's taking there divisions, malficine taking his, and either roger, xande or baraga neto for the absolute, although de pano will be in the mix.
This is the 15th Mundials of the modern era (1996 - ) and promises some of the best divisions we have seen in recent years and the opportunity for Xande or Roger to stake their claim as the greatest Modern BJJ player.
Some random Mundial stats to start us off:
*Roger has won 8 golds (6 weight and 2 absolute)
*Xande has won 6 golds (4 weight & 2 absolute).
*Saulo Ribeiro and Robson Moura have both won 5 golds at their weight.
*Royler Gracie, Fabio Gurgel, Roberto Magalhães (Roleta) & Rubens Charles (Cobrinha) won 4 golds at their weight.
*Robson Moura won his first black belt gold in 1997 and his most recent in 2007, the longest span in terms of first and last golds.
*Only 4 men have won 10 or more medals at Black Belt: Xande Ribeiro (10), Saulo Ribeiro (10), Comprido (10) and Roger (13)
*Roleta and Cobrinha have both won the Pan Ams and the Mundials 3 years in a row.
*Royler, Robson and Cobrinha have won their divisions 4 years in a row.
*Saulo won a different weight division 4 years in a row (1997 - 2000 Medio, Pesado, Meio Pesado, Super Pesado).
*Roger Gracie has been in his weight category final 6 years in a row, winning all 6.
*** The Divisions***
Competitors to date: http://www.ibjjf.org/checagemmundial2010.pdf
*** Black Adult Masculino - Galo ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Bruno Malfacine
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Bruno Malfacine
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Bruno Malfacine
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Bruno Malfacine
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: N/A
The Contenders?
A small field this year (pun intended), but some highly decorated grapplers none the less. The tale of the tape suggests that Bruno never learnt to share; hovering up golds at all the major competitions in the past year barring the World Pro Gi which he and many other Alliance fighters declined to enter. Terra, Pitel, Costa, Teixeira and Freitas (somehow cutting from his usual Pluma) will all be looking to the podium, but I don’t think any of them will have what it takes to take down Malfacine from his pedestal.
Random facts
*Malfacine will be going for his third Mundials gold, with Costa and Terra gunning for their second.
*Felipe Costa has five bronze medals in this division, only Comprido has more Black Belt bronze at the Mundials (six).
*** Black Adult Masculino - Pluma ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Guilherme Mendes
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Pablo Santos
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Holanda Vieira
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Guilherme Mendes
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: N/A
The Contenders?
A good supporting cast including Beleza, Yoshioka and Megaton (who has competed in every Mundials as a black belt) but this is likely to be a repeat of last year’s final between Mendes and Braga, hopefully without a repeat of Braga’s antics after the whistle, but probably with a repeat win for Guilherme
Random Facts
*Braga will be going for a third mundials title.
*If Guilherme wins this and Rafael wins Pena, they will join the Ribeiro brothers and the Correa brothers (aka Gordo & Gordinho) as world champion siblings, but they will be the first to have done it in the same year.
*** Black Adult Masculino - Pena ***
winner @ 2009 mundials: Rubens Charles Maciel
winner @ 2009 cbjje mundials: Mário Reis
winner @ 2010 pan ams: Rubens Charles Maciel
winner @ 2010 brasilieros: Rafael Mendes
winner @ 2010 world pro gi: Rafael Mendes
The Contenders?
Is anyone going to bet against a Mendes/Cobrinha final? I’m sure Hall, Reis, Canal, Willcox and a couple of others would like to throw their hands up, but I think they will all be competing for bronze with the 2 best Pena grapplers since Royler in this division. Cobrinha has stated he may retire from competition this year; Mendes may just go on to be the one to surpass Royler and Cobrinha’s record of 4 Pena Gold in a row.
Random facts
*If Cobrinha wins this year, he makes it 5 Mundial Golds in a row in the same division, a new record.
Mario Reis has medaled at black belt each of the last seven years, but will be hoping he can add to his 2 golds from 2003 and 2004.
*Cobrinha has won the mundials and pan ams in the same year, 3 years in a row – if he wins this mundials, it will be 4 in a row, a new record.
*With Braulio injured, Xande & Mendes are the only people who could potentially be reigning ADCC and Mundials champions after this Mundials.
*Gabriel Willcox is the lightest person to ever win his weight (Pena) and the absolute at an IBJJF Black Belt competition (2006 Masters & Seniors).
*** Black Adult Masculino - Leve ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Michael Langhi
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Claudio Cardoso
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Michael Langhi
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Gilbert Burns
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: Gilbert Burns
The Contenders?
This division is pretty open and probably the deepest in this Mundials, with, Vinicius, Langhi & Lepri, Gurgel, Frazatto & Durinho, Barbosa, JT Torres & Eliaquim (and maybe one or two others) all no doubt confident of medalling. Depending on the brackets, I would expect to see Langhi & Lepri, Durinho and Celsinho in the semi finals. Torres must have had a big confidence boost after recently submitting Lepri, but Durinho or Langhi may still be too big an ask at this stage of his young yet already accomplished career. I think Durinho may just take this one.
Random facts
*Celsinho will be looking to make it four mundial black belt golds.
*** Black Adult Masculino - Medio ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Marcelo Garcia
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Luis Gustavo
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Kayron Gracie
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Murilo Santana
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: Claudio Calasans
The Contenders?
With three reigning or former champions, probably the deepest field in Medio for a while - Barbosa, Santana, Garcia, Cooper, Fin-Fou, Calasans, Leite, Kayron, Moraes and Luis Gustavo all understandably thinking they will go home with a medal. Calasans will be confident after beating Braulio twice in both finals at the recent World Pro Gi tournament, Kayron and Murilo will similarly be boosted by recent tournament success, but with the presence of the greatest middleweight player since Terere, they will have to do the unthinkable and beat him to claim gold. Marcelo has not lost at his weight in these championships since 2003 (only Roger has beaten him since then).
I’m going to go for the upset and say that Marcelo won’t win this year, with Calasans as my pick.
Regardless of who gets there; let’s hope we don’t see paper, scissors stone in the final this year.
Random facts
*Garcia is going for his fourth Mundials Black Belt Gold.
*If Kayron, Kron (or the newly promoted Clark) medaled, they would be the only Gracie other than Roger to have done so at Black Belt at the Mundials since Royler in 2000.
*** Black Adult Masculino - Meio-Pesado ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Romulo Barral
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Evandro Pena
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Otavio Sousa
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Tarsis Humphreys
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: N/A
The Contenders?
Although a large field at more than 40 strong, this division seems to lack some of the depth and star power of the last 5 or 6 years. Tarsis and Barral must be considered favourites to make the final (with Barral my pick to win), with Telles, Guto Campos, and Otavio Souza likely to figure in contention for bronze. Aside from those 5 men, no names really jump out as being in serious contention for the title.
Random Facts
*Romulo will be going for his 3rd gold in this division and must fancy his chances in the absolute as well, with two silvers from the past 3 Mundials.
* Barral is the only man in this field to have taken gold previously.
*** Black Adult Masculino - Pesado ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Braulio Estima
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Fabiano Junior
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Bernardo Faria
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Alexandre Ceconi
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: Alexandre Ceconi
The Contenders?
Even with reigning champion Braulio out with injury, this is set to be a compelling division. Faria’s confidence must be sky high after a series of golds this year, including double gold at the Brasilieros, but even without mentioning Ceconi, Lovato, Pinheiro or Xande Souza, the not insignificant obstacle of one of the 2 best BJJ fighters of the last decade will stand in his way. Having missed last year and seen Roger match his feat of 2 double golds, Xande will be keen to surpass him here and become the first man to secure 3 double golds at the Mundials. One would expect Xande to win this, but it won’t be easy, and with Xande away from Gi competition since 2008, a tough bracket and Ceconi on a tear recently, an upset is not impossible.
Diniz and Nino, whilst talented, are surely undersized for this division.
Random facts
*Xande Ribeiro will be gunning for his 7th (and 8th) black belt gold at these championships.
*Xande has only lost a weight category final once in the past , in 2005 when he went up to Super Pesado to face Roger twice in those championships.
*Despite the experienced field, the only other man in this field to have won black belt gold is Xande’s teammate, Rafael Lovato Jr.
*** Black Adult Masculino - Super-Pesado ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Roger Gracie
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Thiago Gaia
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Antonio Braga Neto
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Thiago Gaia
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: Ricardo Demente
The Contenders?
How do you solve a problem like Roger? With 9 submissions from 9 matches and two golds (a parallel feat to his 2005 ADCC run), only the wildest optimist in this division can visualize themselves beating him. Traditional Super Pesado campaigners such as Tozi and Braga Neto have gone to Pesadissimo, but this is still reasonably sized field. Ricardo “Demente” is probably most likely of the others to make the final, but the only Dark Horse in this field seemingly is Andrew Dudderar’s team name.
Random facts
*Roger has won this division 5 times, winning every final by submission.
*Double gold here would see Roger become the first man to achieve this feat 3 times and would take his Black Belt medal haul to 10 gold and 5 Silver.
*** Black Adult Masculino - Pesadissimo ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Gabriel Vella
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Cláudio Godoy
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Gabriel Vella de Freitas
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Rodrigo Cavaca
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: N/A
The Contenders?
The presence of Peinado, Cavaca, Braga Neto, Abreu, Big Mac, Vella, Tozi, Pe de Pano and Corleta contrives to make this one of the more compelling Ultra Heavy Mundials of recent years. One suspects at least a couple of entrants would have been more comfortable at Super Pesado, but fancy their chances at the higher weight rather than becoming an addition to Roger’s highlight reel. Pe De Pano has taken a lot of time away from the gi in recent years, his last major wins being gold at the 2009 European championships and double gold at the 2005 Pan Ams, but one cannot discount the experience that “old hands” like he and Corleta have. I would expect to see Pe De Pano, Braga Neto, Vella and Big Mac make the semis.
Random facts
Pe De Pano will be going for his 4th (& potentially 5th) Black Belt Gold. He is the only Ultra Heavy fighter to have won the Absolute and 1 (or even 2) more gold at this mundials would cement his place as the pre-eminent Pesadissimo fighter of the last decade.
*** Absolute ***
Winner @ 2009 Mundials: Roger Gracie
Winner @ 2009 CBJJE Mundials: Mario Reis
Winner @ 2010 Pan Ams: Bernardo Faria
Winner @ 2010 Brasilieros: Bernardo Farias
Winner @ 2010 World Pro Gi: Claudio Calasans
The Contenders?
It would be easy to see this as a straight two horse race and send everyone bar Roger and Xande home, but whilst Roger seemingly has a permanent berth in the final booked (7 finals in 7 years), Xande has sometimes been taken out in the semis (by Barral in 2007, Braulio in 2005 and Jacare in 2004). With some serious competition this year I don’t think anyone can definitively pick this one. If Roger and Xande face off, one can only assume Roger will not try to fight Xande with Judo for the first 9 minutes as in 2008. Let's not forget that Pe De Pano will also be looking for a third Absolute gold, a final against Roger would allow the latter his first opportunity for revenge since their 2003 Absolute Final.
Random facts
*Xande Ribeiro, Amauri Bitetti, Marcio Cruz (Pe de Pano), Rodrigo Medeiros (Comprido), Roger Gracie, & Ronaldo Souza (Jacare) have all won the Absolute division twice.
*Margarida (2001), Pe de Pano (2002) & Jacare (2005) have won their weight division and the absolute in the same year (Jacare couldn't contest the Meio Pesado final in 2004).
*Xande (2006, 2008) & Roger (2007, 2009) have won their weight and the absolute in the same year twice.
*Roger Gracie has been in the absolute final 7 years in a row, winning 2.
The Absolute winners to date
1996 Amauri Bitetti (Meio Pesado)
1997 Amauri Bitetti (Meio Pesado)
1998 Jose Mario Sperry (Super Pesado)
1999 Rodrigo Medeiros (Pesado)
2000 Rodrigo Medeiros (Pesado)
2001 Fernando Pontes (Pesado)
2002 Marcio Cruz (Pesadissimo)
2003 Marcio Cruz (Pesadissimo)
2004 Ronaldo Souza (Meio Pesado)
2005 Ronaldo Souza (Meio Pesado)
2006 Xande Ribeiro (Pesado)
2007 Roger Gracie (Super Pesado)
2008 Xande Ribeiro (Pesado)
2009 Roger Gracie (Super Pesado)
2010 ?
not my work guys , a very cool member over at efn forum posted this and i thought it was a really interesting read.
the guy is like a BJJ statistic whizz.
i got the mendes bro's taking there divisions, malficine taking his, and either roger, xande or baraga neto for the absolute, although de pano will be in the mix.