ABU DHABI // Jose Junior believes the battle for the Jiu-Jitsu World No 1 title will go down to the wire after both he and Gabriel Arges, the top two vying for that honour, emerged winners at the Grand Slam Abu Dhabi, which ended on Saturday.
Junior, the Abu Dhabi based Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor, won the black belt 110kg final to take his tally to 970 points after Arges struck gold in the black belt 85kg competition earlier to stretch his own respective tally to 1,070.
“I say that because we are competing in similar ranking competitions and in two different weight categories,” said Junior of his rivalry with Arges going the full season before a winner is crowned.
“I can only hope he would drop some points which could improve my chances.”
Junior and Arges will both be heading to the Brazilian National Championship next as well as take part in a few ranking events before the Grand Slam London in March.
The finale to the season is back in the UAE in April in the shape of the Abu Dhabi World Professional Cup.
“The Abu Dhabi World Pro carries 400 ranking points to the winner and this is what it will finally boil down to, as who would be crowned the World No. 1,” said Junior after taking the final from Jiddu Lemos by kimura lock to force a submission.
Junior drew a first-round bye and got the better of Mauricio Henri in the semi-final to earn a final showdown with fellow Brazilian Lemos.
“Jiddu is a tough opponent,” said Junior. “He’s really good in take downs so I tried to avoid all the time when he tried to grab my legs.
“He almost did in the middle of the fight. But I got him towards the end.”
Arges came through two tough fights after drawing a first-round bye to win the final from Matheus Souza by a choke in another all Brazilian final.
“I decided to push the pace from the onset,” said Arges of his tactical approach to the showdown with Souza. “I think I had better jiu-jitsu than him and didn’t want to take the fight until the end.”
Arges has no intention of taking his foot off the pedal, with the busy schedule ahead, given the pressure he is still under for the top spot from Junior.
“I want to maintain my No 1 spot,” he said.
“I will return to Brazil and plan to compete in many competitions, and then to take part in the Grand Slam London and return to Abu Dhabi to defend my World Pro title.”
Faisal Al Ketbi, competing in the same weight division (85kg) and aiming for a double gold after claiming the No-Gi (without the traditional kimono) final the previous night, made a second-round exit to the eventual runner up Souza.
However, his UAE national teammate Yahia Mansour Al Hammadi, continued with his gold-winning streak by completing a double in the brown belt 100kg Masters-1.
He overcame American Tyler Edworthy in the No-Gi final.
Nathiely Jesus Melo kept her No 1 position in the women’s division by taking the black belt 90kg from her Brazilian compatriot Venessa Do Nas, the victory achieved by submission.
apassela@thenational.ae
