Hey I don't know how many guys follow BJJ or just grappling, so this thread might get 0 views and 0 replies, but I figured it was significant enough to make a thread because the ADCC's history is tightly interwoven with MMA history. ADCC is the most prestigious event in BJJ/Sub grappling, and a successful ADCC career is an excellent predictor of future success in MMA for those guys who make that switch. Just consider the ADCC medalists who had successful MMA careers: Demian Maia, Jacare Souza, Renzo Gracie, Roger Gracie, Mark Kerr, Ricardo Arona, Dean Lister, Fabricio Werdum, Vinnie Magalhaes. And now guys like Garry Tonon, Kron Gracie, and Gilberto Burns are the new generation of ADCC stars whose careers are taking off. Rodolfo Viera too. I'll be watching Lucas Lepri closely this year. He has two previous silver medals. If he nets a gold, he's in the GOAT conversation for bjj, considering he has 6 gold medals at the Mundials, but two no-gi world title at bb. Meanwhile, newcomer Kaynan Duarte may be another GOAT contender in a decade. He has already enjoyed the greatest conquest of any first year blackbelt ever; if he wins ADCC in his 1st year that would be beyond belief. Obviously the Ryan brothers, Nicky and Gordon are two key figures. I'll be bummed if we don't see Gordon rematch Vinnie Magaelhaes along the way. I wonder whether this is the time 'Buchecha' finally wins the ADCC absolute, and I am stoked to see how Adam Wardzinki's unstoppable butterfly guard translates to no-gi. And the 88 kg. category is wide-open without Gordon and Keenan around; it's basically a four way split between Mateus Diniz, Murilo Santana, Josh Hinger, and Craig Jones.
Update: two major contenders are out. Keenan Cornelius is out due to (no joke) Pink Eye. Too bad, a rematch of his old classic with Vinnie would have been fun. JG Rocha is out as well. He recently beat Buchecha in the gi. I was hoping to see how his successful IBJJF oriented style would mix with the guys who dominate ADCC. Neither guy was a favorite to win gold, but both would have been likely candidates to at least end up on the podium. Particularly Keenan.
Crazy day in Day 1: Nicky Rodriguez improbably beats a former BB world champion (in the gi) Mahamad Aly and then beats former ADCC champ Orlando Sanchez. Wow! Meanwhile his team mates Oliver Taza and Nicky Ryan are both eliminated while Garry Tonon and Gordon Ryan advance. Gordon smoked both opponents and will probably torture Lucas Barboza on his way to the finals, although word on the street is that he's suffering from food poisoning. Tonon as a tough match with JT Torres, who beat him last time. But Garry avenged a previous loss to Renato Canuto today, so maybe this is his weekend to shine. Lucas Lepri was upset by Dante Leon. Good for Leon, who is another midwestern guy like myself (trains in Toledo Ohio). Although Leon doesn't have anywhere near the plaudit of Lepri, who has a ton of world championship under his belt, he has been winning a lot of superfights and he is clearly a threat to all of the remaining contenders at 77. Augusto 'Tanquinho' Mendes has never gotten his MMA career really going, but his BJJ is as brilliant as ever. I think either he or Miyao will be the champ tomorrow. Buchecha, improbably, has a major test on his hands against Kaynan Duarte. As I mentioned above, Kaynan's first year campaign at blackbelt was the greatest ever: winning his first two matches at ADCC cemented that. But if he beats Buchecha and makes his way to win gold, that would be something beyond all belief. We would have to start preparing a spot for him in the GOAT discussion alongside Roger Gracie, Marcelo Garcia, and Rafael Mendes.
Closing Thoughts: * Gordon Ryan proves he is the 'King' by claiming double gold, winning almost every match with breath-taking ease. Hulk and Buchecha only survived by stalling, and Hulk only had about 20 seconds left to live at the end of that one. Best ADCC run ever? No, Roger Gracie in 2005 is still better, and not just because Roger submitted everyone. Roger also beat a better list of opponents: Xande Ribeiro (X2), Jacare, Cacareco, Werdum, and Eduardo Telles. Gordon had a pretty easy route to his absolute title, Buchecha notwithstanding. * Other DDS member Garry Tonon looked great. His cup is overflowing now, given his success in MMA, and now his best ADCC performance: 3-1 at 77kg and 1-1 in the absolute, with a breath-taking submission over Edwin Najimi * Hats off to Bianca Basilio claiming the women's championship. Basilio has been Esteban DeJesus to Beatrix Mesquita's Roberto Duran for half a decade now, except unlike DeJesus, Bianca has been winless. But at this tournament Mesquita get's submitted by Ffion Davies in a historic upset, and Basilio claims the Gold by virtually amputating Davies' leg with a NASTY toe hold. Enjoy it while you can Bianca; you'll probably go back to routinely losing to Mesquita again soon. * Historic stuff from Kaynan Duarte winning his weight class in his first year at black belt, but he probably wishes he sat the absolute out, since getting heel-hooked by Lachlan Giles has generated 10 times the press attention that he got from beating Yuri Simoes and Buchecha in the same tournament. * Is Buchecha slowing down a little? He failed to take 1st place in his weight and the absolute. He didn't look like himself. He also lost a match to his old rival, JG Rocha in the gi. Maybe the facade of unbeatability is coming down.
Nice write ups mate ,it looks like there was a couple of big upsets there to go with outstanding performances from the likes of Gordon Ryan coming back from knee surgery 7 months ago to submit just about everybody to win double gold and prove once again why he's 1 of the best to ever do it. i followed luke thomas on twitter who was giving up to date results and saw some highlights but wouldn't mind seeing some of those matches in full
Yeah there were plenty of matches worth watching. The funny thing about ADCC is that half of the matches are outstanding and dramatic displays of elite grappling, while the other half (usually high weight divisions) are just collar-tie / pushing contests where the opponents shove each other around the match, both too afraid to shoot for a take down or pull guard. Imagine if there was a weekend long boxing extravaganza where half of the fights were as dramatic as Barrera vs. Kennedy McKinney, but the other half of the fights were like John Ruiz vs. Fres Oquendo. That's ADCC. One more note on Gordon Ryan. I'm almost sad that he won double gold, because he'll probably just be doing super-fights as he transitions to MMA. That bums me out, because he has been a lot of fun to watch as he chews his way through the brackets. There's something to watching him beat one world class grappler after another with ease back to back to back that a super fight just can't capture. After Dean Lister won the absolute in 2003 I'm pretty sure he did a superfight in 2005 against JJ Machado, but I think he also entered his bracket at his weight class (ultimately losing). I hope Gordon does that in 2021: competes at 99 kgs but also meets Galvao in the superfight. He's just the guy to be crazy enough to do both.
