The 2007 Worlds is now over with stunning performances by many, especially two fighters, Roger Gracie and Rafael Lovato Jr. Roger in his fifth final, finally got his title of World Absolute Champion by submitting Romulo Barral. Roger has arguably been the best fighter in the World for the last few years but today was his coronation as detractors can no longer say "He never won the Absolute". With a performance fo rthe ages Roger repeated his tremendous showing of ADCC 2005 and won his weight and the absolute with a string of submission victories (except for Fernando Pontes). As he stood up from the mats he cursed and said FINALLY! Roger was elated: "This building has a lot of magic for me, it is incredible, after all the tries and the effort I now have it!"
The other major sory was also the coronation of Rafael Lovato Jr: When the question who is the best american Black Belt the answer today is unequivocally Lovato Jr as this year he won the Brazilian National titles and today he won the Super-Super Heavy in dramatic fashion over Luis "Big Mac" Teodoro. Lovato, behind on a single advantage the entire match managed to get an advantage for an attack to Teodoro’s arm as time ran out. The three referees agreed and awarded Lovato his advantage after action had stopped tying the score. It was then up to the referee’s decision, and the panel of 3 Brazilian referees gave the super tight match to Lovato! An emotional Lovato stated: "This makes up for all the bad decisions I have been on the short end of. Today Jiu-Jitsu won. Today my dream came true!"
Other winners were:
Rooster : Samuel Cruz
Super Feather: Robson Moura
Feather: Rubens "Cobrinha"
Light: Lucas Lepri
Medium: Lucas Leite and Andre Galvao shared (Leite got the gold medal)
Medium-Heavy: Romulo Barral
Heavy: Xande Ribeiro
Super- Heavy Roger Gracie
Super-Super Heavy: Rafael Lovato Jr
Ladies:
Super-Feather: Michele Nicolini
Feather: Laurence Cousin
Light: Hanette Quadros
Middle: Emily Kwok
Medium Heavy: Penny Thomas
Absolute: Michele Nicolini
Look for a more complete report tomorrow
