(PHOTO: Braulio lifting Jacare following his win)
Now that the 2009 ADCC Worlds are over the emphasis is switching to the DVDscoming out, the regional qualifiers, and even the 2011 ADCC Worlds. With the superfight the intent is to have theprevious superfight champion face the winner of the previous absolutedivision. This plan doesn’t always workhowever the replacements are always as interesting such as Jacare stepping upto face ’07 absolute winner Robert Drysdale this year. Assuming there are no complications the 2011superfight should be Jacare vs. Braulio Estima, the man who won not only theabsolute division this year but also the -88kg division.
Estima’s victory in the absolute division meant he won four matches facingJanne-Pekka Pletilainen, -77kg finalist Marcelo Garcia, -99 kg semi-finalistVinny Magalhaes, and finally -99 kg champion Xande Ribeiro or in other words twotop competitors from the next weight class up from Estima and one three-timedivision winner who was lighter but is used to the absolute division. This was in addition to Estima’s win in the-88 kg division which came by Yuji Araj and James Brasco on the first day thenRafael Lovato Jr. and Andre Galvao on the second not long before the absolutesstarted.
Estima’s opponent in the finals of the absolute division was Xande Ribeiro whobeing the -99 kg champion this weekend had an equal amount of matches. On day 1 Xande defeated Ilir Latif and RadekTurek while on day 2 Xande defeated Vinny Magalhaes and Gerardi Rinaldi to winhis weight class before defeating Ricco Rodriguez, Andre Galvao, and GunnarNelson in the absolute division.
A photo gallery from the absolutedivision is posted at http://malarky.udel.edu/~keith/2009/ADCC/ADCCabs.htm. Look for galleries from the individual weightclasses in the days to come.
