USA Grappling welcomed the 2° World Championship in Gi and No-Gi in the sunny city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from 11 to 13 December 2009. The No-Gi competition was dominated by a very strong US team that came well prepared for this challenge and won 11 gold medals out of the 13 available. In 60kg, Matt Betzold created a stirr by making his way up to the final with only one leg. After an impressive win over Brian Peterson (2008 bronze medallist), he was only stopped by Zachary Makovsky who finally won the category. The 66kg category was won by Tom Lecuyer (2008 bronze medallist) who had a narrow win against Dennis Prokopos, also from the US. The 74kg category was won by the French Nicolas Renier (2008 silver medallist) who managed impressive wins with his arsenal of unusual techniques. Nicolas Renier faced in the final the Swede Christian Sandberg who defeated strong opponents such as Ian McAlpine, Michael Kelly, and the Swiss Peter Mettler. In 84kg, last year's World Champion, Jakob Volkman, faced one of the strongest opponents of the tournament, Ben Askren, who outwrestled him and won the gold in the category. 96kg was another strong category with last year's gold medallist, Raphael Davis, who faced stiff competition with the Spanish Jose Rodenas, but finally got his second title as World Champion. The 120kg category was again an all-American triumph with Brandon Ruiz (2008 silver medallist) who lost in overtime against Kelly Anundson. Anundson then went to his second title in the Open division. To be noted the bronze medal won by the Serbian Aleksander Rajacic, one of the lightest grapplers in the Open division with only 74kg.

 

As usual, the female divisions showed great talent and were not short of surprises. A particular pleasure for the eyes was the 15-year old Tammi Musumeci in 50kg who managed to win against last year's World Champion, Lisa Ward, but then lost to Sam Steward and Felicia Oh who finally got the gold. The 55kg category was dominated by the 2008 World Champion from France, Laurence Fouillat, who walked through the competition undefeated. The silver went to Stephanie Murata and the bronze to Bahar Shahidi, both from the US. In 59kg, Jessica Aguilar from the US came to a solid win, followed by her teammate Tara Larosa and Sonja Räber from Switzerland. In 63kg, the 2008 World Champion from Canada, Sheila Bird, did not perform her personal best, but still won the bronze medal behind Sara McMann and Shayna Baszler, both from Team USA. Also not performing her best was Miesha Tate who ended up fourth after winning the silver medal at last year's Worlds. In 67kg, the dominant force of last year, the French Romy Ruyssen, had a tough tournament and lost the title against Tori Adams who performed really well throughout the tournament. Tori Adams then won her second title relatively easily in the Open division with Romy Ruyssen and Karolina Zawonik who both pulled out in order to prepare for the upcoming Gi competition. 

 

In the Gi division, the rest of the world could finally compete against the dominating force of US grapplers. Brazil got 5 gold medals, USA 3, and Poland, France, Switzerland, and Canada 1. In 60kg, Brian Peterson could take his revenge over Matt Betzold and then win the final against his teammate Bruce Guevara. Peterson showed great technical skills and was a true pleasure to watch. In 66kg, UFC fighter Din Thomas won against the Swiss Roland Laritz and his teammate Tom Lecuyer and was only stopped in a very tactical final by Renato Tavarez from Brazil with a narrow victory of 1 to 0. A big surprise was the win of the young Peter Mettler from Switzerland in 74kg over Cole Miller, a UFC fighter from the American Top Team with great experience. The two fought an impressive final with Mettler leading by 2 points after 2 minutes and then getting caught in a triangle-armlock that he had to defend for almost 3 minutes. In 84kg, the Brazilian Gabriel Kitober left no chance to the French David Pierre Louis (2008 silver medallist) and won the final by 7 to 0. The 96kg division was won again by a Brazilian fighter, namely Rodrigo Medeiros, who won the final 5-2 over the European Champion, Johan Romming from France. The 120kg final saw the fourth consecutive win by a Brazilian fighter, Marcus Oliveira who won by 3 to 1 over the American Jarod Lawton. The Open division brought the fifth gold medal to the Brazilian team with a win of Ailton Azevdo over the Serbian Alksander Rajacic who once again showed his great skills by winning his second medal in the Open division. 

 

In the female 50kg division, Felicia Oh went for her second gold medal of the Championship against the super talented 15-year old Tammi Musumeci. In 55kg, Laurence Fouillat from France matched Felicia Oh and also won her second title, submitting the silver medallist Jeanette Rodriguez from the USA. The 59kg division was clearly won by Tara Larosa who scored 4-0 against her teammate Angelica Delgado. In 63kg, Sheila Bird got the gold by submitting Shayna Baszler from Team USA. The 67kg competition was very interesting with Karolina Zawonik from Poland beating Romy Ruyssen with a clear 4-0. Having lost against her the year before at the World Championship in Lucerne, that came as a particularly sweet win for the Polish grappler. Another comfortable win and a second gold medal went to Tara Larosa in the Open category. Download the complete results

 

View the full No-Gi Bronze and Gold Finals at the following link

View the full Gi Bronze and Gold Finals at the following link

 

Once again we witnessed superior grappling at this year's World Championship and we are looking forward to the future this fantastic sport is heading. We thank all the organizers and sponsors of the event and we are hoping to see all the top athletes at the next World Championship that will take place at the end of March 2010.