Saturday, September 26 12:28 pm PT: The phrase "moral victory" is always met with some skepticism in sports. You either win or you lose, and there's little to be said for "playing hard."
Weidman, a 25-year-old understudy of Matt Serra and Ray Longo, won the ADCC East Coast Trials to earn his berth to Barcelona. In the deep and talented 88-kilogram division, a dominant first-round points victory over Spaniard Daniel Tabera on Saturday assured the native New Yorker nothing but crowd hostility, and a quarter-final match-up against one of the best pound-for-pound grapplers in the world, Andre Galvao. Yet, in spite of the gulf in submission experience, the BJJ purple belt was sensational against one of the world's best black belts.
Saturday, September 26 9:50 am PT: His UFC tenure, and his MMA career for that matter, may not be anything to write home about. However, Vinny Magalhaes did come through with the most sensational and shocking moment of the first day on the mats in Barcelona.
The TUF 8 alum turned in a strong performance in his opening round bout, leglocking Rodrigo "Cavaca" Henriques. However, coming into his 99-kilogram quarter-final against Marcio "Pe De Pano" Cruz, he was a considerable underdog and it was unclear how exactly Magalhaes would go about exploiting the 2003 divisional champ.
Saturday, September 26 9:37 am PT: He may have been focused on MMA, and not competitive grappling. He may have taken the bout on just two weeks notice. However, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza was victorious nonetheless as the Manaus native wrapped up the first day of Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling Championships 2009 in Barcelona with a 2-0 points win over 2007 ADCC absolute division champ Robert Drysdale.
Jacare, the 2005 ADCC under-88-kilogram division winner, stepped into the superfight slot earlier this month after grappling all-star Roger Gracie announced that a case of the mumps would force him from taking on Drysdale in Spain. Souza was previously training for his next MMA bout, where he'll make his Strikeforce debut on Nov. 7 on the Fedor Emelianenko-Brett Rogers undercard.
Saturday, September 26 8:25 am PT: The 2009 edition of ADCC is now just about half over. Though there were a few notable upsets across the seven divisions, the final fours in each weight bracket are largely those that you would expect.
In the men's 99-kilogram-and-over category, 2007 divisional champion Fabricio Werdum was clinical, tapping Rogent Lloret with a kimura in the first round before beating Tomasz Janiszewski 3-0 on points to earn his spot on Sunday. BJJ legend Saulo Ribeiro -- typically an 88-kilogram competitor -- outpointed Koji Kanechika and Romulo Barral to advance, while 2005 divisional champ Jeff Monson did likewise, grounding Karol Bedorf and Janne-Pekka Peitilainen. Also advancing to Sunday was Roberto "Cyborg" Abreu, who bested Tom DeBlass and Asa Fuller on points.
Saturday, September 26 8:00 am PT: Although Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos' vicious in-cage fighting style has already made her a fan favorite, and her August smashing of Gina Carano gained her plenty of additional attention (plus this trip to Barcelona), the 24-year-old's ground game still has a ways to go.
Though she holds a jiu-jitsu purple belt under Cristiano Marcello, Cyborg's opening round bout in the over-60-kilogram category against Ida Hansson, the weakest competitor in the bracket, showed the obvious room for improvement in her grappling game. Despite being far physically superior to Hansson, and Hansson being forced to hold a lukewarm half guard, Santos failed to pass guard cleanly during the 10-minute regulation period, even after her size and strength had all but evaporated her opponent.
Los Angeles Times writer Lance Pugmire with the early-weekend bombshell: Dana White told Pugmire that he’s gotten verbal commitments from both Vitor Belfort and Anderson Silva for the two to face off in honor of Silva’s middleweight title in Las Vegas on Jan. 2.
It’s a big fight for a big holiday weekend, and Belfort may be the most compelling style match for the champion in the UFC to date -- but it comes at the expense of both Nate Marquardt and Dan Henderson, who have both been toiling in pursuit of another shot at Silva. Marquardt told Real Fighter magazine this week it would be ”messed up” if Belfort leapfrogged over him, “but whatever. I’ll probably end up fighting all three of those guys one day anyway. … I’ll be happy if they give me Henderson.”
Belfort may not be the rightful crusader here (though he did finish Rich Franklin when Henderson couldn’t), but if he’s on his game and swollen with the kind of humility/quiet confidence cocktail that’s gotten him past Matt Lindland and very nearly into a fight with Fedor Emelianenko, he might make something out of it.
Saturday's action will be headlined by the ADCC 2009 superfight between 2005 ADCC 87-kilogram division winner and absolute division runner-up Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, who steps in for an injured Roger Gracie to take on 2007 absolute division champion Robert Drysdale.
Tournament brackets are available at adccbarcelona.com, and a two-day stream and video-on-demand service is available here. But, just in case you've got other plans, Sherdog.com will have you covered with extensive blogging of the biennial submission event.
