Five Rematches That Need To Happen Right Away!
Five Rematches That Need To Happen Right Away!
Standout matches from the 2018 IBJJF European Championships that need to happen again!
Another year of the 2018 IBJJF European Championships has come and gone. The notoriously exciting tournament was chalk full of unexpected submissions, underdog upsets and some wildly exciting jiu-jitsu.
Being the first major tournament of the year the European Championships kicks off the gi season and sets the tone for the entire year of competition. And the indication is this is going to be one hell of a year.
With the whole year ahead of us let's take a quick look back at the best matches from the weekend and hope we get to see some of these again. These are the five rematches we can't wait to see again in 2018.
Erberth Santos vs Tommy Langaker
This may be the biggest moment of the European Championships and we're going to be talking about it all year. Erberth had the biggest year of his career in 2017 and looked like he was ready to steam roll through this tournament for an even bigger 2018. But no one told Tommy Langaker that he was suppose to lose. Coming out guns blazing and pushing Erberth to the brink from the moment they slapped hands not only was the submission the craziest of the tournament the match was pretty darn entertaining too!
Langaker is a brand new black belt who is already cementing himself within the black belt division and Erberth is coming into his own as a veteran black belt now running his own team of up and comers. These two are both on wildly different trajectories but boy would it be fun to see them collide once more!
Kaynan Duarte vs Victor Hugo
When it was all said and done the two men who stood atop the brown belt ranks were Ribeiro Bros’ Victor Hugo and Atos’ Kaynan Duarte. These two proved to be the ones to beat last year at purple belt and it looks like the bump in rank hasn't changed anything.
Kaynan a heavyweight and Victor an ultra-heavyweight the pair met in the absolute finals and put on a wonderful display of jiu-jitsu. They swept back and forth until Kaynan was able to take control late in the match and claim European gold. No doubt this will be a match we see many more times this year and we couldn't be more excited for it. In fact these two are slated to compete in the same bracket next month at the SPYDER Invitational in Seoul, South Korea.
WATCH: Kaynan Duarte vs Victor Hugo
Beatriz Mesquita vs Tayane Porfirio
Both these women were nominated for FloGrappling's 2017 Female Black Belt of the Year and for good reason. They are two elites standing out among the stongest field of female grapplers the sport has ever seen. In 2017 they met for the first time in the Eurpean Championships absolute final and one year later they'd meet again.
In 2017 the match was fairly one sided in favor of the Alliance powerhouse but this year it was very apparent that Mesquita has been hard at work to close the gap. Threatening with guard pass after guard pass it looked like the Gracie Humaita world champion was in full control. But with just a minute to go Tayane came storming back and forced Bea to flee the mat to defend an impending sweep. The match was among the most closely contested of the tournament and certainly deserves to be run back another time before the year is up.
WATCH: Beatriz Mesquita vs Tayane Porfirio
Isaque Bahiense vs Jaime Canuto
Two young and exciting middleweight contenders going head to head with explosive guard passes and lighting quick takedowns. Isn't that what makes this sport so fun to watch? When you put these two together on the same mat expect nothing less than fireworks.
We could watch this match every weekend and hopefully it won't be the only time we see this one in 2018.
WATCH: Jamie Canuto vs Isaque Bahiense
Edwin Najmi vs Renato Canuto
Albeit not a rematch this is a fight we have been anticipating for awhile now and still have yet to see it happen! Both of these competitors are two of the most exciting young black belts doing their thing on the competition circuit. They are known for their high flying techniques and are almost never in a boring match. So that’s why when they were slated to fight at the 2017 IBJJF No-Gi World Championships late last year we were watering at the mouth for this potential matchup. But alas Najmi pulled out of the tournament last minute and Canuto went on to win his first World Championship.
Again however these two were placed on the same side of the stacked lightweight bracket last weekend at Europeans and while we thought this was a sure thing for the quarter finals Masahiro Iwasaki had other plans and played spoiler upsetting not just Renato Canuto but Edwin Najmi as well!
This match has bonkers written all over it and someday, hopefully soon we’ll get to see it and when we do, mark my words it will be one not to miss!