By Michael Sears 

A mix of seasoned competitors and newly promoted athletes made for highly competitive brown belt divisions in Lisbon, Portugal, this month.

Here's a review of the brown belts who stood out at the IBJJF 2018 European Championships, which wrapped up on Jan. 21. 

Rooster

Carlos Oliveira (GFT) almost did not make it to Portugal after being scammed out of his plane ticket in Brazil. He raised the necessary funds, and it paid off as he won a European championship. Oliveira finished all four of his opponents on the day: three chokes from the back and an armlock.

Photo: Michael Sears

“When I had the problems with my ticket, I did my best to stay positive and focused, to keep training hard," he said. "My friend Jorge Nakamura helped me out, put the ticket on his card, and made this trip possible. The more difficult the circumstances the more focused and hungry I will be to be at the top of the podium.”

Light-Featherweight

Joao Gabriel Sousa (ZR Team) blew through the light-featherweight division. Souza finished all three of his opponents in less than two minutes, all with the same choke from the back. 

“That was incredible," he said. "I’m so happy with this title and I want more. I’m just happy but not satisfied."

Featherweight

Richar Nogueira (Cicero Costha), the 2016 brown belt Worlds silver medalist, started the day off with a bang, putting his first opponent to sleep with a triangle. In a finals match with returning brown belt world champ Alex Sodre (Nova Uniao), Nogueira came out on top by one advantage in a matchup that could possibly be repeated in the Worlds final this year.

Lightweight

Australian Levi Jones-Leary (Unity) spent all of 2017 competing as a middleweight. His cut down to lightweight proved to be fruitful as he took home a European championship. Jones-Leary submitted four out of five opponents in a stacked lightweight division and won the final 4-0. The submissions came from three bow-and-arrow chokes followed by an armlock in the semifinal.

On the change in weight, he said: “I felt great at lightweight!! I didn’t have to cut much weight because I changed my diet and I’m eating really healthy now.”

Middleweight

Jonnatas Gracie (Atos) submitted five opponents on his way to the top of the podium. In the final, Gracie tapped out returning purple belt Euro champ Tarik Hopstock (Frontline) with an Ezekiel while up big on points. Hopstock had earlier defeated returning world bronze medalist Leo Lara (Atos) in his semifinal.

Jonnatas Gracie. Photo: Michael Sears

Medium-heavyweight

Dominique Bell (Atos) won this event two years ago at brown belt before having to take some time off with an injury. Bell took down the division with five victories, three by submission. In the final, Bell defeated 2017 brown belt world silver medalist Gabiel Almeida (Checkmat) 2-0.

Dominique Bell. Photo: Michael Sears

Heavyweight

Two purple belt world champions faced off in the final of this division, with Fabio Alano (Alliance) coming out victorious over Kaynan Duarte (Atos) by a close margin of one advantage. The Alliance Mario Reis representative Alano won his first match by ankle lock before taking the semifinal and final on advantages.

Kaynan Duarte. Photo: Michael Sears

Super-Heavyweight

Devhonte Johnson won the purple open class in Lisbon in 2017 and claimed another European title this year in his weight class. Winning the first round 4-0 off a back take and then hitting a kneebar in the second round, Johnson was matched up with purple belt world silver medalist Marcus Vinicius Siqueira (Alliance) in the semifinal. After a hard-fought match, Johnson took home the referee decision over Siqueira. In the final against Jose Neto (Cicero Costha), Johnson came out on top 2-0.

Ultra-Heavyweight

Two-time purple belt world champ Victor Hugo won his second European title this weekend. Hugo submitted two out of his three opponents in the first three rounds to advance to the final. In the final, Hugo scored a sweep and a back take to take the title by a score of 6-2.

Left to right: Brown belts Levi Leary-Jones, Devhonte Johnson and Fabio Alano. Photos: Michael Sears

Open Class

The medium-heavyweight (Bell), heavyweight (Alano), super-heavyweight (Johnson), and ultra-heavyweight (Hugo) champions were among the field in the brown belt open division.

Duarte avenged his earlier loss to Alano in the second round of the open, hitting a sweep to advance with a score of 2-0. Fabio had footlocked his previous opponent in the open, while Kaynan hit a kneebar on Gabriel Almeida in the first round.

Hugo advanced in his first-round matchup with a 2-0 win over Dom Bell after the referee ruled that Bell fled the mat area on a sweep attempt. In the quarterfinals, Hugo defeated super-heavyweight bronze medalist Marcus Vinicius Siquiera by advantages.

Hopstock advanced to the semifinal by hitting his patented “Tarik-o-plata” in his first match. Hopstock came close with the same technique against Hugo in the semifinal but fell short of the sub and lost on points as Hugo advanced to the final.

Heavyweight bronze medalist Pedro Elias (NS Brotherhood) had earlier lost a close match by advantages to Duarte in his weight semifinal. They met again in the semifinal of the absolute, with Duarte surviving almost three minutes in a triangle to win the match by a score of 2-0.

The stage was set for Duarte against Hugo in the open class final. Duarte was up 4-4 with a stalling penalty on Hugo late in the match. Desperate for an advantage or submission in the final seconds, Hugo dove for an ankle lock, giving up a sweep for Duarte to win 6-4 and capture the first major open class title of 2018.

On coming back from an earlier defeat to claim the day’s top prize, Duarte said: “I was happy, because until then I had not lost any fights at brown belt. After that defeat, I proved I am the best brown belt by defeating everyone, including who I had lost to in my division.”

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