Live Updates: Male Absolute Division At 2019 Europeans
Live Updates: Male Absolute Division At 2019 Europeans
Lucas Lepri in the Absolute?! The 6x Lightweight world champ will be giving up some weight to compete against a field of monstrous superstars.
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Lucas Lepri in the Absolute?! The 6x Lightweight world champ will be giving up some weight to compete against a slew of monstrous superstars.
BRACKETS
FIGHTS
RUBEN ARAUJO vs MANUEL RIBAMAR
Ribamar opens Absolute competition with a nice submission from the back. He is on a collision course with former teammate, Igor Schneider.
DARRAGH O'CONAILL vs MARTIN JOHANNES
Darrah O'Conaill remains persistent with the arm bars and finally finishes Martin Johannes with one at the 5-minute mark. He will be tested greatly in his next fight against Horland Monteiro.
KAYNAN DUARTE vs JOSE HENRIQUE
Kaynan hits two very nice sweeps -- one early in the match and one near the very end of the match -- to advance past Jose Henrique Cardoso. His next match is expected to be against Fellipe Andrew (who beat Kaynan multiples times in 2018).
DARRAGH O'CONAILL vs HORLANDO MONTEIRO
O'Conaill and Horlando Monteiro trade sweeps deep into the fight to put the score at 2 apiece. With about a minute left though, Horlando tacks on one more to move the score to 4-2 in his favor. That would be enough for the win and moves Horlando into a much-anticipated quarterfinal vs. Kaynan Duarte.
KAYNAN DUARTE vs FELLIPE ANDREW
Tremendous match between two young rivals! Kaynan and Fellipe trade sweeps in the first half of the match before a series of scrambles ensue about midway through. Kaynan ends up coming out on top of one pivotal scramble as he secures the guillotine for the submission win over a fighter who beat him multiple times in 2018.
LUCAS LEPRI vs RENAN MARCEL RODRIGUES VIEIRA
Lepri is incredible! The smallest fighter in the Absolute -- by far -- finds his way to Renan's back and is able to get the submission win with more than five minutes left on the clock. He will move on to face Seif-Eddine Houmine in the quarter finals.
LUCAS ALVES LEPRI vs SEIF-EDDINE HOUMINE
Holy cow! Just watch.
KAYNAN DUARTE vs HORLANDO MONTEIRO
Another masterful performance by first-year black belt, Kaynan Duarte. He scored an early takedown and a sweep at about midway through to extend his lead to 4-0. He would hold that lead as Monteiro would surge hard late into the match, constantly trying to take Kaynan down. The 4-0 victory moves Kaynan into the semi finals vs. Lucas Lepri -- the most anticipated match of the 2019 European Championships (thus far).
UPDATE: Manuel Ribamar conceded his match to former teammate, Igor Schneider.
GUSTAVO BATISTA vs LEO LARA + IGOR SCHNEIDER
Two fights for the price of one! Gustavo Batista showed his best stuff, first against rookie black belt and Atos teammate Leo Lara, then against former teammate Igor Sneider. Against Sneider, Batista endured nearly half the match stuck in turtle under the NS Bro super-heavyweight. In the final minutes, he was able to work back to 50/50 and sweep the bigger opponent and hang on until time expired for his place in the absolute final!
LUCAS LEPRI vs KAYNAN DUARTE
HEAT! An early '2019 Match Of The Year Candidate.' Back n' forth scoring, crazy scrambles, an end-of-match score for the win. One of the all-time legends vs. perhaps the most impressive young black belt prospect in the game right now. This match had everything.
UPDATED BRACKETS
ABSOLUTE FINAL: LUCAS LEPRI vs GUSTAVO BATISTA
GUSTAVO BATISTA vs LUCAS LEPRI
A somewhat shocking result considering how well Lepri had done against Kaynan Duarte the previous day. It was all Gustavo Batista this time around. He was able to sweep Lucas early into the fight and then used his relentless pressure passing to get by Lepri's world-class guard. It was pretty much all Batista from start to finish as Lepri could never really develop any sort of momentum.