São Paulo, Brazil hosted the AIGA Champions League Brazil Qualifier in partnership with Açai Republic. After the highly successful and exciting showcase in Kemer, Turkey a few months back, AIGA returned in a big way featuring a number of highly capable and hungry teams. The matchups on the first day of action were as follows:
The first day that would see Andinos defeat Luta Livre, Kasai defeat Demain Maia, Voūk defeat Untouchable and Piramide move past Team Melqui Galvao. So many highlight reel submissions were on display, including this absolutely bone-crushing kneebar that shocked the fans in attendance by one Antonio Assef:
All eyes were on Team Kasai essentially since the team was announced to be a part of the event. A “super team” that could rival Team Modolfo, Kasai absolutely blew through this entire event, dropping not a single match over 2 days and 21 matches.
Normally, I would write some of the standout competitors from the team – but I can’t. Everyone pulled their weight. Rich Byrne, the CEO of Kasai Grappling put the team together, employing Matheus Lutes as the manager and enlisting further help from great minds like Viktor Doria (and William Tackett, who was forced to withdraw from participation). It seemed to work out just as they’d hoped it would.
Team Kasai accomplished the following result:
- Junny Ocasio submitted 3/3
- Dorian Olivarez submitted 3/3
- Fabricio Andrey submitted 3/3
- Andrew Tackett submitted 3/3
- Renato Canuto submitted 2/2
- Sebastian Rodriguez submitted 1/1
- Pedro Marinho submitted 3/3
- Roberto Jimenez submitted 2/3 (Racking up over 28 points across three rounds, however.)
If you want to see some of the highlights, be sure to head over to the AIGA YouTube Channel and follow them on Instagram by hitting the post above!
Congratulations to all the athletes who participated in the event! Stay tuned for the USA Qualifier coming later this year!