June 30th, 2010 | Subscribe to AZSBJJF by Email | Subscribe to the AZSBJJF RSS Feed | Leave a Comment

The 2010 AZ Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu State Championship took place in Mesa on June 26 & 27 at the Westwood High School Gym. With a total of 534 competitors, the event attracted competitors from all over the State, plus competitors from CA, NV, NM, TX, NY, OR, MI, HI, UT and Mexico. With $1000 on the line for the Black Belt Open Division, sponsored by Waltz Construction, World Class competitors stepped to the challenge, with Bruno Bastos being the victor.

Day 1

The Kids kicked off the weekend’s action with 180 competitors in attendance. The 2010 AZ State Championship was the first time ever the AZSBJJF introduced the Exhibition Match Bracket, which would give kids who would otherwise not compete, a chance to display their skills for their friends, families, and fans filling the bleachers of the gymnasium. Even children who weighed in over their weight limit or were alone in their bracket had an opportunity to shine. Here are the

Kids Team results:

1st - MMA Lab 88 points
2nd - Lion’s Den 86 points
3rd – Relson Gracie 47 points
4th – Siege MMA/Lotus Club 44 points
5th - GD Jiu-Jitsu 42 points

After the Kids cleared the mat, the stage was set for the Adults to start making their mark. The Blue belt division offered many spectacular battles, being the largest of the Colored belt divisions. The Standout of the Blue belts was Jason Gross (Siege MMA/Lotus Club) who won the Heavy division and then defeated Joshua Young (Rey Diogo/De Brazil) to win the Open Class. A match worthy of World-Class status, the highly anticipated re-match of World Champion Issac Doederlein (Megaton) against Pan-Am Champion Christoper Broadnax (GD Jiu-Jitsu) was an aggressive and technical showdown. The two young and talented athletes faced each other in the Finals of the Feather division at the 5th AZ Open with Doederlein being victorious, but in this weekend’s re-match, Broadnax was able to secure the Gold with a last second sweep.

Day 2

The 2nd day of the State Championship would start with the Purple, Brown, and Black belts. After Saturday’s showing from the Blue belts, Sunday was expected to offer match-ups that would highlight the whole weekend. The Standout of the Purple belts was WEC Champion, Ben Henderson (MMA Lab), who displayed his athletism by taking the Gold in the Middleweight division and submitting Ryan Heilman (GD Jiu-Jitsu) with a footlock in the Open Class.

Coming from Brazil, Marcelo Nunes (Drysdale BJJ) had only been in the US for less than a week to visit and train with his instructor, Robert Drysdale, in Las Vegas. The Robert Drysdale pupil had an outstanding showing, winning both the Super Heavy and the Open Class in the Brown belt division, defeating Sal Flores (BJJ Revolution) in the finals. In the Black belt division, UFC Veteran, Hermes Franca (Team Hermes Franca) submitted Jay Pages (Ruffhouse) to claim the Middleweight title. Closing out the weekend was the White belts. Being the Champion of the Adult, Lightweight division would be no easy task as it was the largest bracket of the tournament with 26 competitors. Danny Hilton (Northern AZ MMA) had 5 matches and submitted his opponent, Aaron Wilson (Nava BJJ/Tigers Lair) with a guillotine to win the Title.

Here are the Adult Team Results :

Team results:

1st - GD Jiu-Jitsu 249 points
2nd - MMA Lab 119 points
3rd - Rey Diogo/De Brazil 92 points
4th - Ruffhouse 74 points
5th - Megaton 64 points

Full results available at http://strongvon.com/azstate2010/

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 6:34 pm and is filed under Tournament News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.