RESULTS! Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Abu Dhabi Event

By Fanatics Authors, January 28, 2019

On January 10-12, 2019, the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Abu Dhabi event took place. This year marked the fifth year of the Grand Slam tour. The Grand Slam is one of the most prestigious and highest paid jiu jitsu world tours. It is managed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Jiu Jitsu Federation, and is supported by his Highness the Supreme Prince and Commander in Chief of the United Arab Emirates National Army, H.H. Sheik Mohamen Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Men's Division:

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In the Men's division, of special note was Hiago George's championship win in the 62kg division. He had three matches to win the gold medal. His first match was a difficult 2-1 win on advantages over Pedro Clementino. He was then able to submit Gabriel Frenhan with a bow and arrow choke. In the finals, he competed against teammate, Joao Miyao, three time IBJJF Worlds Silver Medalist, where he won by a close 1-0 advantage lead, after the score was tied 8-8. With this win, Hiago avenged his loss to Joao at last year's Abu Dhabi Grand Slam event when he lost by toehold submission (per federation rules, teammates must compete against each other as closeouts are not permitted).

Men's Results

56kg Bebeto Olivera def. Massaki Todokoro 10-0

62kg Hiago George def. Joao Miyao 8-8 (1-0 adv)

69kg Paulo Miyao def. Tiago Bravo Submission

77kg Diego Ramlaho def. Levi Jones-Leary 0-0 (2-1 Adv)

85kg Lucas Barbosa def. Rudson Mateus (referee's decision)

94kg Adam Wardzinki def. Renato Cardoso 2-2 (2-1 adv)

110kg Erberth Santos def. Ricardo Evangelista 0-0 (1-0 adv)

Hiago George Biography

Hiago was born on July 2, 1993 in Cicero Danta, Bahia, Brazil. When he was in his early teens, Hiago took some boxing lessons. After one year, he switched over to Jiu Jitsu, when his friend convinced him to try it out. At the local academy, he was taught by coaches Alex Azevedo and Wbiara Dantas. Within one year of training with Alex and Wbiara, their academy joined with a neighboring school led by Fabio Medeiros of Gracie Barra.

Hiago quickly fell in love with jiu jitsu, and decided he wanted to be the best light featherweight in the world. He competed as often as he could, all across Brazil. During one of these trips, he stayed at Cicero Costha's gym in Sao Paulo (the CBJJE World Championships were being held in Sao Paulo). While staying and training at the gym, Hiago was immediately impressed by the talent and hard work of the competitors that trained at the gym. When he returned home, he convinced his parents to allow him to follow his dream to be the best, and move to Cicero Costha's academy.

Cicero welcomed George with open arms, and his career skyrocketed under his coaching and his daily hard training sessions. He won the Brazilian National and South American Championships, and within 18 months, Hiago earned his brown belt- winning many top tournaments. In fact, he was so successful, he was soon promoted to black belt after only being a brown belt for 10 months. Interestingly, to pay his respect to his former instructor, Fabio Medeiros, Hiago travelled back to Medeiro's academy to be awarded his brown and black belts.

Hiago George's Black Belt Titles:

CBJJ Brazilian National Champion (2018)
IBJJF South American Champion (2017/2015)
IBJJF European Open Champion (2018/2016)
IBJJF European No-Gi Open Champion (2017)
IBJJF Rome International Open Champion (2017)
UAEJJF Brazil National Pro Champion (2015)
UAEJJF Grand Slam Rio de Janeiro Champion (2019/2018/2017/2016/2015)
UAEJJF Grand Slam Abu Dhabi Champion (2016)
IBJJF Floripa Open Champion (2015)
IBJJF Rio Pro Champion (2015)
CBJJ Brazilian National No-Gi 2nd Place (2015)
UAEJJF Grand Slam Los Angeles 3rd Place (2018)
IBJJF Sao Paulo Open 3rd Place (2015)
IBJJF Pan American Championship 3rd Place (2016)
UAEJJF Abu Dhabi Pro Championship 3rd Place (2018)

Women's Division:

In the women's division, 18 year old brown belt, Gabrieli Pessanha's, continues her impressive win streak, by winning the 90 kg division. She was able to defeat two time IBJJF World Champion Nathiely De Jesus by one advantage after having a 4-4 tied score. This was the second time Pessanha has been able to defeat Nathiely, as she defeated her at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Los Angeles event in September of 2018. Gabrieli was promoted to brown belt in June 2018, after winning the IBJJF World Championships and has remained undefeated as a brown belt.

She has also been undefeated in every Abu Dhabi Grand Slam event, where she has won gold in Tokyo, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, and Abu Dhabi. If she wins the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam London in March, she will become the first woman to have won gold at every major UAEJJF event in a season.

Women's Results

55kg Ariadne Oliveira. Def. Mayssa Batsos 2-0

62kg Bianca Basilio def. Bayane Bazzoni Submission

70kg Thamara Silva def Samantha Cook 4-2

90kg Gabrieli Pessanha def. Nathiely De Jesus 4-4 (1-0 adv)

If you haven’t made drilling a regular part of your BJJ training, now is a great time to start. It will undoubtedly take your game up a notch. Coming soon!