Erich Munis climbed through the gauntlet to win a $40,000 grand prize in the BJJ Stars 10: Battlefield absolute grand prix.

The Dream Art representative relied on his sophisticated guard play to rack up points on each of his opponents, tallying sweeps with various complex grips to push his way through the bracket.

In the final, Munis defeated Fellipe Andrew via advantages. He racked up several of them from a near back attack, which Andrew shucked off. But Munis kept himself ahead of the relentless submission hunter with near sweeps throughout the match.

Earlier in bracket, Munis defeated Victor Hugo on advantages, utilizing his guard again to stave off Hugo's passing attempts. In the quarterfinal, Munis beat Devhonte Johnson on points.

In his opening bout Munis outscored Guilherme Lambertucci, then took the the air to score an incredible flying armbar finish in the final seconds of the match. For his efforts, he was awarded the $2,000 submission of the night bonus.

Kaynan Duarte and Mica Galvao both earned first round victories on their shared side of the bracket, setting up the most highly-anticipated bout of the night between the two superstars in the quarterfinal.

But the match came to an anticlimactic ending. After Galvao swept Duarte, Duarte entered a leg entanglement to return to the top. In the process, he entered a severe reap position, injuring Galvao's leg and receiving a disqualification.

Galvao returned to the mat in the semifinal to face Fellipe Andrew and unloaded an early flurry on the heavyweght. Galvao earned five advantages in the first two-minutes of the match for near scores and submissions before returning the the bottom, where Andrew passed his guard. The bout was deemed match of the night, for which both competitors earned $1,000.

Earlier in the night, Galvao, the youngest and lgithers in the tournament, faced the bracket's heaviest opponent, Otavio Nalati. Galvao took his back twice to the astonishment of the crowd attending in Sao Paulo.

Before his run-in with Galvao, Fellipe Andrew defeated rookie black belt Pedro Lucas, then earned the go-ahead victory in his rivalry with Adam Wardzinski. Andrew is now 2-1 against Wardzinski in 2023.

Full results

Absolute Grand Prix

Round 1:

• Mica Galvao def Otavio Nalati (8-0)
• Kaynan Duarte def Vinicius Liberati (short choke)
• Adam Wardzinski def Patrick Gaudio (collar choke)
• Fellipe Andrew def Pedro Lucas (decision)
• Victor Hugo def Uanderson Ferreira (9-0)
• Mauricio Oliveira def Roberto Cyborg (2-0)
• Devhonte Johnson def Gutemberg Perreira (decision)
• Erich Munis def Guillherme Lambertucci (armbar)

Quarterfinals:

• Mica Galvao def Kaynan Duarte (disqualification)
• Fellipe Andrew def Adam Wardzinski (3-0)
• Victor Hugo def Mauricio Oliveira (decision)
• Erich Munis def Devhonte Johnson (6-2)

Semifinals:

• Fellipe Andrew def Mica Galvao (3-0)
• Erich Munis def Victor Hugo (advantages: 1-0)

Final:

• Erich Munis def Fellipe Andrew (advantages: 6-4)

Superfights:

• Joao Rocha def Lucas Maquine (armlock)
• Alexandre Godoy def Ice Blue (4-2)
• Ingridd Alves def Amanda Henning (Ezekiel choke)