Checkmat Wins AIGA Champions League US Qualifier | Full Results & Recap
Checkmat Wins AIGA Champions League US Qualifier | Full Results & Recap
Team Checkmat punched its ticket to the 2025 AIGA Champions League Final, going undefeated in three duels at the AIGA US Qualifier in Long Beach, CA.
Team Checkmat defeated team 10th Planet in the AIGA US Qualifier finals on Sunday in Long Beach, earning the invitation to compete in the 2025 AIGA Champions league with $1 million in prizes on the line.
Checkmat went undefeated in duels throughout the tournament, defeating Legion in the group stage on Saturday, then defeating Finishers in the group stage on Sunday before taking down 10th Planet in the final.
In the best of seven duel against 10th Planet, Checkmat won in five, owing in part to an injury to 10th Planet's Geo Martinez, which left that team without a -60kg representative. Matheus Luna and Francisco Lo earned first period submissions for Checkmat to boost the lead, and Igor Moreira clinched the victory for Checkmat with a points win over Chris Crawford.
Checkmat is now the third of four teams to win a 2024 AIGA Champions League Qualifier, which puts the team in position to compete for a $500,000 grand prize in Kazakhstan in 2025. Team Euro Trash won the European Qualifier in Turkey in the Winter, and team Kasai won the South American Qualifier in Brazil in the Spring. AIGA will hold one more qualifier in 2024 in Kazakhstan, the Asian Qualifier.
Checkmat's berth in the US Qualifier final came down to the wire in the third duel of the group stage. Both Checkmat and Finishers defeated Team Legion on Saturday, making the head to head match between Checkmat and Finishers a defacto semifinal. The teams traded wins, with Finishers picking up victories in the 65kg, 70kg and 73kg divisions, and checkmat winning in the 60kg, 83kg and over 91kg division. Dory Aoun clinched the series for Checkmat with his victory in the -91kg category against Finshers' Jake Coleman via points.
On Saturday, Checkmat scored a clean sweep in its first group stage match against Legion, winning four matches on the mat and three more via walkover. Legion suffered two injuries, and did not have an athlete in the -60kg division, leaving the team severely setback in their run in with the eventual AIGA US Qualifier winner.
Francisco Lo appeared the MVP for the Checkmat team, winning all three of his matches on the weekend via submission. He secured armbar wins over Charles Rials and Bobby Winther, and an ankle lock win over Rene Sousa.
Team 10th Planet's drive toward submission put them in the final in a complicate group stage in Group B.
All three teams in Group B went 1-1, as Vanguard beat 10th Planet, Fight Sports defeated Vanguard, and 10th Planet defeated Fight Sports. That left the Group B winner to be decided by secondary conditions. The first tie breaker condition was head to head wins; but each of the teams held seven victories.
The second tie breaker condition, submission victories, went to 10th Planet, which had six submission wins to Vanguard's four and Fight Sports' two.
Ryan Aitken and Kyle Chambers were the top submission finishers on 10th Planet, each taking home two to bolster the team's stats.
Full AIGA Champions League US Qualifier Results
Final (Sunday, Oct. 20)
Checkmat def 10th Planet
-65kg: 10th Planet's Geo Martinez withdrew due to injury, giving a walkover victory to Checkmat
-76kg: Matheus Luna (Checkmat) vs Sam Schwartzapkel via mounted triangle armbar (3:40 R1)
-83kg: Francisco Lo (Checkmat) def Charles Rials via armbar (3:57 R1)
-91kg: Ryan Aitken (10th Planet) def Dory Aoun via points (R1: 0-0, R2: 4-0, R3: 0-0)
-60kg: Igor Moreira (Checkmat) def Chris Crawford via points (R1: 5-4, R2: 5-4, R3: 0-4) *Note: Moreira started each round giving four points to his opponent as he weighed in heavy on Friday's official weigh-in
+91kg: Elder Cruz (Checkmat) def Kevin Berberich via points (R1: 0-0, R2: 5-0, R3: 8-0)
-70kg: Ben Eddy (10th Planet) def Gustavo Lopes via hinduloutine (3:54 R2)
Group Stage Round Robin
Group A
Finishers def Legion (Saturday, Oct. 19)
-76kg: Alan Sanchez (Finishers) def Scott Boehler via anaconda choke (2:15 R1)
-65kg: Isaac Cordova (Finishers) def Tu Dang via no-gi ezekiel choke (5:00 R1)
-83kg: Bobby Winther (Legion) def Rene Sousa via points (R1: 0-0, R2: 2-0, R3: 0-0)
-70kg: Sid Tavolaro (Finishers) def Tyler Brown via inside heel hook (0:47 R1)
+91kg: Braylor Grout (Legion) def Connor Dixon via darce choke (4:32 R1)
-91kg: Adam Bradley (Legion) def Andrew Dyer via ankle lock (3:45 R2)
-60kg: Legion did not produce a -60kg athlete. Finishers wins by walkover
Checkmat def Legion (Saturday, Oct. 19)
+91kg: Alex Filho (Checkmat) def Ian Daube via points (R1: 0-0, R2: penalties against Daube, R3: penalties against Daube)
-76kg: Matheus Luna (Checkmat) def Scott Boehler via points (R1: 4-2, R2: 3-0, R3: 6-0)
-91kg: Adam Bradley withdrew from competition. Checkmat wins by walkover.
-83kg: Francisco Lo (Checkmat) def Bobby Winther via armbar (4:26 R1)
-65kg: Michael Esquivias (Checkmat) def Tu Dang via points (R1: penalties against Esquivias, R2: penalties against Dang, R3: 3-0)
-60kg: Legion did not produce a -60kg athlete. Checkmat wins by walkover
-70kg: Tyler Brown suffered an injury and could not make it to his second match. Checkmat wins by walkover
Checkmat def Finishers (Sunday, Oct. 20)
-70kg: Sid Tavolaro (Finishers) def Gustavo Lopes via outside heel hook (2:53 R1)
-83kg: Francisco Lo (Checkmat) def Rene Sousa via ankle lock (1:46 R2)
-76kg: Alan Sanchez (Finishers) def Matheus Luna via rear naked choke (2:27 R1)
+91kg: Elder Cruz (Checkmat) def Alex Grandy via points (R1: 2-0, R2: 0-0, R3: 0-0)
-60kg: Igor Moreira (Checkmat) def Eric Naples via outside heel hook (2:14 R1)
-65kg: Isaac Cordova (Finishers) def Michael Esquivias via points (R1: 2-0, R2: 2-0, R3: 2-0)
-91kg: Dory Aoun (Checkmat) def Jake Coleman via points (R1: 2-0, R2: -0, R3: 2-0)
Group B
Vanguard def 10th Planet (Saturday, Oct. 19)
-76kg: Nick Ronan (Vanguard) def Sam Schwartzapkel via rear naked choke (3:01 R2)
-91kg: Ryan Aitken (10th Planet) def Anthony Poliseno via katagatame (1:23 R2)
+91kg: Josh Saunders (Vanguard) def Kevin Berberich via points (R1: 0-0, R2: 3-0, R3: 6-0)
-65kg: Geo Martinez (10th Planet) def Dylan Garofalo via points (R1: 2-0, R2: 0-0, R3: 2-0)
-60kg: Fabian Ramirez (Vanguard) def Chris Crawford via points (R1: 2-0, R2: 2-0, R3: 0-0)
-70kg: David Stoilescu (Vanguard) def Ben Eddy via lateral kneebar (1:39 R2)
-83kg: Kyle Chambers (10th Planet) def Luke Martin via outside heel hook (3:11 R1)
Fight Sports def Vanguard (Saturday, Oct. 19)
-83kg: Enrique March (Fight Sports) vs Luke Martin via outside heel hook (3:15 R1)
-91kg: Enrico Said (Fight Sports) def Anthony Poliseno via toe hold (4:57 R2)
-60kg: Victor Delibero (Fight Sports) def Fabian Ramirez via judges decision
-70kg: David Stoilescu (Vanguard) vs Bernardo Delibero via inside heel hook (0:38 R1)
+91kg: Josh Saunders (Vanguard) def Joao Costa via rear naked choke (1:25 R3)
-76kg: Nick Ronan (Vanguard) def Rodrigo Francioni via decision
-65kg: Angel Morales (Fight Sports) def Dylan Garofolo via points (R1: penalties against Garofolo, R2: 0-2, R3: penalties against Garofolo)
10th Planet def Fight Sports (Sunday, Oct. 20)
-83kg: Kyle Chambers (10th Planet) def Felipe Porto via outside heel hook (1:13 R2)
-91kg: Ryan Aitken (10th Planet) def Enrico Said via outside hel hook (1:17 R1)
-65kg: Anthony Odell (Fight Sports) def Chris Crawford via points (R1: 7-0, R2: 2-0, R3: 2-0)
-60kg: 10th Planet representative Geo Martinez withdrew due to injury, giving Fight Sports a walkover victory
-70kg: Ben Eddy (10th Planet) def Pedro Nakano via rear naked choke (2:25 R1)
-76kg: Rodrigo Francioni (Fight Sports) def Sam Schwartzapkel via points (R1: 4-0, R2: 10-0, R3: 10-2) *Note: Schwartzapkel started each round giving four points to his opponent as he weighed in heavy on Friday's official weigh-in
+91kg: Kevin Berberich (10th Planet) def Joao Costa via inside heel hook (0:48 R1)
Team Stats
Checkmat
- Duel Record: 3-0
- Match Wins: 16
- Submission Wins: 5
- Points Wins: 7
- Decision Wins: 0
- Walkover Wins: 4
- Top Performer: Francisco Lo (3 submissions)
10th Planet
- Duel Record: 1-2
- Match Wins: 9
- Submission Wins: 7
- Points Wins: 2
- Decision Wins: 0
- Walkover Wins: 0
- Top Performer: Ryan Aitken (2 submission wins, 1 points win)
Finishers
- Duel Record: 1-1
- Match Wins: 7
- Submission Wins: 5
- Points Wins: 1
- Decision Wins: 0
- Walkover Wins: 1
- Top Performer: Sid Tavolaro, Alan Sanchez (2 submission wins each)
Fight Sports
- Duel Record: 1-1
- Match Wins: 7
- Submission Wins: 2
- Points Wins: 3
- Decision Wins: 1
- Walkover Wins: 1
- Top Performer: Enrique March, Enrico Said (1 submission win each)
Vanguard
- Duel Record: 1-1
- Match Wins: 7
- Submission Wins: 4
- Points Wins: 2
- Decision Wins: 1
- Walkover Wins: 0
- Top Performer: David Stoilescu (2 submission wins)
Legion
- Duel Record: 0-2
- Match Wins: 3
- Submission Wins: 2
- Points Wins: 1
- Decision Wins: 0
- Walkover Wins: 0
- Top Performer: Braylor Grout, Adam Bradley (1 submission win each)
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