Road to Gold: Vitor Crizel Wins Deep Roosterwieght Bracket At Euros
Road to Gold: Vitor Crizel Wins Deep Roosterwieght Bracket At Euros
Vitor Crizel of Alliance navigated his way to gold in a deep bracket at the IBJJF European Championships at purple belt rooster
The IBJJF European Championships are going on now and the purple belt adult males took the mat on day 4 with high expectations for action. One bracket that did not disappoint was the rooster division, the lightest in the tournament, which was won by Vitor Crizel of Alliance, taught and coached by World Champion Mario Reis. This was a really impressive bracket and Vitor picked up several quality wins to establish himself as the top dog in purple belt rooster to begin 2025.
A Quick Submission To Start The Day
It only took a little over one minute for Crizel to get off the mat, picking up a 66-second ankle lock over his opponent in the quarterfinals. The Alliance representative looked very quick and athletic, pulling quickly to guard and off-balancing his way into the leg.
Two Close, Intense Matches For Gold
Now that he was on the podium, Crizel was into two tough matches against colored belt IBJJF world champions. First up, he took on Alex 'Batatinha' of AOJ, a 3-time world champion at juvenile and adult, in what would prove to be a very close contest. Alex brought good movement and pressure early, but Crizel weathered that storm and was able to drag him into his open guard (particularly the lasso). A deep triangle attempt early in the match would give a major advantage to the bottom player, and despite trading sweeps it would ultimately be the deciding score in a furiously-paced bout.
Into the finals and it was against Gracie Barra's Bernardo Rosalba de Menezes, another very talented up-and-coming rooster. Both pulled but Vitor would come up and play top, managing the match well until Bernardo stormed ahead with a near-back take. Down on advantages and points and only one minute to go, Crizel used a cross grip pass, a near mount, and another timely triangle attempt to rack up advantages late and even the points. It was a very impressive final from the Alliance black belt, who showed a lot of heart in tough moments with a very technical, strategic game. With Pans, Brasileiros, and eventually Worlds coming up this year, Crizel is the man to beat at purple belt rooster.