Is This The Best Rivalry At Purple Belt Right Now?
Is This The Best Rivalry At Purple Belt Right Now?
Eliza Nascimento and Nikolett Kis have developed a back-and-forth rivalry that seems like it's on a collision course for Worlds
Now that the dust has settled on the purple belt women at IBJJF Pans, something is clear - Eliza Nascimento and Nikolett Kis are developing a true competitive rivalry this IBJJF season. The purple belt lightweights have met four times at the first two majors of the year and have split matches 2-2. They have developed the best rivalry at colored belt this season and we still have Brasileiros and Worlds to look forward to.
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Nikolett and Eliza both came into the year as colored belts worth watching, with both capturing world gold at blue belt. Their first meeting at Euros came in the finals of their weight class. It was a tight, strategic match with Eliza scoring a late advantage to tie things after a lengthy review, then take the decision.
What really helps make this rivalry worth paying attention to is how they both excel in the absolute as well. In fact, as a lightweight, Nikolett won the blue belt open class last year at Worlds. They met again in the open and this time it was a really different story with Nikolett racking up a lot of points on the way to a submission win. Easily the most dominant win of their series yet.
After their 1-1 start, it was Nikolett to take their rubber match (again in the division finals) at Pans. She was able to score and shut things down from top on her way to a points win. Her suffocating top game was making a big difference and it seemed like the series was spoken for.
Then the absolute started. Just like at Euros they met again in the open class semifinals and this time it was the opposite result again, with Eliza taking a close decision with only one advantage on the scoreboard both ways. She won the match but more importantly evened them back up at 2 wins each and brought the momentum back.
With only two majors left this year, this looks like the most evenly contested rivalry at any colored belt. I look forward to seeing if they register for Brasileiros but I feel certain that this can only finally be settled at Worlds in early June.
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