Well hello grappling fans. I'm in the United Arab Emirates for the 2019 Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship, where many of the world's best grapplers have assembled for a chance to win one of the most important tournaments on the calendar. 

Hello from Abu Dhabi! Join me on https://t.co/gKrppDYyNh for live updates of the #ADWPJJC19 pic.twitter.com/I1IxyWVzqh

— Hywel Teague (@hywelteague) April 25, 2019

This is Day 2 proper of the Abu Dhabi World Pro. The last 6 days have seen kids, masters and para athletes, but now we'll see only black and brown belts. 

Yesterday we saw the Country Qualifiers– now these are the main brackets. We'll work through to the semifinals today and the finals will go down on April 26. 

There are five mats running today. Catch up on yesterday's action here. Let's jump into the action– I'll be recapping notable matches as they happen. 

Levi Jones-Leary (AUS) def Youngam Noh (KOR) 

This 77kg opening match saw the Aussie win via two sweeps to one (4-2). Pretty uneventful– the Korean is a tricky opponent and was able to hang pretty well with Levi's leggy game. 

WATCH: Levi Jones-Leary vs Youngam Noh

Devhonte Johnson (USA vs Faisal Al Ketbi (UAE)

Nice fireman's carry attempt from Faisal but it goes out of bounds so he only gets an advantage. Devhonte pulls closed guard, not a smart strategy given how good Faisal is at avoiding getting scored on. Or is it? Devhonte latches onto a deep triangle that has Faisal defending hard, but the Emirati slips his head out. No advantage for Johnson though, which is kind of a rough call. Time runs out and Faisal advances in the 85kg division. 

WATCH: Devhonte Johnson vs Faisal Al Ketbi

Mayssa Bastos (BRA) vs Thamires Aquino (BRA) 

A choke from the back at 5.10 for the diminutive Brazilian. Thamires and Mayssa are technically teammates but never train together as they're based in different parts of the world, with Mayssa generally at Unity in New York and Thamires in California at GF Team. This is one group of a 6-person round robin so Mayssa will face Elina Moestam (SWE) next. If she wins that she's through to the final tomorrow. 

WATCH: Mayssa Bastos vs Thamires Aquino

Paulo Miyao (BRA) vs Jan Brasso (GER)

Second match for Miyao, who earlier beat Mehdi Allaoui (FRA) 9-0. Brasso is a former Cicero Costha rep who is Brazilian-German and now lives in Europe. Miyao passed the guard and racked up a huge 11 points to zero and is into the semifinals. 

WATCH: Paulo Miyao vs Jan Basso

Isaac Doederlein (USA) vs Yijad Moussa (COL)

A 69kg semifinal here. Isaac gets onto a crucifix and finishes via choke in only 1 minute and 49 seconds. He's looking sharp and will most likely meet Paulo Miyao in the final tomorrow. 

WATCH: Isaac Doederlein vs Yijad Moussa

Gabrieli Pessanha (BRA) vs Shantelle Thompson (AUS)

Pessnaha makes it look so easy. She's only 18 years old and still a brown belt, but such a smooth competitor. Thompson managed to slip out of an armbar and a triangle from guard– not an easy task. Pessanha scored an easy sweep and went on to win 4-0. 

WATCH: Gabrieli Pessanha vs Shantelle Thompson

Oliver Lovell (GBR) vs Levi Jones-Leary (AUS)

HUGE upset! The unherladed Lovell just tapped Jones-Leary with a kneebar! Can't say much more about this, just see it for yourself!

WATCH: Oliver Lovell vs Levi Jones-Leary

Gabrieli Pessanha (BRA) vs Nathiely de Jesus (BRA) 

Amazing! Gabi Pessanha just beat Nathiely de Jesus for the THIRD time in a row. It was close this time, just one advantage, but still... Just consider what that means. Gabi is into the final now and will face Claire France Thevenon tomorrow for the -90kg gold medal. 

WATCH: Gabrieli Pessanha vs Nathiely de Jesus 

Diego Ramalho (BRA) vs Ali Munfaradi (BAH)

24 seconds was all Ramalho needed to smash on a nasty straight ankle lock for the submission win in this 77kg match. 

WATCH: Diego Ramalho vs Ali Munfaradi 

Sorry for the little break there, I was running around backstage and down on the floor catching some matches up close 

Quick updates: 

Tommy Langaker (NOR) took Diego Ramalho's back with his matrix guard and won 4-0. He'll face Guilherme Rocha in the 77kg semifinal. – watch final

Erberth Santos (BRA) dismantled Abdulrahman Bilarov (RUS) with a takedown and kneebar. Scary stuff. – watch match

Adam Wardinski (POL) briefly looked in trouble vs Haisam Rida (GHA) but came back to pass and mount and won on points in the 94kg quarterfinal. – watch match

Diego Ramalho (BRA) fought Ali Munfaradi (BAH) again in the 77kg repechage and tapped him again, this time in only 15 seconds! 

Ffion Davies tapped Kira Sung with a choke from the back in the 62kg semifinal and will face Beatriz Mesquita tomorrow in the final – watch final

Kaynan Duarte vs Erberth Santos 

This is the match we've been waiting for all week! Duarte has been cruising through the competition, so far. We've only seen Erberth once but he looked fired up, which is always a sign of big things to come. 

Kaynan pulls and is looking for pant grips and using his hooks to try and get underneath Erberth's hips. Duarte turns a single-leg X into a reversal, putting Erberth down and landing in the closed guard. 2-0 Duarte. 

Erberth is playing open guard, using a combo of spider and lasso. Kaynan starts going side to side and nearly passes but Erberth never settles. The clock runs down with Kaynan on top and Erberth trying to sweep. The crowd cheer for Kaynan, and Erberth offers him a handshake as they come up to their feet. Kaynan will move onto the final, while Erberth will have to fight for third place in the repechage. 

WATCH: Kaynan Duarte vs Erberth Santos

Joao Gabriel Rocha (BRA) vs Keunwoo Kim (KOR)

We all know JGR is a beast, and he proved it with this 20 second submission over the Korean black belt Kim, snatching an unorthodox toehold. Check it out. 

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The black belt finals are all set. Here are the finals for tomorrow: 

56kg: Hiago George vs Carlos Alberto Silva 

62kg: Joao Gabriel Sousa vs Joao Miyao 

69kg: Isaac Doederlein vs Paulo Miyao 

77kg: Tommy Langaker vs Oliver Lovell 

85kg: Rudson Mateus vs Faisal Al Ketbi 

94kg: Kaynan Duarte vs Adam Wardzinski 

110kg: Joao Gabriel Rocha vs Yahia Al Hammadi

49kg: Mayssa Bastos vs Thamires Aquino 

55kg: Amal Amjahid vs Bianca Basilio 

62kg: Beatriz Mesquita vs Ffion Davies 

70kg: Thamara Silva vs Alessandra Moss 

90kg: Gabrieli Pessanha vs Claire-France Thevenon 

Alright guys I'm signing off – there are still brown belt divisions running and I definitely recommend you check those out. We'll make sure feature the best black belt matches from today so you can catch up on all of the action.