Who Wins: Ultra-Heavyweight
Who Wins: Ultra-Heavyweight
Hollywood Mike breaks down and gives predictions for the black belt ultra-heavyweight division at IBJJF Worlds!
It's IBJJF Worlds time, and that means I have scoured the earth consulting fortune tellers and entered years of data into my super computer to try and determine just exactly how these brackets will go down. I've already done roosterweight here, now let's move on to ultra-heavy, or as I call it, the Meregali division:
OSS!
There are nine athletes registered at ultra-heavy, so there will only be one match on Saturday, Cyborg vs Thomas McMahon. Here is how the bracket works out:
Meregali vs Hugo 3 In The Semis?
That bracket doesn't quite represent the actual seeding, as splitting up the teams always affects the final bracket. Here are the actual seeds -
1: Nicholas Meregali (Dream Art)
2: Igor Schneider (Dream Art)
3: Max Gimenis (GF Team)
4: Victor Hugo (Six Blades)
5: Luiz Panza (Checkmat)
6: Wallace Costa (GF Team)
7: Cyborg Abreu (Fight Sports)
8: Thomas McMahon (Alliance)
9: Antonio Zuazo (Alliance)
Dream Art with the top two seeds here, but the one seed Meregali will have a much tougher road to make the finals, most likely going against Cyborg first and then Victor Hugo in the semis. I think Schneider makes it out of his side, most likely meaning a close out if Meregali makes the finals.
Nicholas is 1-0 against Cyborg, winning by submission, and is currently 1-1 against Victor Hugo, with Victor taking their second meeting at the original WNO in the gi.
Does Meregali get that second Worlds gold at black belt? I have no shame in my favoritism towards Nicholas. Simply the most exciting gi competitor currently by a mile, always going for the finish, and no matter who he meets I'm going with -
Meregali By Decapitation
Alright so I've got Schneider and Panza meeting in the semis on one side, and Meregali and Hugo meeting in the other semi. Nicholas/Victor is the real final here, but I'm going with a Dream Art close out after Nicholas wins their rubber match by submission.
1 - Nicholas Meregali
2 - Igor Schneider
3 - Luiz Panza
3 - Victor Hugo
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