Abu Dhabi: Pint-sized American Mackenzie Dern created the biggest upset on the final day of the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship with a shock victory over nine-time world champion Gabrielle Garcia in the black belt open category at the IPIC Arena here on Saturday.
After dethroning Garcia in the semi-finals, Dern went on to stun another Brazilian Vanessa Nascimento 6-0 in the final for the title.
“I’m disappointed that I got the penalty when I spoke to my coach about a point I should have got and that’s unfortunate. I also thought I scored few points out there. But all credit to Mackenzie as she fought very well and I shall came back here to win back the title next year,” said Garcia, who later took her wrath out on compatriot Beatriz Mesquita to clinch bronze with a 3-0 submission.
Unlike Garcia, reigning men’s open champion Marcus Almeida lived up to his top billing against Denmark’s Alexandar Trans, who had also lost the title to the former in the men’s +95kg black belt category on Thursday.
Almeida once again proved too good, beating Trans 2-1 to extend his winning streak against his opponent to seven.
Garcia was a firm favourite to retain her title in the open category after she won gold in the women’s +75kg black belt category on Thursday, when taming Nascimento.
The tall Garcia, who won her first two matches comfortably, dominated the fight all the way through, but Dern managed a penalty point and showed tremendous agility to hold on to it till the end.
“I tried by best and this shows that nothing is impossible,” said an overjoyed Dern, adding that she was motivated going into the bout against Garcia.
“I have fought against her five times and every time I was learning. I just wanted to survive and I felt the best way was just to attack and that’s what I did. This time, I tried to attack and not over-defend.
“Sometimes fights don’t go 100 per cent right for you, but I think the six-minute fight was really good for me and everything was in place for me.”
The UAE’s Yahia Mansour completed a grand double by winning gold in the open male purple masters category beating Sebastian Jan Szyszka of Poland. On Friday he had won gold in the purple masters +95kg category, beating Almir Fuad Katic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“He [Szyszka] was a very strong guy and has won several medals before. I had seen how he performed against Mohammad Al Qubaisi in the semis and so I changed my fighting style to beat him,” said Mansour, who has now graduated to the brown belt.
“I will now be preparing for the World Championship in the US next month. I want to carry this form there and do well.”
A second gold for the hosts was claimed by Mohammad Darwish.
Shaikha Maitha Bint Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who won silver in the female white adult +75kg category on Friday, couldn’t continue her fine run of form in the open category as she lost in the first round to Romone Pascual of the Philippines, who went on to beat Elena Koshevaia of Jordan in the final for gold.
UAE sensation Faisal Al Ketbi had to pull out of the black belt open category at the last minute with injury.