The final trials event leading up to ADCC 2022 has just finished and seven more elite athletes have qualified, this time from Asia and Oceania. One of Lachlan Giles’ latest batch of black belts, Jeremy Skinner, secured his invite in the 66kg division and he was actually one of the only pre-event favourites that managed to win their division. He had a perfect run in the division as he submitted all five of his opponents over the course of the weekend, beating David Stoilescu in the final. Skinner’s Absolute MMA teammate Daniel Schuardt wasn’t quite so successful as he managed to win his way into the final of the over 99kg division but was unable to make it past Josh Saunders in the end, who took gold and earned his place at ADCC 2022.
The under 99kg division had one of the most unusual storylines as it was won by a man who weighed 30lbs less than the weight limit. B-Team’s Izaak Michell had a fantastic performance despite being outweighed by everyone he came up against and became the sixth member of his team to qualify for ADCC 2022. His decision to compete at 99kg might be owing to the fact that both Craig Jones and Jacob Rodriguez will already be competing at 88kg at the event. Fellow B-Team representative Jozef Chen was the youngest medallist of the weekend as he earned bronze in the 77kg division but could not stop trials veteran Kenta Iwamoto, who went on to win gold and qualify for his second ADCC world championship event.
The oldest medallist came in the 88kg division, where Roberto Dib Frias used an incredible tough and gritty grappling style to grind down each and every one of his opponents. Not only did he manage to defeat Absolute MMA’s exciting prospect Kaya Rudolph in the semi-final but he also outworked ADCC veteran Ben Hodgkinson in the final to earn gold. The women’s divisions were just as unpredictable as the under 60kg favorite, Unity’s Margot Ciccarelli, had to settle for bronze after losing to Nadia Frankland who was in turn beaten by Adele Fornarino in the division’s final.
The over 60kg women’s division was understandably not as busy as the others but still provided plenty of intrigue as Samoan wrestler Gase Sanita fought her way to the final. On the other side of the bracket, Nikki Lloyd-Griffiths scored the fastest submission of the day in just 5 seconds and won her second match on points to meet Sanita. Lloyd-Griffiths spent almost the entire match on her opponent’s back and although she couldn’t finish the tough Sanita, she comfortably won the fight and booked her place at ADCC 2022 along with the rest of the qualifiers from the Asia and Oceania Trials.
Men’s ADCC Asia and Oceania Trials 2022 Full Results
-66kg
1 – Jeremy Skinner
2 – David Stoilescu
3 – Ariel Tabak
-77kg
1 – Kenta Iwamoto
2 – Siraj Soufi
3 – Jozef Chen
-88kg
1 – Roberto Dib Frias
2 – Ben Hodgkinson
3 – Kaya Rudolph
-99kg
1 – Izaak Michell
2 – Anton Minenko
3 – Matthew McGuinness
+99kg
1 – Josh Saunders
2 – Daniel Schuardt
3 – Ricky Lunzy
Women’s Full Results
-60kg
1 – Adele Fornarino
2 – Nadia Frankland
3 – Margot Ciccarelli
+60kg
1 – Nikki Lloyd-Griffiths
2 – Gase Sanita
3 – Tayla Ford
The full ADCC Asia and Oceania Trials 2022 replay will be available to watch on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch.
