The Sapateiro World Championship 2024 Bethlehem Qualifier took place on April 13th, 2024 and the results saw another elite grappler secure the opportunity to compete for the $100,000 grand prize at the end of the year. The road to the world championship is still in it’s early days and this is the only the second qualifying round, after Deandre Corbe won the first invite in Florida. There was some serious talent competing for the first invite so there was some high expectations coming into this tournament, and things looked promising when a stacked lineup was announced. Every single man in the bracket gave it everything he had and there was several fun matches taking place as the tournament unfolded.
Carlos Henrique was one of the early favorites to win the tournament and he won all of his first three matches on points, including a quarter-final matchup against top prospect Andrew DeGraff. The other top contender when the lineup was released was Julian Espinosa, and he was just as impressive when he took to the mats as well. He submitted all of his three opponents leading into the final and then submitted Henrique as well in order to win gold. Sid Tavolaro left with a 3-1 record and a bronze medal in a great performance too, while Steve Joachim won a four-man openweight tournament with a pair of submissions.
Sapateiro World Championship 2024 Bethlehem Qualifier Full Results
Opening Round
Carlos Henrique defeats Mason Klein via Decision
Andrew DeGraff defeats Diallo Braithwaite via Decision
Landon Elmore defeats Andrew Franco via Submission
Anthony Ortiz defeats Rory Connors via Submission
Julian Espinosa defeats Randy Baker via Submission
Matt Masch defeats Travis DePriest via Decision
Sid Tavolaro defeats Vince Kline via Submission
Kevin Dantzler defeats Jason Valle via Submission
Quarter-Finals
Carlos Henrique defeats Andrew DeGraff via Decision
Anthony Ortiz Silva defeats Landon Elmore via Submission
Julian Espinosa defeats Matt Masch via Submission
Sid Tavolaro defeats Kevin Dantzler via Submission
Semi-Finals
Carlos Henrique defeats Anthony Ortiz Silva via Decision
Julian Espinosa defeats Sid Tavolaro via Submission
Third-place Match
Sid Tavolaro defeats Anthony Ortiz Silva via Submission
Final
Julian Espinosa defeats Carlos Henrique via Submission
Superfights
Matt Yost defeats Tom Cellamore via Decision
Openweight Tournament:
Steve Joachim defeats Martin Arbelaez via Submission
Scott Pezel defeats Matt Yost via Submission
Final
Steve Joachim defeats Scott Pezel via Submission
