Saulo Ribeiro and Fabio Gurgel are among the most respected figures from their era of BJJ competition and they actually met on the mats for the very first time at the IBJJF World Championship 1998. Although they have both since joined the IBJJF Hall of Fame, this match took place back when they were both relatively early on in their competitive careers. Gurgel had actually won the IBJJF world championship at heavyweight in both of the first two years, while Ribeiro had won his first title at middleweight in 1997 and was moving up to a new weight class. Gurgel was obviously the favorite leading up to the tournament as he was the only champion the division had ever known, but Ribeiro was seen as a top contender who had the potential to dethrone him.
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Saulo Ribeiro vs Fabio Gurgel – IBJJF World Championship 1998
Saulo Ribeiro and Fabio Gurgel worked their way through opposite sides of the heavyweight bracket at the IBJJF World Championship 1998, beating some very tough opponents between them. The most notable of these matches came for Ribeiro in the semi-final, where he beat Murilo Bustamante on advantages. There was a lot on the line for both of them and they started the match at a measured pace at first, but Ribeiro exploded into a beautiful drop seio-nage that caught Gurgel off-guard and sent him to his back. That takedown scored Ribeiro the first two points of the match and Gurgel now had to work at a much faster pace to launch a comeback.
Gurgel got close on a few sweep attempts and manage to bring Ribeiro off balance a few times, but Ribeiro was able to recover by giving him space. Gurgel used that space to stand back up but Ribeiro’s standing grappling proved to be too much of a threat and he pulled guard shortly after. Ribeiro tried to work for a sweep but used the space to stand up once again, this time looking for a takedown of his own. It was clear that Ribeiro’s Judo skills gave him the clear advantage here though, as Gurgel returned the favor with a drop seio-nage attempt of his own that was shut down by Ribeiro.
Ribeiro started to attack Gurgel’s back but he was able to turtle up quickly and revert to butterfly guard in order to prevent any offense. Gurgel continued working for sweeps from there, but the time was running out and he needed to act fast if he had any hope of leveling the score. Ribeiro was able to keep his hips heavy and shut down any hope of a sweep though, right up until the time ran out on the match. Saulo Ribeiro had done the unthinkable and moved up two weight classes to beat the reigning champion Fabio Gurgel, and win his second IBJJF World Championship gold medal.
The Aftermath
Both Saulo Ribeiro and Fabio Gurgel have gone on to become legendary figures in the sport, as competitors first and as coaches second. Although they were both IBJJF World Champions before this match, they both extended their legacy with several more gold medals there and Ribeiro also won a pair of ADCC titles too. They even tested themselves in MMA too, with Ribeiro holding a 2-1 record that includes a notable fight with Yuki Kondo and Gurgel finishing at 5-2 with a single fight in the UFC and one epic fight with Mark Kerr shortly before this match.
Gurgel had already founded Alliance Jiu-Jitsu several years before this match but it grew exponentially over the coming years and eventually Ribeiro started the University of Jiu-Jitsu and the Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu Association with his brother Xande Ribeiro. Saulo Ribeiro has since gone on to be promoted to 6th degree BJJ black belt alongside the previous black belt he held in Judo, while Fabio Gurgel has been promoted to coral belt in BJJ. Both men were inducted into the IBJJF Hall of Fame quite some time ago in honor of their achievements on the mats, and Ribeiro also earned a place in the ADCC Hall of Fame too.
The footage of the match between Saulo Ribeiro and Fabio Gurgel in the IBJJF World Championship 1998 heavyweight final was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Riccardo ‘Baleia’ Ammendolia: