Gabriel Almada 
Grappling took over the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan on Saturday, August 19. Four teams took to the mats in the AIGA Champions League quarter-finals. The highlight of the day was the Modolfo team, led by Mo Jassim. The ADCC organizer’s team put in a dominant performance overall and defeated the two opposing teams they faced.
Giancarlo Bodoni, Fabricio Andrey, Cole Abate, Dante Leon, Luke Griffith, Izaak Michell, Gabriel Sousa, Zach Kaina, Breno Peterson and John Hansen represented the ADCC flag in masterly fashion. First, the Modolfo team defeated the Al Leone team 5-2, and then they were even more ruthless and scored a 6-1 victory over the Nurmagomedov MMA School, led by Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Mo Jassim’s team not only dominated their opponents, but also sought submissions at all times and won most of their bouts via the fast track. The Modolfo team won only four bouts on points and took the rest by finish or verbal withdrawal.
Mo Jassim’s charges put their refined Jiu-Jitsu into practice and produced some fantastic finishes, such as Fabricio Andrey’s triangle, Izaak Michell’s armbar and Cole Abate’s heel lock to end the contest against Nurmagomedov MMA School.
The heaviest athletes in Mo’s clan, Giancarlo Bodoni, Luke Griffith and John Hansen were impeccable and blended the quality of their styles with strength and power to outclass their opponents. Both scored their victories by choke.
Cole Abate froze the city of Almaty in his second black belt competition. The “Ice Boy’s” submission sealed his victory over Khabib’s pupils. Cole proves with every performance why he deserves to be in the elite of Jiu-Jitsu. The AOJ prodigy needed just two minutes to pull off a masterful victory at the AIGA.
Dante Leon and Gabriel Sousa also won their bouts with authority and were important for the team to stay ahead on the scoreboard. Zach Kaina and Breno Peterson won one fight and lost the other, but were always in the fight.
The teams return to the mats tomorrow in search of a place in the semi-finals of the AIGA Champions League.
