Marcos Almeida sweeps to victory at Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship

Garcia defends her women’s crown as Brazilian takes men’s title in dramatic fashion as he overcomes compatriot Vieira.

Brazilian Marcos Almeida, in blue, was made to fight hard against Rodolfo Vieira before claiming the black belt open-weight gold. Francois Nel / Getty Images

ABU DHABI // Marcos Almeida and Gabrielle Garcia retained their Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship open-weight titles yesterday in two very different styles.

Almeida clinched a dramatic two points from a sweep in the dying seconds of the five-minute final to retain the men’s title in a repeat of last year’s final against his Brazilian compatriot Rodolfo Vieira.

Garcia had no such problems as she dominated the women’s event by winning the final in just over a minute with a choke lock on Janni Margareta Larsson of Sweden.

The two fights were the climax of the three-day championship at Zayed Sports City’s FGB Arena, which had a total purse of Dh1.6 million.

“Every fight with Rodolfo has been close and every time it gets harder,” the California-based Almeida said.

“It was a very exhausting fight. I was very tired, my knees were almost giving up, yet I wanted to give it a last try. I tried a takedown but it didn’t work, but then I don’t know how I scored off a sweep.

“That move happened so fast, perhaps it was an impulse reaction. Until then he [Vieira] was leading on advantage. So I had to try something and thankfully it worked.”

Almeida leads Vieira 4-1 head-to-head but insisted the record does not reflect the closeness of every meeting between them.

“You never know who will win next time, so records mean nothing in our meetings,” he said.

The two have met three times in California from which Vieira has had one success, as well as two in Abu Dhabi.

Almeida was completing his double in Abu Dhabi, having won the 100kg+ brown/black weight division.

“As professional athletes we need to get paid, but the belt and the medals are priceless,” he said. “Abu Dhabi has been the best stop for most of the fighters and I’m hoping to be here next year.”

Garcia continued her dominance in the women’s championship with the win over Larsson.

“Whoever has to face Gabi [Garcia] runs into a brick wall, so I was just happy to be in the final and to fight her,” said Larsson, who was much shorter than her Brazilian ­opponent.

“Gabi is a so strong and I knew it was going to be hard. This is my second meeting with her. I had to face her in the opening round in Abu Dhabi last year.

“I have been a black belt only for eight months, and I think I did well to win my weight category and reach the open final.”

For Garcia, there is no rest.

She begins training tomorrow for the world championships in California in June.

“My fights may look easy from the outside, but they really aren’t. I have to work very hard every time I am on the mat. But I am so happy for this moment,” she said.

Garcia is unbeaten in Abu Dhabi, having won her brown/black weight division for the fifth successive year and the open weight for the third time since the belt was introduced three years ago.

Follow us on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE