Fábio Gurgel criticizes the ADCC referees

Photo Eduardo Ferreira

With four athletes in action on ADCC in Barcelona, Spain,Alliance came back home with a gold and two silver medals. Satisfied with the team’s performance, Fábio Gurgel, leader of Alliance on Brazil, talked with TATAME about his athletes performances, starting with Luanna Alzuguir’s gold. “Spectacular, Luanna is an example of dedication. It’s never bad with her, she had the opportunity to come to Abu Dahbi and focused 100% on that... She’s a super talent, fight foward the whole time, search for submission... She washed our souls, because today (Sunday) was hard“, said Gurgel, about the fight between Marcelinho Garcia and Pablo Popovitch, decided on the last seconds in Pablo’s favor.

“Abu Dhabi’s things... Actually, I come prepared fort his kind of stuff. The judges are confused; they don’t even know what they’re doing, actually. It don’t take Pablo’s merit nor Marcelinho’s mistake, who has the fight won and have enough experience to don’t make this kind of mistake“, said the general of Alliance, complaining of the point gave to Marcelinho on the last seconds, cancelled later. “The fight would go to the overtime and the guy goes to the table and takes a point, with no explanations... I questioned and he told me: ’I can take the point’. I said: ’I didn’t ask if you can or not, I asked why do you gave the point and then took it’. Marcelinho paid for his mistake, he didn’t need to come on that position almost in the end, but it’s part of it, congratulations to Pablo, he made a great fight and his strategy worked“.

On the other final with an Alliance athlete, Gurgel comments the judge’s performance again. “If you watch the fight of Cobrinha with Mendes, he gave two points to Cobrinha and two for Mendes of a supposed sweeping that most happened three minutes earlier, so it’s complicated, this harms the athletes“, said, commenting the mistakes of the world’s tetra champion on fight. “Rafael has all the merit, made an excellent championship, just like Cobrinha too. We knew that we’ll see sparks on this fight, it would be equilibrated, both of them have a complicated game to fight against, with guard very hard to pass, specially with no kimonos“, commented Gurgel, complementing the champion’s performance, who got the victory after 40 minutes of fight.

“We knew that the danger was that on the back, for both, Cobrinha had his chance and didn’t take it... All the key trades, leg locks and key foot, we know that nobody will beat that. Rafael had good moments of triangle, had more attacks than Cobrinha in fight, and Cobrinha had good moments on the overtime, when he was better on the fight, but couldn’t take advantage of. Mendes had a chance with two minutes left and he took it, total merits for him“, said, one more time pointing judge’s mistakes. “I think the judges were wrong, conducted in a bad way. One thing is to fight a fight 2x0, and other thing is to fight 0x0. If it’s 0x0 and I sweep, I’m winning, but the both are congratulated for this super fight“.