I just got back to my hotel from the 2nd day of the 2008 CBJJ mundial. Had to leave before the brown belts finished, but here are some results that I am able to recall: Ryan Hall wins purple belt leve, defeating Chace Wheaton (Alliance) in the final 4-0. He also defeated the Pan American champion, a very tough Jacob Mackenzie (Akxe), in the quarterfinal. Hall had 6 matches to win. Gabriel Goulart (Alliance) wins purple belt medio, defeating Albert Hughes (Travis Lutter) in the final. Michael Westbrook (Nova Uniao) wins superheavy purple, defeating Ervin Brandon (Lloyd Irvin) in the final. I wonder if this will silence the mindless internet critics who claim Hall has never done anything in the gi? European champion, Brasiliero bronze, Mundial champion--all in '08. Hard to argue with, no?
I saw him yesterday, he looked great. Triangled his first 3 opponents. The fight with Jake was very tough. Jake had it in the bag, winning 2-0. With less than a minute left they had been stood back up. Ryan, being the savvy competitor that he is, already knew Jake was going to pull guard as soon as he came close. So he attacked Jake very fast, as if he was going for a takedown and once he got close Jake did in fact pull guard. Ryan made it look like he was attacking and got the 2 points. He won 2-2, 2 advantages to 0.
How do you figure he's sandbagging? Or are you just being an idiot? You know hes only been training around four years? And his gi game is behind his no-gi game?
great work! impresssive to see so many "foreigners" on the top of their division, although I guess (and this comes without sarcasm) it has a lot to do with the fact that many brazillians cannot afford to travel to the US for the comp. Still a remarkable achievement
Its called a high standard. He is not sandbagging tho he is close to Brown. He was beat by Nate Diaz a little while before Nate got his Brown. Ryan Hall is right where he shound be and moving along at a proper pace. Cudos to Ryan for gaining the "proper" experience, skill and confidence to continue through the belts to succeed at each level. This is BJJ, dont rush it. Nate did not speed through the belts. BJJ is the last place that really has high standards, lets keep it that way.
yeah, but at the same time.. his four years arent like our four years. most of us have day jobs, and arent flying around the world competing and training with all sorts of different teams.
Still though. He will probably get a promotion after this, and while he is very talented, I don't think he's been at Purple for a ridiculously long time. He definately is no sandbagger, especially in the Gi.
I think everyone who wins world at the lower divisions should be promoted.... I mean you are the the world champ at the belt, time to move on.
it's a step in the right direction. But the fact is that he didn't do a dent before in the mundials. Now that is gone. The criticism was justified he redeemed himself by this great performance. Go ryan hall!
Are we confusing him with Brian Westbrook of the Eagles, or is there another Westbrook in the NFL that im unaware of?
Michael Westbrook is a former Redskin. My friend caught him in a triangle at last years mundials. Dude is a beast, really good jiu-jitsu
