2013 IBJJF World Championship

Did you know?

• ▸ Across the 67 recorded matchups at the 2013 Worlds in Long Beach, points decided more bouts than any other method with 30, while submissions accounted for 26. That tells you how tight the top of the podium was that year.
• ▸ The submission rate across recorded matches was 39 percent, and when finishes did come the armbar led the way with 5. The ezekiel choke was next with 3, a reminder that basic mechanics still close matches at the highest level.
• ▸ Rodolfo Vieira posted 5 wins on record at this event, 4 of them by submission. That is the kind of finishing pressure that made him a nightmare to draw in the bracket.
• ▸ In the featherweight final Caio Terra beat Bruno Malfacine by points, 4 to 2. Two of the best light players of the era settling it by a two point margin says everything about that matchup.
• ▸ Andre Galvao finished all 3 of his recorded wins by submission, yet still ran into a wall when Leonardo Leite took him out in the quarter finals by referee decision. Even the sharpest closers can get caught in a scrap that goes to the judges.