Just weeks ahead of the IBJJF Pans, a select crew of Atos HQ X Red Bowie athletes flew across the country to Philadelphia to compete in Subversiv IV, October 31. The goal: just like any other event, to bring the trophy home. Mission: accomplished.
A relatively new promotion put on by a very well-known name – Seth Daniels of Fight 2 Win fame – Subversiv provides one of the few team-based competitions in the sport. Each team is made up of three competitors: one over 180-pound male, one under 180-pound male, and an open-weight female. Initially, Subversiv utilized the EBI ruleset; submission-only with up to three overtime rounds in which the competitors start in spider web or back control. However, this year Subversiv switched to the F2W ruleset; submission-only with referee decision in the case there is no submission. This proved to be a favorable move, with 16 teams sending representatives to fight in Subversiv IV.
The Atos x Red Bowie Team
Team Atos x Red Bowie consisted of black belt super star Lucas Barbosa, brown belt beast Andy Murasaki, and freshman black belt Rafaela Guedes. Sponsored by one of the most recognizable CBD companies in the jiu-jitsu community, Red Bowie, the athletes were able to get their trip completely paid for, as well as receive a bonus for winning.
With a plethora of amazing athletes to choose from, the decision of who Professor Andre Galvao would send to represent Atos was a difficult one.
“I chose the fighters by the amount of training and dedication they showed during training, but also by how I thought they’d do in that kind of event,” Professor Galvao said. “I have a lot of people here, right, a lot of really great fighters. But I thought, ‘I know if we go with these guys right here, we have a good chance of coming back with the title.’”
For the over 180-pound representative, Lucas Barbosa was the obvious choice.
“Lucas Barbosa, he’s the big dog at Atos HQ, you know. He is an ADCC veteran and medalist, and 6x IBJJF No-Gi World champion. No doubt, Lucas is the best No-Gi guy here at Atos HQ. We have other guys too, but when Lucas fights, he always performs really well.”
Professor Galvao had several in mind for the under 180-pound representative, but ultimately chose one of his killer brown belts for a mix of reasons.
“I thought about Jonnatas Gracie and Michael Perez too, but they would have had to lose weight. Also, Andy is in such a great moment in his career. Even though he’s just a brown belt, he’s almost at the black belt level already. I know that from everyone that I could choose, he’s the one that trains the most. He’s there every single class, training really hard, he’s lifting weights and he’s very dedicated with his diet and all that.”
For the female representative, Professor Galvao’s went with Rafaela Guedes, who recently won double gold at the IBJJF Pans just a week after being promoted from brown.
“Rafaela is a brand new black belt, but she is working every day, always training really hard. She is also one of my heaviest black belt women, and since I knew we would end up fighting against bigger girls, she was the best choice.”
Smashing Through the Bracket
With 16 teams arranged in a bracket, eight teams on each side, Team Atos x Red Bowie had to win against four teams to win the event. In each match-up, the team had to win at least two of the matches to advance.
In the first match-up, the Atos team soundly defeated their opponents from Team Peace Makers.
“Lucas did amazing. He submitted the guy in less than a minute… I think it was like 30 seconds. The guy pulled guard, he passed, boom! North-south choke, done. Andy won by ref decision the first fight. He fought the brother of the guy that fought Lucas. Andy was attacking the whole time and the guy was just defending. He won by ref decision. Rafaela did great. She tapped the other girl with a nice arm bar.”
The team advanced to the next round against Team RGA Daniel Gracie, winning 2-1 against them, with a loss by referee decision. Then they faced Team New York, again winning 2-1. Finally they found themselves facing the other top-seeded team, Team Level Black, composed of Kody Steele, William Tackett and Elisabeth Clay.
“They did amazing. In the finals, Lucas crushed the guard of William Tackett. Andy almost tapped Kody. We didn’t have three fights in the last round because the first team that scored two points would be the champion. That’s why Rafaela didn’t need to fight Elizabeth in the last fight. But it was a great performance by Team Atos x Red Bowie.”
Not Just Practice for Pans
As with all major jiu-jitsu events, the Atos HQ team always shows up to win. According to Professor Galvao, winning events like this is more than just an accomplishment, and certainly more than just practice for the next event. It’s important for the overall morale of the team.
“It’s important not only for those that fought, but for the team overall. So the team feels that we are doing the right thing, you know? We came back with the victory, and the whole team was like: ‘Oh man, we train with the best.’ They feel proud, and they get that boost of motivation to keep training, knowing that they are on the right path.”
“I think it’s a great format. It’s fun, you know? Because winning doesn’t depend only on your victory, it depends on the victory of the whole team, the performance of everyone.” Professor Galvao said, explaining how it creates a sense of team. “It requires a good mindset, you know? It puts pressure on you, in a good way. If one of your teammates loses and you have to win for your team to advance. But then if you lose, your teammate has an opportunity to win, and help your team advance. The athletes feel like, ‘Yeah, we did it. Let’s keep moving forward, we’re all together.’ You know? So, I think it’s a great format and we should have more events like that because it’s fun.”
Congratulations to Professor Galvao and Team Atos x Red Bowie!