UKBJJA Rankings - English Open Preview

In a break from my normal blogging format, here’s a little look at the front runners in the UKBJJA rankings going into the English Open. As a 4x weighted tournament everything is up for grabs in pursuit of a support package for the European Championships in January 2016.

Information taken from the UKBJJA rankings 

http://uk.ukbjja.org/ranking

Apologies I don’t know enough about white belts to comment.

Blue 

Looking at the top of the blue belt rankings Ashley Amos is the current favourite, with second place Reece Doran not taking part in the English, Louis Corazza is his next nearest competitor but is over 100 points behind. Ash came top of the White belt rankings last year and competed in Lisbon before having an extremely strong first year at blue belt.

One potential road block for Ashley is Gracie Barra Nottingham Super Heavyweight Tom Spibey. Tom leads the nogi rankings but until this weekend only had 9 points in the gi. Winning at Nottingham and taking the absolute in a close out with fellow GB Nottingham competitors has catapulted him up to 4th in the runnings. 

Sitting in the same division as Ash he proves the biggest challenge to the super heavyweight title and the 108 points for the gold would lead for a tight conclusion as both of these men would be expected to make waves in the absolute.

As the super heavyweights collide Spibey’s challenge could also be of benefit to Corazza, anything less than gold for Amos opens the door for Corazza who has shown to be strong in absolutes. With plenty of other strong competitors the blue belt absolute should be highly entertaining.

Purple

It’s a two man battle in the Purple belt rankings between Bryn Jenkins from Chris Rees Academy and Sean Coates from Gracie Barra Nottingham. Bryn has been nudging a small lead but a win for Sean in weight and absolute at the Nottingham Open this last weekend netted him another 67.5 points, giving him the lead with 432 points to 378. 

They are both favourite to win their divisions with Bryn having tougher task with a larger division including Carlson Gracie stand out Taylor Pearlman. The absolute should decide this one, netting the top spot would send either of them to Lisbon

Let’s hope they meet in the finals.

Brown

With a lot of names missing from the competitor lists at Brown belt (including Sean McDonagh and Jamie Hughes) no change is expected with Allan Love likely to remain at the top

Black

Relatively few black belts on the board at the moment. The man to beat Jack Mcghee, will be in action against Rob Taylor on Sunday. However if a competitor was to win their division and the black belt absolute they could topple Mcghee even if he wins his division so Jack also needs a strong showing in the absolute.


Womens

Blue

With Ffion Davies being promoted to purple belt following her World Nogi double gold this division is wide open any of the top 10 ladies could take the top spot with a commanding performance at the English.

Purple

Kat Hill is practically unassailable, the points difference between her and Sophie Walters is more than the points for gold absolute. I can’t see Kat losing in her division which will give her the top spot. 

Sadly there are no Brown or Black belt women’s matches taking place this year.