Wall to wall action greeted the spectators who made it to the Sovereign Bank Arena today to watch the 2007 edition of the Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling Championships.

As usual, the Brazilian grapplers dominated proceedings, but it seems the best of the US is finally able to rattle the South American hegemony. Mike Fowler, standout american black belt under Lloyd Irvin stunned onlookers by beating Renzo Gracie andd then submitting Saulo Ribiero with a toehold - he faces Marcelo Garcia tomorrow. Fellow american black belt Jeff Glover shocked favourite Leo Vieira with a strong display, almost submitting him twice before losing narrowly 2-0.

Despite fighting above his normal weight category, the Birmingham, England resident Braulio Estima submitted his first two opponents with relative ease, including ADCC Brazil Trials champ Christian 'Titi' - his reward, a match up with Carcareco and then probably Xande Ribiero.

British hopefuls Rachel Wheatley and Caoimhe McGill had the toughest draws possible - former Mundials champ Caoimhe fought gamely against BJJ World Champion Kyra Gracie, keeping her posture well and almost taking mount but was armbarred after 2 minutes 30. 

Wheatley fought the Japanese MMA star Megumi Fuji and came close to beating the multiple times Japanese Sambo champ, once taking her back and then shortly afterwards locking on a triangle from guard. In the end, the experience of the mma star prevailed and she won by rear naked choke.

Elsewhere BJJ ruled the roost with World Champions Fabricio Werdum, Pe De Pano, Marcelo Garcia,  Leozinho Vieira, Xande Ribiero and other stand-outs such as Rolles Gracie, Romulo Barral, Pablo Popovitch and Tarsis Humphreys all progressing to the Sunday matches.

Tomorrow sees the Semi Finals, Finals, the Absolute divisions and the superfight between Jon Olav Einemo and Roger Gracie.  If you can't make it live, ProElite.com are doing a live PPV streaming over the internet - check here for more details.

Semi Finals - Under 65kg

Leozinho Vieira (BRA) vs Tetsu Suzuki (JAP)
Rani Yahya (BRA) vs Barret Yoshida (USA)

Semi Finals - Under 76kg

Marcelinho Garcia (BRA) vs Mike Fowler (USA)
André Galvão (BRA) vs Pablo Popovich (USA)

Semi Finals - Under 87kg

Demian Maia (BRA) vs Tarsys Humphreys (BRA)
Flavio Cachorrinho (BRA) vs Romulo Barral (BRA)

Semi Finals - Under 99kg

Xande Ribeiro (BRA) vs Robert Drysdale (BRA)
Alexandre Cacareco (BRA) vs Braulio Estima (BRA)

Semi Finals - Over 99kg

Fabricio Werdum (BRA) vs Darren Andy (USA)
Marcio Pé de Pano (BRA) vs Rolls Gracie (BRA)

ADCC - All Results and Semi Final brackets here

ADCC - some pics here