The Saipan Submissions team members pose with the medals they won at the Marianas Pro Tokyo 2025 held at the Komazawa Olympic Park in Setagaya, Tokyo, on Feb. 8.
Contributed photos
Reiden Travilla attempts a transition to a triangle lock against his opponent during a match in the Kid 5 Grey Belt Rooster division of the Marianas Pro Tokyo 2025 in Japan on Feb 8.
SAIPAN Submissions, representing the CNMI, returned home with 14 medals from the Marianas Pro Tokyo 2025, held at Komazawa Olympic Park in Setagaya, Tokyo, on Feb. 8. They also placed third overall.
The gold medal winners included Reiden Travilla in the Kid 5 Grey Belt Rooster division, Saipan Submission teacher/coach Bryan Deleon Guerrero in the Adult Black Belt Light Featherweight division, and John Villagomez, who won two gold medals in the Master 30 White Belt Lightweight division and Master 30 White Belt Open Weight division.
Taking home silver medals were Leighton Palacios in the Juvenile 16-17 White Belt Featherweight division, Masaki Kitami in the Adult Blue Belt Rooster division, James Garcia in the Adult White Belt Medium-Heavyweight division, and Peter Sablan in the Master 30 Featherweight division
Garcia and Sablan also earned bronze in the Adult White Belt Open Weight and the Master 30 Open Weight divisions, respectively.
The other NMI bronze medalists were Chance Attao in the Kid 3 White Belt Featherweight division, Urijah Sablan in the Kid 3 Grey Belt Light-Featherweight division, Javin Okawa in the Adult Blue Belt Light-Featherweight division, Jacob Yamagishi in the Adult Blue Belt Featherweight division, and Jesus Attao in the Adult Blue Belt Medium-Heavyweight division.
In an interview with Variety, Bryan Deleon Guerrero said this was the team’s first international competition, and for some members, their first time competing.
“Overall, I think the team was really excited,” he said. “As for myself, I was eager to get out there and execute what I had been working on since my last appearance at the Marianas Open in October.”
As for the team’s performance, Deleon Guerrero said: “I saw a huge improvement in everyone’s skill leading up to the event. All the competitors were training daily, some of them were doing two sessions a day. Because of their dedication and hunger for competition the past few months, together they secured the overall third place Adult Team trophy. I couldn’t be prouder of the team.”
He said they will definitely make another team appearance at the 2025 Marianas Open in October.
“We are expecting to bring a lot more students compared to previous events. The adult and kid competitors are hungry!” he added.
“On behalf of the Saipan Submissions competition team and academy, I’d like to say thank you again to everyone who continues to support us, and most especially to those who supported us for this event. Because of you all, we were provided the opportunity to showcase our talent on the international stage. It was an honorable pleasure representing our island of Saipan!”
