Jeff Monson receives his No-Gi gold medal in the unlimited weight class at the FILA Grappling World Championships in Krakow, Poland. KRAKOW, Poland – Jeff Monson won a gold medal in the unlimited weight class, and Team USA placed third as a team in No-Gi Grappling at the FILA Grappling World Championships in Krakow, Poland on Saturday. Monson claimed his third FILA No-Gi Grappling World title, to go along with his World titles in 2007 and 2008. Monson , who competed in wrestling for Oregon State and Illinois, is well known for his career in professional Mixed Martial Arts. Monson won three matches to claim his gold medal. He defeated Juan Espino of Spain in the finals, 1-0 in overtime. His other wins were over G. Kastinopoulos of Greece, 3-1 and Magnus Strandner of Sweden, 2-1. Winning silver medals for the United States were men’s grapplers Matt Betzold at 62 kg/136.5 lbs., Shane Cross at 77 kg/169.5 lbs. and Mike Kelly at 84 kg/185 lbs. Betzold and Kelly are past FILA Grappling No-Gi World medalists for the United States, while Cross won his first FILA World medal in No-Gi Grappling. Betzold opened with victories over Kamil Hasanov of Azerbaijan, 13-0 and Kevin Petshi of France, 4-4. He lost in the gold-medal match to Amir Al Bazy of Sweden, 2-5. On Friday, Betzold won a gold medal at the same weight class in FILA’s Amateur MMA tournament. Cross won three matches to reach the finals, stopping Ramil Mammadov of Azerbaijan by submission, Kamil Mitosek of Poland, 1-0, in overtime and Said Zeiai of Sweden, 1-0. He lost to Oleksandr Vysotskiy of Ukraine, 0-3 in the final. Kelly also had three wins to reach the finals, stopping Maciej Glabus of Poland, 1-1, Magomed Mative of Russia, 3-0 and Cedric Akakpovi of France, 2-1. He fell in the finals to Jose Rodenas of Spain, 1-0 in overtime. Claiming No-Gi FILA World bronze medals for Team USA were Dan Huber at 100 kg/220 lbs. in the men’s division and Gabriella Foster at 58 kg/127.75 lbs. in the women’s division. For both, it was their first FILA World medal in Grappling. Huber beat Faud Gadirov of Azerbaijan, 12-1 in the bronze-medal bout. Foster scored a submission over Eloise Aoustin of France in her bronze-medal bout. Placing fifth at 53 kg/116.75 lbs. for Team USA in the women’s division was Diana Anchondo. Placing seventh for the USA were Nick Marr at 71 kg/156.25 lbs. and Jeff Funicello at 92 kg/202.5 lbs. On Friday, Marr also placed fifth in Amateur MMA in his division. The USA team is coached by Ricardo Liborio of American Top Team in Florida and Sheldon Marr of Grapplers Edge in Colorado. The USA was third in the team standings, which combined both men and women’s results with 53 points. Placing ahead of Team USA were team champions Poland with 98 points, and runner-up Sweden with 56 points. This was the same team standings for the top three teams from the 2011 Grappling World Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. The USA will also be entering athletes in Sunday’s Gi Grappling competition. The event was originally scheduled for Moscow, Russia, but was moved to Poland only a few weeks prior to the event, after many athletes had already made travel plans. Due to the change in location, a number of athletes were not able to attend and some alternates were included on the final U.S. roster. In spite of the challenges, the team was still able to bring home a team trophy. The United States has one of the best Grappling nations in the world, with consecutive team titles in the FILA Grappling World Championships from 2006 through 2010 in No-Gi Grappling, and third place finishes the last two years. GRAPPLING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS At Krakow, Poland, November 17 Men's No-Gi results 62 kg/136.5 lbs. 1 SWE AL BAZY Amir 2 USA BETZOLD Matt 3 FRA PETSHI Kevin 3 JPN MIZUARAI Yuichiro 5 AZE HASANOV Kamil 5 POL ROSA Krzysztof 7 KAZ MAMEDOV Firdovsi 8 ESP RONQUILLO Alfredo 9 UKR BARANOV Dmytro 10 HUN SZTRANCSIK Balazs 66 kg/145.5 lbs. 1 POL PODSTAWCZUK Piotr 2 RUS ZAYNUKOV Zaynutdin 3 GRE DIMOPOULOS S. 3 FRA JARDIN Mathias 5 LUX TEIXEIRA Hose 5 SRB STESEVIC Vukoje 7 CAN BAYAV Elliot 8 SWE SJOLIN Johan 9 UKR NAUMOV Oleksiy 10 ESP DIAZ Abraham 71 kg/156.25 lbs. 1 POL POLOK Maciej 2 FRA FRACHEY Johnny 3 CAN BAGSHAW Matthew 3 CRO MARJANOVIC Petar 5 SRB MILICEVIC A. 5 AZE RUSTAMOV Aslan 7 USA MARR Nick 8 UKR SIDOROV Artem 9 JPN TERAMOTO Daisuke 10 SWE RAMI Aziz 77 kg/169.5 lbs. 1 UKR VYSOTSKIY Oleksandr 2 USA CROSS Shane 3 POL MITOSEK Kamil 3 KAZ ALBAGACHIYEV Anton 5 SWE ZEIAI Said 5 SRB MIJALCIC Milan 7 RSA VERSTER David 8 ESP LAFUENTE J. 9 FRA GONCALVES Clement 10 RUS MAGOMADOV Ayub 84 kg/185 lbs. 1 ESP RODENAS Jose 2 USA KELLY Michael 3 POL GLABUS Maciej 3 KAZ VALIAKHMETOV Renat 5 FRA AKAKPOVI Cedric 5 AZE MAMMADALIYEV Haydar 7 SWE LAVIN Martin 8 RUS MATIEV Magomed 9 UKR TRUSHNIKOV Evgen 10 ITA ANACORETA Luca 92 kg/202.5 lbs. 1 SWE NILSSON Mats 2 POL TYSZKA Zbigniew 3 ITA RAFFI Lamberto 3 FRA ROMMING Johan 5 GRE KARIPIDIS V. 5 CRO TADIJANOV Ivica 7 USA FUNICELLO Jeff 8 JPN KUNO Takanori 9 RSA BUGAI Tal-Ell 10 KAZ FERZAULI Khussein 100 kg/220 lbs. 1 SWE KNUTSSON Mikael 2 CRO MILINKOVIC Sasa 3 USA HUBER Dan 3 RUS BETELGERIEV Khasan 5 AZE GADIROV Fuad 5 SRB CULIC Uros 7 POL UMINSKI Kamil 8 UKR MISHCHENKO V. 9 HUN LACZKO Balazs 10 MNE FEMIC Ivan 10 KAZ MALAYEV Rustam Unlimited 1 USA MONSON Jeff 2 ESP ESPINO Juan 3 GRE KASTINOPOULOS G. 3 POL JUSKOWIAK Mateusz 5 SWE STRANDNER Magnus 5 HUN KALMAR Istvan 7 CRO VIDAKOVIC Goran 8 RUS ZABOLOTNYI Dmitri Women’s No-Gi results 53 kg/116.75 lbs. 1 FRA TALVARD Oceane 2 POL ZDRODOWSKA Anita 3 ITA ROGGIO Giulia 3 SWE HAMMARSTEN Anny 5 USA ANCHONDO Diana 5 CAN MACDONALD Cheryse 7 SRB RANDJELOVIC Ana 58 kg/127.75 lbs. 1 RUS SHKRAVUNETS Maria 2 UKR SYNYAVINA Viktoriya 3 POL PNIAK Sandra 3 USA FOSTER Gabriella 5 ITA VILLA Annalisa 5 FRA AOUSTIN Eloise 7 SUI MATEUS Aurelie 8 SWE NORDENO Sophia 64 kg/140.75 lbs. 1 RSA THOMAS Penny 2 FRA REMBERT Jeanne 3 POL ZAWODNIK Karolina 3 UKR TORYANSKA Yuliya 5 ESP GONZALEZ Aida 5 SWE BOZOVIC Dusanka 7 ITA BARACCANI Martina 71 kg/156.25 lbs. 1 SWE HEDQVIST Sofia 2 POL DZWIGALOWSKA Joanna 3 GRE PAPADOPOULOU Maria 3 ITA BOCO Laura 5 UKR SHCHERBAN Ganna 6 ASA BERGER MATAAFA S. 7 SRB TUBA Ana Unlimited 1 POL MALYJASIAK Maria 2 SWE TIBBLING Klara U.S. Men’s No-Gi placements 62 kg/136.5 lbs. – Matt Betzold, 2nd WIN Kamil Hasanov (Azerbaijan), 13-0 WIN Kevin Petshi (France), 4-4 LOSS Amir Al Bazy (Sweden), 5-2 66 kg/145.5 lbs. – Ryan Vottero, dnp/11th LOSS Elliot Bayav (Canada), submission 71 kg/156.25 lbs. – Nick Marr, 7th WIN Daisuke Teramoto (Japan), 4-3 LOSS Johnny Frachey (France), 3-4 LOSS Petar Marjanovic (Croatia), submission 77 kg/169.5 lbs. – Shane Cross, 2nd WIN Ramil Mammadov (Azerbaijan), submission WIN Kamil Mitosek (Poland), 1-0, ot WIN Said Zeiai (Sweden), 1-0 LOSS Oleksandr Vysotskiy (Ukraine) 0-3 84 kg/185 lbs. - – Mike Kelly, 2nd WIN Maciej Glabus (Poland), 1-1 WIN Magomed Mative (Russia), 3-0 WIN Cedric Akakpovi (France), 2-1 LOSS Jose Rodenas (Spain), 1-0, ot 92 kg/202.5 lbs. - – Jeff Funicello, 7th WIN Shamil Gamzatov (Russia) LOSS Ivica Tadijanov (Croatia), 1-2 100 kg/220 lbs. – Dan Huber, 3rd LOSS Sasa Milinkovic (Croatia), 1-5 WIN Faud Gadirov (Azerbaijan), 12-1 +100 kg/Over 220 lbs. - – Jeff Monson, 1st WIN G. Kastinopoulos (Greece), 3-1 WIN Magnus Strandner (Sweden), 2-1 WIN Juan Espino (Spain), 1-0, ot U.S. Women No-Gi placements 53 kg/116.75 lbs. – Diana Anchondo, 5th LOSS Oceane Talvard (France), submission LOSS Giulia Roggio (Italy), submission 58 kg/127.75 lbs. – Gabriella Foster, 3rd WIN Aurelie Mateus (Switzerland), submission LOSS Viktoriya Synyavina (Ukraine), submission WIN Eloise Aoustin (France), submission No-Gi Team Standings (Top 14) 1. Poland, 98 2. Sweden, 56 3. United States, 53 4. France, 52 5. (tie) Russia, 27 5. (tie) Ukraine, 27 7. (tie) Greece, 24 7. (tie) Italy, 24 9. Spain, 19 10. Croatia, 17 11. Kazakhstan, 16 12. South Africa, 10 13. (tie) Japan, 8 13. (tie) Canada, 8