She made it again, and like in her past fights, she was the center of attraction.
Aleia Aielle Aguilar overcame heavier foes on Friday to become a three-time jiu-jitsu world champion in the 2024 World Festival Jiu-Jitsu Championships at the Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The bubbly seven-year-old daughter of Alvin Aguilar, founding father of Filipino mixed martial arts and president of Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC), adjusted well from 19kgs to 22kgs division to beat Sarah Abuhijleh of the United Arab Emirates for the girls’ gi kids 2 grey 22 kgs A class gold.
Aguilar was forced to fight in a heavier division since the 19kgs class was scrapped for obvious reason – no one wanted to fight her.
“We reduced her weight to 19kgs at the last minute, but only to find out that her weight was scrapped after no participants had signed up because everybody wanted to avoid her,” said the elder Aguilar.
In winning the gold, Aguilar leaned on her old tactics en route to a 3-0 win, in a huge follow up to her impressive win over UAE’s Sana Alzaabi.
So classy was the beautiful Aguilar she needed just 20 seconds to seal the deal.
“Aielle and everyone with us are junior members of the WAP Junior Grappling Team,” Aguilar added.
Other gold winners were Marcus Sebastian Dela Cruz (boys gi kids 3 white belt 24 kgs), Ma. Althea Louise Brion (girls gi infant white belt 40 kgs), Yani Alexii Lopez (girls gi junior grey feather 40 kgs), and Princess Akeisha Reuma (girls gi junior white belt 48 kgs).
