Romero “Jacare” Cavalcanti and Fabio Gurgel, the leaders of jiu-jitsu team Alliance accepting the 1rst place team trophy at the 2008 BJJ Mundials.
Recently we asked you, The Mighty 600,000, the question Which Was the Best Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Team of 2008?
As soon as I posted it I was contacted by folks asking why certain teams were on that list and others were not. I wrote back saying that there was a specific reason for putting the teams there the way I did that I would reveal soon.
Sooooo, here is why: a few weeks ago I was checking out a popular BJJ website in Brazil, Tatame.com.br and I saw that they were asking their readers to vote on who they thought the best BJJ team of the year was. I thought it would be a good time to compare the opinions of their audience and the opinions of folks who visit TheFightWorksPodcast.com on such an important question!
So I copied their poll exactly, team by team, in the same order as they presented them. And the results were interesting! You can see what their audience said here. Their poll now appears to have closed, and at the time of this writing, Nova Uniao was in first place with 30.23% of the vote, Alliance was in second place with 26.16%, and Gracie Barra took third place with 14.12%.
Our results had Alliance in first place with 54% of the vote, Gracie Barra in second place with 20% of the vote, and Gracie Humaita in third place with 16%.
What does this mean? We probably have to look at a couple things. First, when you ask someone what the best jiu-jitsu team is out there, they will probably be tempted, if not sentimentally obligated, to vote for whoever they train with. So maybe people aren’t really answering the question of who the best team was but they are answering what team they wanted to be the best in 2008. Unfortunate but to be expected.
There is also simply the possibility that awareness of certain teams is different in certain parts of the world. Perhaps Nova Uniao was indeed the best, most dominant and highest performing jiu-jitsu team in the world in 2008. That is debatable but I think it is safe to say that they do not have the presence in North America that they might proportionately in Brazil where Tatame’s readership is.
Here’s another way to look at it. According to the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation in the 2008 BJJ Mundials, Alliance was the best team (as shown in the photo above), with Gracie Barra in second place and Gracie Humaita in third. Those rankings are based on the number of medals captured in the tournament. (At the bottom of this post is a list of the medalists in the black belt division of the 2008 BJJ World Championships, taken from the same page at ibjjf.org.) Now of course some will argue that because the Mundials are held in the United States, it only measures the best competitors who can travel to Los Angeles. But as Kid Peligro has said, and I paraphrase, “It is the world championships; if you want to compete and find out if you are the best, you make it there. It does not matter where it is.”
So where does this leave us? Who is the best BJJ team of 2008? I don’t know. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We can definitively say though that the audience of The FightWorks Podcast believes Alliance was the best, Tatame.com.br’s readers believe Nova Uniao was the best, and that the IBJJF states Alliance was the best.
BLACK BELT ADULT MALE
Galo
Primeiro Caio Terra Cesar Gracie
Segundo Yusuke Honna Paraestra
Terceiro Felipe Costa Brasa
Terceiro Bruno Malfacine UGF
Pluma
Primeiro Samuel Braga Gracie Barra
Segundo Dai Yoshioka Tokyo Yellowmans
Terceiro Daniel Beleza Nova União
Terceiro Philipe Freitas Equipe PH
Pena
Primeiro Rubens Charles Maciel Alliance
Segundo Bruno Frazatto Brasa
Terceiro Theodoro Canal UGF
Terceiro Mario Reis Gracie Barra
Leve
Primeiro Celso Vinicius Ryan Gracie
Segundo Lucas Lepri Alliance
Terceiro Jonatas Gurgel Jordan Team
Terceiro Michael Langui Alliance
Médio
Primeiro Sergio Morais Alliance
Segundo Willian Cooper Alliance
Terceiro Victor Estima Gracie Barra
Terceiro Otavio Souza Gracie Barra
Meio Pesado
Primeiro Andre Galvao Brasa
Segundo Braulio Estima Gracie Barra
Terceiro Murilo Santana Yamasaki Academy
Terceiro Marcel Lousada Brasa
Pesado
Primeiro Alexandre Ribeiro Gracie Humaita
Segundo Alexandre Souza Gracie Florianópolis
Terceiro Tarsis Humphres Alliance
Terceiro Roberto Alencar Gracie Barra
Super Pesado
Primeiro Antonio Braga Neto Gordo JJ
Segundo Rafael Lovato Jr Gracie Humaita
Terceiro Marcel Fortuna Crolin Gracie
Terceiro Roberto Abreu BJJ Revolution Team
Pesadíssimo
Primeiro Roger Gracie Gracie Barra
Segundo Leonardo Leite Brasa
Terceiro Gabriel Vella Alliance
Terceiro Eduardo Telles Nine Nine
Absoluto
Primeiro Alexandre Ribeiro Gracie Humaita
Segundo Roger Gracie Gracie Barra
Terceiro Andre Galvao Brasa
Terceiro Gabriel Vella Alliance
BROWN / BLACK FEMALE
Pluma
Primeiro Mirian Cerqueira UGF
Segundo Takako Abe Paraestra
Pena
Primeiro Bianca Barreto Gracie Barra America
Segundo Laurence Cousin Behring
Terceiro Leticia Ribeiro Gracie Humaita
Terceiro Jennifer Petrina Gracie Humaita
Leve
Primeiro Kyra Gracie Gracie Barra
Segundo Luana Alzuguir Barbosa JJ
Terceiro Gabriela Bermudez Gracie Humaita
Terceiro Angelica Tabor Gracie Humaita
Médio
Primeiro Hannette Staack Carlson Gracie Team
Segundo Fernando Mazzelli Agnaldo Goes
Terceiro Sophia Mc Dermott Machado Australia
Meio Pesado
Primeiro Ana Laura Cordeiro Gracie Barra
Segundo Penny Thomas Gracie Humaita
Terceiro Christina Thomas Relson Gracie
Pesado
Primeiro Gabrielle Garcia Triumph
Segundo Maria do Carmo Carmen Cascagrossa
Terceiro Luciana Dias Gracie Humaita
Absoluto
Primeiro Kyra Gracie Gracie Barra
Segundo Ana Laura Cordeiro Gracie Barra
Terceiro Michelle Nicolini Brasa
Terceiro Sayaka Shioda AACC
