Tournament Review Tuesday: Liga Nacional De Submission, Santiago, Chile
August 31, 2010
All photos courtesy Dev Kostal.
by Dev Kostal
I’ve come to find out that outside Brazil, a lot of the emphasis in Latin America – at least as far as competitions go – is on no-gi jiu jitsu, or “submission.” I stumbled on a competition during my time in Chile where all the guys at the gym seemed to know about it, but I couldn’t find any information online.
The Chilean National Submission League was formed, as I was told, to provide a place where the inordinately large number of amateur wrestling students could meet and compete with the thriving Brazilian Jiu Jitsu community, with a mixed set of rules. So at the inception, they assumed some slightly different standards than the IBJJF-approved no-gi rules. One of the main differences, aside from time of rounds (3 minutes for novice, 5 for advanced) was that they allowed wrestling shoes. Although my fear of seeing (or getting) a toe mangled was heightened, it didn’t end up being an issue. This particular competition was held at the University Of Santiago, in a multistory sports complex.
My main problem with the tournament was finding ANY information at all online. Google just isn’t helpful when the majority of the advertising is being done word-of-mouth and through restricted-access Facebook pages. The league just is not set up for wandering visitors, such as myself, to happen upon. That said, when you travel, if you link up with a good school, they tend to let you know.
If you can move past the advertising snafus and the slightly different rules – and there’s no reason you shouldn’t – it becomes, as their motto indicates, a place where “the sport is central.” Everyone was there to have a good day of rolling, plain and simple.
As was the case with other small competitions, signups were done the morning of, and then we waited for the organizers to arrange the brackets. Because there were only about 40 guys there, it didn’t take too long. Weight divisions were in 10kg increments, which I personally thought might have been a bit much, but with the number of people it gave everyone a good fight and still had a couple brackets with 3 fights.
Experience levels were either novice or advanced. I don’t know what the cutoff was between the two, but as a sub-2 year blue belt (normally intermediate), I was shuffled into the advanced division (appropriately, I think, given the level of the majority of the competitors, who were novice and competing for the first time). There were three guys in my category (<85kg, advanced): me, a purple belt, and a brown belt.
Brackets were done by drawing numbers, which I thought was fantastically objective. On the other hand, it did lead to a couple guys from the same school on the same side of the bracket, which is always unfortunate.
Prior to starting, the organizers sat all the competitors down and conducted a thorough rules briefing, which in my opinion really set this competition apart. Because most of the novice fighters were competing for the first time, this allowed them to ask questions and see demonstrations of what was allowed and what wasn’t. I was impressed at the detail they used in this briefing, and impressed that they did it – this is far from the standard, and a welcome addition to any tournament, as far as I’m concerned.
There was one competition mat and some small gymnastic pads pushed together to create a warmup area. It wasn’t spectacular, but it was enough, and the fights went quickly enough that the one mat was sufficient – the waits weren’t long at all, as the refs kept the matches moving along with short breaks in between.
The brackets were run bottom-to-top, with all the first round fights going before the second round. This allowed the first round winners plenty of time to recuperate, something I always pay attention to.
The reffing was solid and attentive, as was the timekeeping. There weren’t huge LED scoreboards or anything, but they had a nice big manual scoreboard on the table by the mat, one official timekeeper, and a scorekeeper. Additionally, the mat was set up with a barrier around it, and coaches’ chairs in the corner, another nice touch.
The level of fighting was impressive, although unobjectively I’m happy to say that the BJJ practitioners generally trounced the pure wrestlers. Lots of excellent takedowns, reversals, mental toughness, and general strategery were on display throughout the day.
This wasn’t a gigantic IBJJF event, but it wasn’t meant to be. It wasn’t perfect – the locker rooms/bathrooms were 4 floors down from the mats, and it seemed to take a little while to get going despite the proclaimed 1 PM start time (which was actually the “show up and get your name on the list” time), but aside from some small quibbles, I have to say that this was exactly the type of small tournament that I think is vital to progressing and encouraging BJJ around the world. It brought together a group of people for the sole purpose of experience and camaraderie. It was professionally organized and run, and I was truly impressed with the organizers’ efforts to keep everyone informed throughout the day.
Thanks to Sensei Victor Vásquez at Real Fighting Club (http://chilejiujitsu.cl) in Santiago for the invitation, and thanks to the Liga Nacional De Submission for a quality event.
Devlin Kostal is a blue belt under Daniel Thomas at Zeus BJJ (http://montereyjiujitsu.com) in Monterey, California, who is currently traveling through Latin America. Thus far, he’s trained in Lima, Peru; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; and Santiago, Chile. His blog, Fueled By Fear, can be found at http://devbjj.blogspot.com.
This is an installment in our Tournament Review Tuesdays column, where FightWorks Podcast listeners submit reports about Brazilian jiu-jitsu and grappling competitions that happened the weekend prior. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of The FightWorks Podcast. Through the rest of 2010, if you submit a Tournament Review Tuesday piece, you might win an Isami gi!
- Caleb
Tournament Review Tuesday: 2010 Master/Senior World Championship
July 27, 2010
Tijuca Tenis Clube in Rio, site of many historic Brazilian jiu-jitsu matches. All photos courtesy Dev Kostal.
by Dev Kostal
I competed at the Master/Senior World Championships in Rio De Janeiro, which is held concurrently with the Rio Open Championship. Both are IBJJF events.
I competed in the blue belt master division, which ran Friday morning and Friday afternoon, so this review is based on that day’s events, for the most part.
Walking into the Tijuca Tênis Clube evokes some pretty strong feelings for me. I love history, and I’m particularly enamored with the small stories, the ones that not many people get to hear.
Quite a few years ago now, Francisco Mansor was the Chief of Police in Rio. As such, he had connections all over the city. And when the first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu World Chapionships were held in 1996, Grand Master Mansor used his connections at the Tijuca Tênis Clube. The Mundials were held there until 2007, I believe, when they moved to Los Angeles.
Suffice to say, my apprehension upon entering the Club was significant. But it’s a pretty unassuming place. Concrete steps comprise the upper level seats, and simple plastic chairs – many of them broken or missing – are the closer ones. But it’s that simplicity that’s attractive about the place. There’s no presumption here – just amazing jiu jitsu.
You hear story after story about training and competing in Rio. Competing for the first time in Rio is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. It’s the same as any other big tournament…except it’s not the same. You really do have to get over a mental hurdle – at least I did. Here you are, in Brazil, doing what you love, this Brazilian sport, fighting the best athletes in Brazil. It’s pretty significant. And you can feel that quiet energy when you walk in.
The tournament itself, from my perspective, was fantastic. Quite honestly, and I’ve only competed in 15 or so tournaments in my roughly 2 years in this sport, this was the most efficiently-run tournament I’ve had the pleasure to be a part of.
The brackets ran exactly on time, and once started, there was hardly any empty mat time between fights. All of the check-in details were done to IBJJF standards, with weigh-ins, gi checks, and ID checks.
Interestingly, the mat coordinators announced their divisions on the microphone individuals, which I hadn’t seen before – ordinarily there’s one or two announcers who make all the calls. For the gringo who doesn’t speak fantastic Portuguese, though, this helped me by being able to focus on one mat coordinator, so I knew roughly when I was going to get called.
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What I found to be the best part of the tournament administration, though, was the consideration shown by the mat coordinators for the fighters’ efforts. Time in between matches didn’t seem to be too long, or too short. Most of the time I got 10-15 minutes, and I really appreciated that.
As per usual, the refereeing was excellent. Having spent most of the day there, I can’t recall seeing a single disputed decision. There may have been some, but it wasn’t nearly as prevalent as at Pans this year.
Later in the day, during the absolutes, there seemed to be a lot more injuries on the mats, so the medics were definitely earning their pay. But they were out in force, and I for one really appreciated their efforts.
I don’t have to tell you that the level of jiu jitsu being displayed (on Friday, it was blues, purples, and browns, both male and female) was unbelievable. For me, by far the best display was the women’s purple belt absolute match where (I apologize, I don’t have the names) a tiny little competitor overcame a much larger girl, who was physically throwing her around the mat, and ended up choking her out. Both competitors were phenomenal, and the entire arena was watching that fight.
All in all, my day at the Master/Senior Worlds lived up to my fairly high expectations of what my first competition in Rio would be like. The energy, the camaraderie, and the ridiculous level of jiu jitsu made for an unforgettable experience, one that I will carry with me for the rest of my BJJ career.
Devlin Kostal is a blue belt under Daniel “Ventania” Thomas at Zeus BJJ in Monterey, CA. He has been traveling through South America, and has been fortunate to train in Lima, Peru, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. His blog, Fueled By Fear, can be found at http://devbjj.blogspot.com. He took a gold medal in his division (blue master middle) and a bronze medal in the absolute division (blue master) at the Master/Senior Worlds.
This is an installment in our Tournament Review Tuesdays column, where FightWorks Podcast listeners submit reports about Brazilian jiu-jitsu and grappling competitions that happened the weekend prior. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of The FightWorks Podcast. Through the rest of 2010, if you submit a Tournament Review Tuesday piece, you might win an Isami gi!
- Caleb
The author (second from left) with his new gold medal.
Tournament Review Tuesday: Buckeye Border International Grappling Championship
July 27, 2010
by Brian Hemminger
The tournament was the Buckeye Border International Grappling Championship and it took place Saturday, July 24th in Toledo, Ohio at St. Francis High School. There were over 300 competitors of all ages, sexes and skillsets who competed in both the gi and no-gi competition. Competition began at 10:30 am and ran for just over 6 hours.
The tournament was smoothly run, with 6 different stations on both sides of the large wrestling mat. There was very little delay between each match. The refereeing was top notch, I didn’t see any complaints from any of the competitors and they all displayed good sportsmanship after the bouts.
The highlight of the tournament were two superfights between high level blackbelts. The first was a match between Sean Bansfield (Pan Am gold medalist) and Don Richard (multiple Arnold Gracie champion). The match was very much a stalemate for the first 6 minutes, but all the excitement happened at the end. Down 3 points, Bansfield swept Richard into mount with 5 seconds left in the fight to neck out a dramatic victory.
The other superfight was a match between Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros (7x world champ) and Tyrone Gooden (Pan Am medalist). Comprido was the much bigger man but Gooden started strong by shooting in for a takedown to gain an early 2-0 lead. Comprido eventually swept him, but Gooden had excellent defense and never allowed Comprido to submit him, although Comprido did win a decision by a large margin.
BJ Nelson from Relson Gracie jiu jitsu in Columbus, Ohio won the Absolute Gi tournament which earned him a plasma screen TV for his efforts.
Brian Hemminger runs WorldExtremeFighter.com.
This is an installment in our Tournament Review Tuesdays column, where FightWorks Podcast listeners submit reports about Brazilian jiu-jitsu and grappling competitions that happened the weekend prior. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of The FightWorks Podcast. Through the rest of 2010, if you submit a Tournament Review Tuesday piece, you might win an Isami gi!
- Caleb
Tournament Review Tuesday: Manchester Open Jiu-Jitsu Tournament
June 22, 2010
by Jon Broster
Manchester, in north west England is famous for many things: Manchester United (the world’s most famous football team), Oasis (leading exponents of Brit-Pop music), it is home to a number of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu academies and is also the location of the British Amateur Wrestling Association’s headquarters, as well as being only a short distance from Wigan, the home of Billy Riley’s Snake Pit the legendary catch wrestling gym. As such, it is perhaps surprising that it has not held a BJJ competition over the last few years. Perhaps even more surprising is the fact that this competition was organised by Gus Oliveira of Grab & Pull who is based in Brighton on England’s south coast, some 200 miles away. Gus has been running the Grab & Pull Brighton Open for some time now, so I was expecting a well run event.
Sugden Sports Centre is part of the University of Manchester and is a very pleasant venue – it was clean, airy and spacious enough for the number of competitors involved. The competition was run over six mats and started pretty much on schedule. Right from the start it became clear that although there were six mats, there were not six referees in attendance. In fact, anyone used to attending competitions held further south would have been surprised to see no black belts refereeing at all – the highest ranking referee was Oli Geddes who is a brown belt under Roger Gracie. The standard of refereeing was, however, good, with very few complaints about bad decisions. The lack of referees did mean that the event progressed a little more slowly than was expected and meant that there were no absolute divisions contested. The event was well organised, with relatively clear announcements and divisions running when the organisers said they would.
As is becoming the norm at UK competitions, the standard of competition was high, with some excellent displays of skill in all divisions. It was good too to see a large number of academies represented on the results table.
One thing that must be mentioned is the excellent medals, specifically designed and cast for the event – truly worth competing for. Overall, I had a thoroughly enjoyable day and will almost certainly compete again next year.
Jon Broster trains under Victor Estima at Gracie Barra Midlands. He placed 2nd at senior middle heavy.
This is an installment in our Tournament Review Tuesdays column, where FightWorks Podcast listeners submit reports about Brazilian jiu-jitsu and grappling competitions that happened the weekend prior. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of The FightWorks Podcast. Through the rest of 2010, if you submit a Tournament Review Tuesday piece, you might win an Isami gi!
- Caleb
Tournament Review Tuesday: 2010 BJJ World Championship
June 15, 2010
Bruno Malfacine received by his Alliance teammates after his victory over Caio Terra for the 2010 rooster weight gold medal. All images courtesy Cohost Dan.
by Philippe Balmant
I traveled from New York City with the (mG)inaction team to Long Beach California for the 4 day Mundials event for my first time ever. I found myself in a feeling of Jiu-Jitsu Nirvana. When first arriving at the Walter Pyramid I was blown away. This looks like something out of the movie Stargate. I said to myself, “What a perfect venue to host the Mundials.” Once inside the electricity is running through my body. I felt a great festive atmosphere inside the Pyramid. This event marks my first time linking up with the entire Alliance team. Meeting Mestre Jacare and the General Fabio Gurgel to me was worth the trip alone. Watching the white/blue belts competing in 8 rings at the same time kept me looking everywhere.
The acai stand was my source of a much needed refreshing energy boost when one was needed. I limited myself to two acai bowls per day. One thing was obvious from jump street, that this energy I felt was only going to go up, till the black belt finals on Sunday exploded in full effect! From Friday through Saturday the matches were coming and going non stop. One thing I found hard was when there were 3 or 4 world champions fighting in different rings all at the same time, now that was crazy. When Sunday June 6th arrived, where there were 8 rings are now only two.
There is a connection at the Mundials, like to the BJJ life source we all share, within your own team, between academies from fighters to supporters. It’s a high dose of Jiu-Jitsu on its biggest platform with a sprinkle of a carnival type atmosphere. I fell in love with it. My best experience was meeting Rickson. My favorite moment was when my professor Marcelo Garcia won his 4th black belt Mundial title, even though the last 8 seconds had me on Skype with God. Yes!!!!
Great matches, great victories, gracious defeats, quick submissions, a back and forth war, by 1 point, by 1 advantage, or by judges decision, with BJJ history being made. Mega props to Roger Gracie. The 2010 Mundials had it all. By the end I had pretty much lost my voice, was running around on pure adrenaline and hollering at Caleb and Dan from The Fightworks Podcast. Podium, medals, pictures. That’s all folks. Except for the voice of Tony Torres still in my head saying, “You have now been DQ’d………” Nobody says it better than that guy.
A few hours later with a celebratory dinner for team Alliance, the General gives us our first toast in which he brings to light that today June 6th 2010 marks 28 years since the legendary Mestre Rolls Gracie passed away. With Alliance winning its 5th World title, and Mestre Jacare receiving his red & black belt, our entire Alliance team ended this amazing night with joy, laughter and happiness.
Philippe Balmant is a BJJ purple belt under Marcos Santos/Rigan Machado. He is currently a student of Marcelo Garcia, training in New York City.
This is an installment in our Tournament Review Tuesdays column, where FightWorks Podcast listeners submit reports about Brazilian jiu-jitsu and grappling competitions that happened the weekend prior. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of The FightWorks Podcast. Through the rest of 2010, if you submit a Tournament Review Tuesday piece, you might win an Isami gi!
- Caleb
The author and his Alliance teammates.
Tournament Review Tuesday: Tayta Submission Championships in Lima, Peru
June 8, 2010
The Tayta Submission Championships in Lima Peru. All images courtesy Dev Kostal.
by Dev Kostal
I missed seeing (and competing in) the Mundials in LA this year. I am currently training in Lima, Peru at Sniper Fight Sports under black belt Leandro Torres. Sunday saw the second annual Tayta Submission Championships, held in the Nacional Videna (Sports Complex) in Lima.
Facility
The Videna is a sprawling complex that was originally built for national-level training for various sports in Peru. Over the past years, it’s seen its fair share of usage, and sadly, it shows. There are still dozens of soccer fields, and a bunch of other facilities, but the building they use for grappling (wrestling, BJJ, submission (how they refer to no-gi), judo, etc) is fairly worn.
Nonetheless, it was sufficient for the number of competitors there (probably 200 or so), and it provided the backdrop for some fantastic displays of submission wrestling. There are a total of 4 mats in the facility – 2 set up for wrestling, and 2 tatame that are used for karate and judo classes. In fact, when we got there (and through part of the tournament) a judo class was going on.
Level Of Competition
They had separate divisions for novice, intermediate, and advanced, as per usual, but in the end it seemed like the novice and intermediate divisions got kind of crushed together to make fights. Because of the size of the competition, I thought this was pretty realistic, and it guaranteed a couple fights for people to advance in a division.
I personally had never competed in no-gi before, and had entered this competition on a whim, just to get some good experience. Part of my apprehension was my complete lack of knowledge of foot and leg locks, which, as it turned out, was oddly prescient. For me, this constitutes a large part of the difference between gi and no-gi competition, as you see a few very significant modifications in strategy that can make a world of difference.
The weight divisions were set up every 5 kg, which isn’t exactly IBJJF standard, but it was fine. There were divisions at 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, and 90 kg.
Organization
If I’m being honest, it was pretty bad. I heard about the tournament word-of-mouth through some guys at the gym, and tried finding any information on google. Nothing whatsoever. I finally got an email address for one of the organizers from a buddy to sign up. When I emailed, though, the organizer said just to show up at 9 AM for the weigh-in. At face value, I’m okay with this, since NAGA does (or used to, anyway) at-the-door signups.
So about 10 guys and I showed up at 9, and we waited. Around 1030 the food guys showed up and started prepping. A guy went around then and started cleaning off the mats, too, which was a good sign. Around 1100 some of the organizers got there and set up the PA system, and we had weigh-ins. Weigh-ins also included hand-written signups.
About 1200 they started calling people up to the announcer’s desk to pay for their entrance. It was 20 Peruvian soles (about $7) to enter, so it’s tough to complain about that.
Shortly after that, the announcer started calling divisions to confirm names. He went through all the divisions except mine, conveniently. I went up and asked, then 2 other guys from my gym, including the coach, went up and asked about the 85 kg division. He waved us all off, saying he’d get to it. It didn’t inspire confidence, needless to say.
About 2 PM, fights finally started, 5 hours after I’d been told to be there. Again, for $7, it’s tough to be hugely critical, but the guys were touting this as a pretty high-level competition in Peru, which I don’t know that I’d agree with.
The rest of the tournament went okay, or at least as well as one could expect with one guy doing the announcing, the bracketing, and the timekeeping.
Officiating
Again, I’m trying to be fair here. This was, for all intents and purposes, a local competition, sort of an “in-house.” So they pulled “refs” from the guys that were there. A couple of the guys were really good, and obviously knew what they were doing. On the other hand, a couple were completely out of their element. Time was kept from the head table, not on each mat, so most of the refs had no clue how much time was left, and if fights went out of bounds, the clock just kept running. The reffing was really just ad hoc. It was, I suppose, sufficient for a friendly in-house tournament, but no more than that.
Additionally, I was astonished to see two of the refs out there in their shoes on the mats. I haven’t had too much of a problem so far with mat cleanliness, but that was a bit silly.
I’m unclear as to which rules they were actually following, but each match was five minutes, except the advanced division, which I think was 8. If a fight was tied after time was called, they had a 1-minute overtime. If it was still tied after that, it went to “first point.” Honestly, I couldn’t see a reason for the 1-minute round. Almost none of the overtime fights were decided in that period – they all went to the “first point” round.
My Matches
I had three fights in total. My first two fights went into overtime, and then to “first point.” In the finals, during a scramble, I got caught in a footlock that I never saw coming. Good job to my opponent.
Overall Thoughts
I was obviously the only gringo in the building, and as I cruised around in my American Standup fight shorts with a big American flag on the front, I was definitely the subject of some side conversations. That said, everyone was fantastically nice and accomodating for my terrible Spanish and my exceptionally average grappling.
At the end of the day, all problems with organization aside, $7 for a full day of grappling – and a whole new experience – wasn’t a bad deal. Yeah, I missed seeing the Mundials finals, but I saw some excellent grappling on display, and I met a bunch of fantastic, energetic guys all of whom just wanted to train and compete.
Dev Kostal is a wandering blue belt who began training under Daniel Thomas at Zeus BJJ in Monterey, CA. He is currently training with Leandro Torres at Sniper Fight Sports in Lima, Peru.
This is an installment in our Tournament Review Tuesdays column, where FightWorks Podcast listeners submit reports about Brazilian jiu-jitsu and grappling competitions that happened the weekend prior. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of The FightWorks Podcast. Through the rest of 2010, if you submit a Tournament Review Tuesday piece, you might win an Isami gi!
- Caleb
The author in second place.
Tournament Review Tuesday: 2010 Gracie Invitational
June 1, 2010
Female jiu-jitsu competitors at the 2010 Gracie Invitational in London. All images courtesy Seymour Yang.
If you ever was entertained the notion that martial arts are a universally practised activity, that notion would be easily dashed if you attended the SENISHOW martial arts expo, where the Gracie Invitational was held, this weekend. Yes, SENISHOW is a massive event, possibly the biggest martial arts show in Europe, but the neighbouring exhibition hall hosted a computer games fan convention and as we entered the shared arena hallway, we were vastly outnumbered by the surreal sight of thousands and thousands of grown men and women dressed as all manner of ghosts, aliens, stormtroopers and, bizarrely, in one case, a tetris block!
The Gracie Invitational was held over two days – men’s white belts and some blues competed on the Saturday, all women’s categories, higher grades, no-gi and the show-piece event, the Absolute 1000, was held on the second day. I attended the second day.
Day two started a little late but once it did, the brackets raced through at lightening pace. Spread across six mats, with seating surrounding all four sides and a decent size holding area, the fights came thick and fast. The event was run by BJJ black belt Jude Samuels with assistance by my own instructor, Nick Brooks. This gave me the extra privilege of access to all areas for photography and extra close-up views of the fights. But to be honest, the dividers were so close to the mats that everyone was granted good views of all the fights.
Dominique Vitry (left) fends off Paula Almeida’s open guard.
The rest of the exhibition hall hosted hundreds of martial art stands and displays all competing against one another for attention, which made for a very noisy and busy atmosphere. The loud, rhythmic capoeira display next to the BJJ arena added a particularly authentic flavour for much of the period.
One annoying thing I noticed was that in order to go to the loo, you had to leave the exhibition hall, and go to the main hall, which was a long way away. It just meant extra hassle especially if you were waiting for names to be called.
There were some amazing fights on the Sunday. Highlights for me were watching my team mate Dominique Vitry fight in the women’s absolute semi against a Paula Almeida, a larger Portuguese purple belt. Dominique won by a large points margin but not without the drama of escaping an impossible armbar! Dominique was awarded her much deserved purple belt straight after.
I also enjoyed watching brown belt Oli Geddes secure some impressive submissions on his way to winning gold in his category. Oli is fast making marks in the brown belt divisions much as he did at purple and blue.
Luke Costello takes the back of Lucio as crowds watch on.
But the showpiece of the day belonged to the Absolute 1000 where winners of each purple, brown and black belt group would be allowed to compete against one another for a prize of £1,000. Here, we had the delights of watching seasoned black belts fight against smaller purple belts or two rival brown or black belts smashing ten bells out of each other in a bid to win the coveted prize.
Every match in this prize event was a brilliant display of BJJ at its highest. For me, the highlights included young purple belt Luke Costello against experienced black belt Lucio. Both fighters attacked with flair, immense skill and a good amount of vigour as several times they crashed into the crowd. Lucio won by a slim points margin, but there was no doubt among us that Luke Costello is a name to watch for the future. Another couple of fights that I really enjoyed watching involved the smaller guys. Purple belt featherweight Alain Pozo gamely stood his ground against the much heavier black belt Henrique Santana, and little pluma purple belt Mark Phung holding off a much larger brown belt. For me, watching these lighter guys fight put in such a spirited performance against bigger and higher ranked opponents was truly inspiring and shows just what a good idea the Absolute 1000 event is.
Henrique Santana imposes his superior weight against Alain Pozo.
Unfortunately, the Absolute 1000 was unable to finish as the whole tournament over-ran and the exhibition hall had to close. So the last four or five players shared the £1,000 prize.
Since it began six or seven years ago, the Gracie Invitational has always attracted huge numbers of competitors, many of whom travel from overseas, and this year was no exception. Being sited within the confines of a massive martial arts expo, adds to the unique atmosphere of the event. I’d like to thank the organisers, the runners, the scorers and all the many many people who worked extra hard over the weekend to ensure that us competitors had a good time. I look forward to the next Gracie Invitational in two years time.
Seymour Yang is a purple belt from the Mill Hill Roger Gracie Academy and writes the BJJ blog www.Meerkatsu.com He picked up bronze at the Gracie Invitational.
This is an installment in our Tournament Review Tuesdays column, where FightWorks Podcast listeners submit reports about Brazilian jiu-jitsu and grappling competitions that happened the weekend prior. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of The FightWorks Podcast. Through the rest of 2010, if you submit a Tournament Review Tuesday piece, you might win an Isami gi!
- Caleb
Tournament Review Tuesday and the 2010 BJJ World Championship
June 1, 2010
Jonathan “JT” Torres on his way to capturing the silver medal for light weight brown belts at the 2009 BJJ World Championship.
Just a very quick note to confirm something I mentioned on our Sunday show about the 2010 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championship and Tournament Review Tuesday (TRT) here on thefightworkspodcast.com. As you know, TRT is an opportunity for folks to share their experiences at jiu-jitsu tournaments.
If you write a review of the 2010 BJJ World Championship and we publish it, you will be sent a FightWorks Podcast Gi Patch! Generally it is expected that if you write a TRT piece for us, you will have personally participated as a competitor in the event you’re writing about, but this time, do not worry about it. We are looking to convey all experiences of the 2010 BJJ Mundials from everyone’s point of view.
(Of course, if we have to reject your article because it doesn’t meet our quality standards on the site, you won’t get a patch. But we’ve never rejected any TRT piece so I am pretty confident it won’t be an issue here. I have to say so just in case.)
Looking forward to reading what The Mighty 600,000 can share about the most exciting BJJ event in the world!
Tournament Results Tuesday: Northwest Submission Challenge
April 27, 2010
As part of our ongoing effort to bring you the details of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and submission grappling news from all parts, here are the results of Northwest Submission Challenge which took place last weekend.
If you are a tourney organizer, we encourage you to send us the results of your Brazilian jiu-jitsu and submission grappling events too. If you are a competitor, feel free to send us a write up of your competition experience as well! Details are here.
Mens Beginner Nogi 130-150lbs
1st – Maziar Sobbi
2nd – JR Paredes
3rd – Hal Hammaker – Keith Owen BJJ
Mens Beginner Nogi 150-170lbs
1st – Carl Sims – West Side Jiu Jitsu
2nd – Blake Fluhart – West Side Jiu Jitsu
3rd – Alex Martinez – West Side Jiu Jitsu
Mens Beginner Nogi 170-190lbs
1st – Mat Lkinger – Team Beast BJJ
2nd – Eric Bowen – Alliance
3rd – Phil Lott – Alliance
Mens Beginner Nogi 190-210lbs
1st – Ryan Vrenderbur – West Side Jiu Jitsu
2nd – Scott Gray – Keith Owen BJJ
3rd – Gary Major – Keith Owen BJJ
Mens Beginner Nogi over 210lbs
1st – Mariano Godoy – Combat Fitness
2nd – Nate Silvester
Mens Beginner Nogi ABSOLUTE
1st – Mariano Godoy – Combat Fitness
2nd – Jeff White – Crow’s MMA
3rd – Blake Fluhart – West Side Jiu Jitsu
3rd – Rick Stone – Combat Fitness
Mens Intermediate Nogi 130-150lbs
1st – David Burgara – Twin Falls BJJ
2nd – Kazuaki Honjo – Keith Owen BJJ
3rd – Justin Freeman
Mens Intermediate Nogi 150-170lbs
1st – Tyler Freeland – Throwdown
2nd – Mike Getchell – Combat Fitness
3rd – David Iles – West Side Jiu Jitsu
Mens Intermediate Nogi 170-190lbs
1st – Jake Williams – Throwdown
2nd – Austin Miller – West Side Jiu Jitsu
3rd – Jeff Moore – West Side Jiu Jitsu
Mens Intermediate Nogi 190-210+lbs
1st – Kevin Wood – Keith Owen BJJ
2nd – Kurt Gregory
Mens Intermediate Nogi ABSOLUTE
1st – Josh Miler – West Side Jiu Jitsu
2nd – Kevin Wood – Keith Owen BJJ
3rd – Jake Williams – Throwdown
3rd – Cason Bowen – Alliance
Mens Advanced Nogi 140-180lbs
1st – Clint Christensen – West Side Jiu Jitsu
2nd – Brian Weiber – Combat Fitness
3rd – Dylan Owen – Keith Owen BJJ
Mens Advanced Nogi over 180lbs
1st – Sam Zylstra – Alliance
2nd – Ricky Robinson – Team Beast BJJ
Mens Advanced Nogi ABSOLUTE
1st – Clint Christensen – West Side Jiu Jitsu
2nd – Jacen Flynn – Combat Fitness
3rd – Matt Owen – Keith Owen BJJ
Mens White Belt 130-150lbs
1st – Justin Eyre – West Side Jiu Jitsu
2nd – Justing Freeman – Machado Jiu Jitsu
3rd – Hal Hammaker – Keith Owen BJJ
Mens White Belt 150-170lbs
1st – David Iles – West Side Jiu Jitsu
2nd – Zach Hollibaugh – Alliance
3rd – Carl Sims – West Side Jiu Jitsu
Mens White Belt 170-190lbs
1st – Josh Maggard – Alliance
2nd – Eric Bowen – Alliance
3rd – Austin Miller – West Side Jiu Jitsu
Mens White Belt 190-210lbs
1st – Kevin Wood – Keith Owen BJJ
2nd – Todd Loree – Keith Owen BJJ
3rd – Ryan Vredenbur – West Side Jiu Jitsu
Mens White Belt over 210lbs
1st – Phil Shiplett – Alliance
2nd – Jason Bedke – Alliance
3rd – Nate Silvester
Mens White Belt ABSOLUTE
1st – Jordan Tabb – Alliance
2nd – Jared Borge – Keith Owen BJJ
3rd – Jason Bedke – Alliance
3th – Phil Shiplett – Alliance
Mens Blue Belt 130-150lbs
1st – David Burgara – Twin Falls BJJ
2nd – Batt Badasci – Alliance
3rd – Kazuaki Honjo – Keith Owen BJJ
Mens Blue Belt 150-170lbs
1st – Josh Miller – West Side Jiu Jitsu
2nd – Brad Troyer – Pedro Sauer – Team Emfield
3rd – Paul Sundrini – Gracie Barra Idaho
Mens Blue Belt 170-190lbs
1st – Brandon Christensen – Alliance
2nd – Ari Bolden – Keith Owen BJJ
3rd – James Hansen – Alliance*
3rd – Damon Tong – Keith Owen*
Mens Blue Belt 190-210lbs
1st – Drew Ledwich – Alliance
Mens Blue Belt over 210lbs
1st – Jeffery Walther – Spokane BJJ
2nd – Jeremiah Clemons – Keith Owen BJJ
3rd – Drew Ledwich – Alliance
Mens Blue Belt ABSOLUTE
1st – James Hansen – Alliance
2nd – Russell Duke – Alliance
3rd – Jeremiah Clemons – Keith Owen BJJ
Mens BJJ Advanced 140-180lbs
1st – Richard Casena – West Side Jiu Jitsu
2nd – Dylan Owen – Keith Owen BJJ
Mens BJJ Advanced over 180lbs
1st – Ricky Robinson – Team Beast BJJ
2nd – Miles Vigil – West Side Jiu Jitsu
3rd – Ryan Andrews – Alliance
Mens BJJ Advanced ABSOLUTE
1st – Dylan Owen – Keith Owen BJJ
2nd – Matt Owen – Keith Owen BJJ
3rd – Richard Casena – West Side Jiu Jitsu
Teen Nogi Beginner under 100lbs
1st – Josiah Priddy
Teen Nogi Beginner 100-120lbs
1st – John Hensley – Team Apocalypse
2nd – Nik Pendleton – Crow’s MMA
3rd – Keegan Orvis
Teen Nogi Beginner 121-140lbs
1st – Anthony Bosquez – Boise Jiu Jitsu
2nd – Dakota Kivett – Grappler’s Guild
Teen Nogi Beginner 141-160lbs
1st – Rowdy Robling
2nd – Brandon Cook – Keith Owen BJJ
3rd – Eric Wakeman – 10th Planet
Teen Nogi Beginner over 160lbs
1st – Alex Owen – Keith Owen BJJ
Teen Nogi Advanced 121-140lbs
1st – John Wick – Boise Jiu Jitsu
2nd – Joshua Bjerkader – Team Beast BJJ
Teen Nogi Advanced over 160lbs
1st – Tom DiNoia – Freestyle Training Academy
2nd – Todd Hastie
Teen Gi 100-120lbs
!st – Kenneth Pollard – Keith Owen
2nd – Khalani Hunt – Gracie Barra Idaho
3rd – Maxamillein Hefley – Integrative Athlete
Teen Gi 121-140
NEED
Teen Gi 141-160lbs
1st – Brandon Cook – Keith Owen BJJ
Teen Gi over 160lbs
1st – Todd Hastie
2nd – Alex Owen – Keith Owen BJJ
3rd – Tom DiNoia – Freestyle Training Academy
Kids Nogi Beginner 50-60lbs
1st – Cole Watterson – West Side Jiu Jitsu
Kids Nogi Beginner 60-70lbs
1st – AJ Enderle – Keith Owen BJJ
2nd – Garret Davila – Keith Owen BJJ
Kids Nogi Beginner 70-80lbs
1st – Cole Thompson – Integrative Athlete
2nd – Benjamin Hutchins – Keith Owen BJJ
3rd – Jared Perkins – Keith Owen BJJ
Kids Nogi Beginner 80-90lbs
1st – Jeremy Helsley – Keith Owen BJJ
2nd – Jake Jeffries – Unified BJJ
Kids Nogi Advanced 60-70lbs
1st – Lana Hunt – Gracie Barra Idaho
Kids Nogi Advanced 70-80lbs
1st – Trinitee Hulse – West Side Jiu Jitsu
2nd – Lana Hunt – Gracie Barra Idaho
3rd – Jillian Dietrich – Keith Owen BJJ
Kids Nogi Advanced 80-90lbs
1st – Lane Hunt – Gracie Barra Idaho
2nd – Grayson Garey – Keith Owen BJJ
Kids Nogi Advanced over 90lbs
1st – Michael Furman – Keith Owen BJJ
2nd – Jesus Playas
***********TEAM AWARDS*************
Youth Team Winners (all kids and teen divisions)
1st – Keith Owen BJJ – 81 points
2nd – Gracie Barra Idaho – 25 points
3rd – West Side Jiu Jitsu – 20 points
4th – Intergrative Athlete – 14 points
Adult Team Winners (all adult divisions)
1st – West Side Jiu Jitsu – 62 points
2nd – Alliance – 60 points
3rd – Keith Owen BJJ – 50 points
4th – Combat Fitness – 20 points
Tournament Results Tuesday: Abu Dhabi Pro
April 20, 2010
Black belt open division winners at the Abu Dhabi Pro from left to right: Braulio Estima (2nd place, Gracie Barra), Claudio Calazans (1rst place, Atos Jiu-Jitsu), Alexandre Souza (3rd place, Gracie Florianópolis), Gabriel Vella (3rd place, Ryan Gracie). Image courtesy Abu Dhabi Pro.
This comes to us courtesy of Carlos Santos in the United Arab Emirates. The Abu Dhabi Pro was held last weekend in the UAE and has become an important date on the competition calendar these days, in no small part due to its monetary prizes for competitors.
BLUE BELT:
-63 KG
1-Tareek Alkutbi (UAE)
2-Ahmed Gloum (UAE)
3-Raymond Lee Massa (NZ)
3-Ghaleb Odeh Ahmad (Jordan)
-68 KG
1-Matheus Luckmann (Brazil)
2-Jacob Sandoval (USA)
3-Talib Saleh (UAE)
3-Kevin Mahecha (USA)
-73 KG
1-Daniel Agard (UK)
2-Daniel Svensson (Sweden)
3-Issa Able (USA)
3-Takatoshi Matsumoto (Japan)
-78 KG
1-Khlaed Abdulkareem (Jordan)
2-Jonathan Tuck (Guam-USA)
3-Zaid Jarandoka (Jordan)
3-Mario Marwan Kamal (Iraq)
-83 KG
1-Kit Dale (Australia)
2-Gustavo Silvestro (Brazil)
3-Faisal Alsouqi (Jordan)
3-Wesley Charles (South Africa)
-88 KG
1-Krysztof Saganowski (Poland)
2-Majid Alnaqbi (UAE)
3-Tamer Sameer (Jordan)
4-Sami Mohamed (Jordan)
-93 KG
1-Faisal Alkutbi (UAE)
2-Celso Frabetti (Brazil)
3-Bjoernar Beylich (Norway)
3-Brandon Kalapu (NZ)
-98 KG
1-Yahia Mansoor (UAE)
2-Marcelo Tarso (Brazil)
3-Tarek Matar (UAE)
3-Orlando Sanches (USA)
+98 KG
1-Hideki Sekine (Japan)
2-Willie Leonard (USA)
3-Mohammad Almenhali (UAE)
3-Alex Fraser (Canada)
OPEN LIGHT
1-Jonathan Tuck (Guam-USA)
2-Mohammed Naser (UAE)
3-Ali Monfaradi (BAHRAIN)
3-Ahmad (Kuwait)
OPEN HEAVY
1-Faisal Al Kutbi (UAE)
2-Tarek Mattar (EGYPT)
3-Ali Mehali (UAE)
4-Hideki Sekine (Japan)
The competition mats in Abu Dhabi. Image courtesy Abu Dhabi Pro.
BLACK BELT:
-65 KG
1-Rafael Mendes (Brazil)
2-Guilherme Mendes (Brazil)
3-Almiro Barros (Brazil)
3-Kataniwa Katsunori (Japan)
-74 KG
1-Gilbert Burns (Brazil)
2-Claudio Matos (Brazil)
3-Michel Maia (Brazil)
3-Celso Vinicius (Brazil)
-83 KG
1-Claudio Calazans (Brazil)
2-Braulio Estima (UK)
3-Delson Heleno (Brazil)
3-Guto Campos (Brazil)
-92 KG
1-Alexandre Ceconi (Brazil)
2-Romulo Barral (Brazil)
3-Zumbi Larara (Brazil)
3-Carlos Alexandre (Brazil)
+92KG
1-Ricardo Abreu (Brazil)
2-Gabriel Vela (Brazil)
3-Luiz Felipe Theodoro (Brazil)
3-Marcus de Almeida (Brazil)
OPEN
1-Claudio Calazans (Brazil)
2-Braulio Estima (UK)
3-Alexandre Souza (Brazil)
3-Gabriel Vella (Brazil)
FEMALE:
-63 KG
1-Luanna Alzuguir (Brazil)
2-Beatriz Mesquita (Brazil)
3-Hillary Williams (USA)
3-Juliana Holanda (Canada)
+63 KG
1-Gabrielle Garcia (Brazil)
2-Luzia Fernandes (Brazil)
3-Cassuza Fornari (Brazil)
3-Rosangela Conceição (Brazil)
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