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.

- Caleb

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.

.

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.

- Caleb

The author (second from left) with his new gold medal.

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.

- Caleb

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.

- Caleb

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.

- Caleb

The author and his Alliance teammates.

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.

- Caleb

The author in second place.

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.

- Caleb

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!

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

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)

by Georgette Oden

Fifteen years ago at the first Pan American Jiu Jitsu Championship, there were some 150 competitors. This year’s Pan, held at the Bren Event Center in Irvine California, welcomed some 2800 fighters, including some of the biggest names in the sport like Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles, Michelle Nicolini, and Felipe Costa as well as up-and-comers like Hillary Williams, Kron and Kayron Gracie, and Abmar Barbosa.

I competed in the blue belt women’s leve (light weight) class and worked as a scorer all four days. I was very impressed with the venue and the organization of such a big production.

Thursday, the first day, showcased the whites and some blues. Things got off to a relatively prompt start in the morning, with 10 mats running at once. The biggest divisions were the lighter-weight male blue belts, with some 75-100 competitors each, but the event staff kept things on track and moving efficiently. Brackets for the day were posted on a large wall just inside the entrance and took up feet and feet of space. Friday morning, Tony Torres (he of the famous voice, proclaiming when so-and-so is “Deeee… Cuuuuue…”) showed up and added some humor with his announcements of divisions. Friday began at 9am sharp, with my division (and several others) running like clockwork. Gradually the blues faded and were replaced on other days by purples and browns. Equally gradually, it seemed like the air conditioning was cranked up, and up, leaving everyone but the fighters shivering with cold. It was pretty chilly outdoors, too, but not enough to stop crowds from seeking out the excellent barbeque offered by Silvio’s, and the acai as well.

Saturday offered more spectacular and energetic fights between purples and browns, as well as the womens’ brown/black absolute bracket. I saw a one-stripe purple who was paralyzed from the waist down finishing his match and graciously receiving a standing ovation. Of course, Sunday was blackbelt day, with eight mats full of amazing jiu jitsu. The Pan Ams failed to disappoint. There were some notable fights– Abmar Barbosa (under Robert Drysdale) defeated Kron Gracie on his way to finals against Kayron Gracie where Kayron won by the smallest of margins. Michelle Nicolini’s gold medal match against Lloyd Irvin brownbelt Nyjah Easton was exciting to watch, offering some creative sweeps and definitely more than your standard battle to pass guard.

By working as scorer, I had some unique perspectives on the tournament. First, I could not have afforded to make the trip, or to compete in the Pan, without getting paid for my time. Second, I was forced to focus on something other than my own nervousness, so it really helped me manage my anxieties. Third, I literally had the best seat in the house for watching around 80 matches a day, start to finish, so I learned a lot… about strategy and referee judgments as well as specific technique points. Fourth, there’s something special about having a behind the barricade viewpoint, and I enjoyed having full access to the bullpen, the referees, and the scoring system. If I’d worked as a table coordinator instead, I would have been paid more per day AND would get my entry fee comped. Not a bad deal at all, plus all the tshirts and lunches and snacks. I highly recommend it.

A big well done to the IBJJF for their production and promotion of this tournament.

- Caleb

The brackets on Thursday. Image courtesy Georgette Oden.

The Bren Events Center before the matches started. Image courtesy Georgette Oden.

by Seymour Yang

World BJJ and ADCC Champion Braulio Estima came back to the UK from a lengthy seminar tour of the US to host this, the second BJJ British Open gi event at the Cocks Moors Woods Leisure Centre in Birmingham.

I attended and competed at the same event last year and noticed that the tournament organisers made several improvements – mainly the separation of categories over two days, rather than one. Saturday included all the kids, womens and white belt divisions, Sunday included all the blue, purple, brown and black belt divisions. I attended the Sunday event only.

One of the most noticeable things to having a tournament spread over two days is the fact that things are a lot more relaxed. Last year, with all divisions competing on the same day, things got a little overcrowded. Today, it was very quiet. Perhaps a little too quiet during the early part of the day and the PA announcer tried his best to gee up the audience to support the fighters on the mats.

The morning segment hosted all the purple and above categories. A total of eight mats were laid out, although I would say no more than four or five were in action at any one time. Stand-out matches for me were the brown belt lightweights final, with a tough technical match between RGA’s Andy Roberts and RGA’s Oli Geddes – proving that fellow academy mates can compete against each other and still give a good fight. The other outstanding fight, and one that the crowd did all cheer for in unison, was the purple belt final between long-standing rivals, Daniel Strauss (RGA) and Stephen Martin (Gracie Barra). The match between these two highly talented fighters ebbed and flowed with Martin seemingly taking the edge until Strauss, just before time scored a guard pass to side mount…or so we all thought. It took a video replay and the intense discussion between, the referees, Roger Gracie and Braulio Estima to decide that Strauss’s side mount was not held stationary for long enough to count as points so the win was given to Martin. It was a privilege to watch these two in action and I am sure they will have many more battles to come.

The afternoon segment hosted all the blue belts, which filled up the hall and gave a boost to the overall atmosphere of the event. I saw a lot of great matches but I had to leave early so missed the absolutes.

A big well done to the organisers of the BJJ British Open. This event, although only in its second year, is looking more and more like the professional tournament that Braulio is so keen to have it become. With over 600 competitors entering, spreading it out over two days is a sensible move. I’m sure this tournament will continue to grow from strength to strength each year.

- Caleb

This past weekend I attended the Bluegrass Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Open Submission Only event in Louisville, KY run by Louisville Martial Arts Academy (a Pedro Sauer Affiliate). This event was organized, well run, and a lot of fun. I preregistered online and, unlike many other local Midwestern tournaments, they had all my info at hand and ready to go. I signed my credit card receipt, stepped on the scale and was ready to compete. Ring assignments were well posted and there was ample notice as to when your division was going to begin.

The competition was held at a large basketball facility leaving ample room for six rings and seating for spectators. Referees did a good job keeping everyone safe and informed. As this was a submission only tournament, scoring was not an issue. There were no time limits and they did a good job of utilizing other rings to keep divisions moving if a fight was going particularly long.

The only downside to the tournament was that it had a relatively low turnout. This was likely due to the fact that they had to change dates and facilities due to insurance issues and that this was the first time they were doing this particular tournament. The staff did an excellent job of combining divisions when necessary and making sure that everyone had a chance to compete. Medals were given to all 1st-3rd place competitors and were very nice.

I think this tournament will continue to grow and I look forward to making the drive to Louisville to compete again next year.

- Caleb

by Dev Kostal

The Lake Tahoe Open, held by Charles Gracie Academy of Truckee/Tahoe, and run by Marc and Kelly Cramer, was a superb event.

The timing of the tournament was a bit rough – March in Lake Tahoe is prime ski season, which means that 1) there’s going to be snow, and 2) there’s going to be traffic. I won’t bore you with the details except to say it took us almost 11 hours to make a 5-hour drive. That said, they also have the Lake Tahoe Classic in October, for which the commute is much better.

This tournament, run for the first time, was set up as a regular tournament with all your standard brackets and whatnot, but they included a team concept and prizes. 10-person teams could compete for team trophies – each team had to include a child competitor, a female competitor, a white belt, and a blue belt, and additional points were awarded for brown or black belts. Points were awarded for wins, wins by more than 7 points, wins by submission, gold, silver, and bronze medals. The team points were calculated separately from the individual stuff, which meant that you still competed as an individual – the team results were transparent in the background.

The major IBJJF tournaments also have team points, but they’re not really marketed as team events, since smaller teams are at a disadvantage. For the Lake Tahoe Open, naming only 10 people to a team evened up the odds, so every team had the same chance. My team, Zeus BJJ, coached by Daniel Thomas in Monterey, CA, fielded 14 competitors, and we really embraced the team concept of this tournament.

The venue for the tournament was fantastic. Last year’s Lake Tahoe Classic was held in the Truckee Middle School gymnasium, and had three mats going, which was nice for a small tournament. This time, they were able to use the brand-new Truckee Community Center, and got 6 mats running concurrently! That’s as many mats as they had running at the Mundials on white belt day. The Community Center was spacious an well-lit, and aside from a sporadic microphone, was a superb venue for a BJJ tournament. A decent amount of spectator seating, and Kelly Cramer said the center promised to have the bleachers out next time, so it should be even better. There was also an upper level, which allowed viewing and filming from above.

Because of the weather, they tried to stall the beginning of the tournament a little to allow some of the commuting teams to get there. Frustrating for the guys that were ready to go, but I thought it was a classy move to try to get everyone there first.

The kids went first, starting around 1030. There were over 100 kids registered for the tournament (picture attached), which is the largest kids’ division I’ve personally ever seen outside of the recent Pan kids event. It was awesome. Each kid was guaranteed at least two fights, and if they won, they generally got a third. The experience gained was great, and all of the kids received medals. Concurrently with the kids’ divisions, they ran the junior (16-17) divisions.

The women’s division started next, at roughly 1130. It was a fairly small division, with maybe 20 girls split between white and blues. Fantastic matches, though, with a lot of skill being displayed on the mats.

After a short break for lunch and a raffle, the adult divisions started around 2 PM. White belts and blue belts were split up evenly across the 6 mats, with about 3 brackets on each match. There were also a few purple belt fights, and I think 1 brown belt fight. This division made things progress fairly quickly, and from my perspective it really seemed like all the mats were doing a good job at spreading the matches between brackets to keep things moving while giving competitors a rest between fights, always appreciated.

The reffing was very professional, as you would expect, and overall, the tournament was a really professional event. At the same time, they were able to keep a familial atmosphere, and everyone really had a good time. With other competitors sitting on the side of the mats, we were able to really support teammates and friends.

For me, the best part of this tournament (and the Lake Tahoe Classic) is that they had a consolation bracket. This is the only tournament series I’ve been to personally that guarantees each competitor at least two fights, which makes it PERFECT for new competitors. Even if you get crushed in your first fight, you get a chance to come back to fight for a bronze medal.

At other tournaments, you tend to get the building workers shooing you away from the fences, but there was none of that here. Because of the layout of the center, there was enough room to move around while still being able to have coaches and spectators get close to the action by the fences. There really wasn’t a bad seat in the house.

The only “complaint” I heard about the whole thing was not getting the team results before we left. I personally saw several folks working the numbers for most of the afternoon, but the mountain of bracket paperwork just didn’t seem to get any smaller. That’s hard work, and I absolutely appreciate the effort they were putting in – it’s tough to get those numbers done. Unfortunately, they just weren’t able to announce the results before people started taking off. Anyway, as soon as they’re finished, we’ll get team results by email, and the Cramers said they’d mail team trophies out appropriately.

After the dust settled, Zeus BJJ walked away with 2 golds, 4 silvers, and 6 bronzes! Everyone had a great time, and it really was a fantastic way to reinforce the team concept of this BJJ stuff we all enjoy. I’d actually love to see other tournaments use this same model for future events. Thanks again to the Cramers for a fantastic event, and we’re really looking forward to the next one.

- Caleb

Our team was looking for a good local tournament to help build some momentum for the upcoming Pan Ams. We found the Ouano Invitational online at iCompete.org. This was a fledgling inaugural tournament put on by some of the guys from the BJJ Revolution Team so we thought it would be perfect for what we wanted.

As I signed up I noticed that the Masters division only had 4 weight classes which I thought to be clever since I am happier to have more people in a bracket with me than not. I did think to myself though how sorry I felt for those in the next class up from me that was 200lbs +. After enrolling I realized that the weigh ins for this event would be taking place the day before at one of two locations. This can sometimes be nice but for me it meant I had to go a little out of my way on a Friday night, while I was so solidly in the middle of my weight class that it would be hard for me to miss weight. My teammate also had to go weigh in for the over 200lbs when he is a very comfortable 260lbs. Alternatively we were presented with the option of weighing in at the tournament before 9am, but we were not scheduled to fight until after 2pm. We did weigh in the night before and all went well.

The day of the fight was a beautiful Saturday in Southern California. It was finally back up to a nice 75 degrees and sunny after a few weeks of gloom and rain. Yes this was a going to be a good day to fight. As we pulled up to the event everybody’s faces seem to reflect the same feelings.

While checking in the brackets were posted outside on the table. I noticed that they had further combined some brackets. They put the masters cruiser and heavy weights together. This meant that the weight class was now 180lbs +. I questioned this, not because I didn’t understand it was a smaller tournament, but because I was now in the same division as my 7’ 260lb teammate. I did offer to them that had I thought this would be the case I would have happily competed in the adults light heavy as I have done many other times. The organizers were very understanding and cool about the situation but couldn’t fit me in my normal weight class. They did offer me to fight in the Adults Super Heavy as a consolation as well as leaving me in the master’s bracket with my teammate, so I accepted.

As I wound my way into the building I could see that MT SAC had an older gym, but it was going to be plenty spacious for the event. In the center of the area were slightly older tattered looking wrestling mats with improvised tape to separate the fighting areas. I wasn’t sure about the surface but the space allotted for each match was generous and the coaches were provided seats at mat side for coaching their team.

There were fixed bleachers on either side of the gym so a good view was guaranteed to all. There was also plenty of seating for the spectators to keep comfortable, which suited my wife and kids nicely. I was also told after the fact that snacks were cheap and the BBQ was good too.

We had arrived just in time to see the black belts fighting, so I sat back and took in some good matches while I waited for the blue belts to be called down to the warm up area. I thought it was great seeing the purple, brown and black belts scheduled before the white belts, I still can’t figure out though why the blue belts would be last though. I know its just not the way its normally done, but it seems like giving deference to the higher ranks in order might be a great sign of respect.

We were scheduled to fight as blue belts at 2pm and were finally called down to the bull pen at about 3pm. 1 hour behind schedule though seemed pretty tolerable to me though given that it was the end of the day. Once called to the warm up area I only had to wait about 15 minutes or so until my first match so I was quite happy about that. I also found that the wrestling mats were pretty soft and was plenty happy to fight on them over the normal tatami mats or rubber puzzle mats despite the appearance.

The fights carried on in an efficient manner and the officiating was fair and accurate. I was sad to see that a couple people did get injured and there wasn’t much proper medical attention around to tend to them. In one instance a competitor turned out to be a fire department emergency medical technician and offered his services to get the guy set. Fortunately though nobody got hurt really bad so this was not too much of an issue.

Overall I was pretty pleased with tournament and if held again next year I will happily attend again. I would hope though that the event planners grow from this first time around and fine tune the weigh ins and weight classes a little better.

- Caleb

The 6th European Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Open Championship was held in Lisbon Portugal this weekend. The tournament has become recognised as the “benchmark” Open championship for fighters wanting to prove themselves against the best that Europe has to offer. The tournament has gone from strength to strength with competitor numbers increasing not only at the junior and intermediate belt levels but at the senior levels of Brown and Black indicative of the standing the tournament has developed within the BJJ community.

The tournament began on Wednesday at the Complexo Municipal Esportivo do Casal Vistoso. The centre is a cavernous and imposing building in the North of the City. The first thing that strikes you upon arrival at the venue is the energy the venue, fighters and spectators generate. People don’t come to this championship to take part. They come to win and this permeates the building itself with virtually every person adrenalin-charged. The facilities are good with clear viewing galleries, maintained changing rooms and even various stalls selling everything from acai to replacement gis for any fighters falling foul of the stringent gi measuring requirements.

There were 8 matted areas and although all 8 never appeared to be in use simultaneously fights progressed concurrently and efficiently with the smoothness that the IBJFF have become renowned for. The only omission the organisers appeared to have made was the provision of a warm up matted area. Fighters resorted to jogging, calisthenics or skipping to warm up for fights.

Schedules, categories and times are clearly posted upon entry to the venue and on the internet but had to be rescheduled which is a reflection of the large numbers of blue and white belts who had registered to compete on the opening two days. There are many familiar faces from the UK circuit. Most of these competitors are what you would call “amateur professionals” as they take this sport seriously training six to seven days a week once or twice a day. These are the best that the UK has to offer and I suspect this is the case for the other nations present as well. The cost and commitment required to compete means that nobody travels “for the experience”. The Championships may be Open but I expect if your were to select national teams the list and competitors present would not diverge much.

Wednesday began with the white juvenile through to adult categories. What categorised these fights was the styles of fighting that prevailed. Most of these fights were characterised by the open guard game. A familiar pattern of victory emerged with competitors pulling open guard then attempting to finish their opponent by triangle or arm bar with varying degrees of success. Very few white belts elected to fight from the top suggesting a dependence on the guard with most fights going to the individual who pulled guard first.

Day two saw the entry of the senior and master blue belt categories. There were two inspirational sights on this day the appearance of Roger Gracie as a spectator and the participation of a blind fighter who received a standing ovation from the gathered crowd upon the completion of his fight. The blue belt fights were categorised by a more rounded game. Many of the fighters appeared to have a developed takedown game with many judo and wrestling style throws and takedowns employed by fighters. Fighters at these belts employed both top and bottom games. More of these fights tended to go to the judges scorecards, a relection of a more developed defensive game but when they were finished there was no pattern to the outcome with anything from omoplata to Achilles lock employed by the winning fighter

Saturday and Sunday were all about the senior belts as the last of the purple brown and black belt fighters taking to the mat. As a blue belt I struggled to understand some of the complexities of the fights in these brackets. Fights were characterised by both fighters adopting a low crouched stand up style with a long feeling out stand up period characterised by a scramble for dominant grips with which to control their opponents before attempting to trip their opponent to establish a dominant ground position. In the event that this was unsuccessful fighters would pull guard and attempt to establish control through a constant attempt to improve position and grip before attempting submissions. These fights really did prove the old adage that position comes before submission. The winners of the black belt categories were Guillherme Mendes (Atos) light featherweight, Tarsis Humphreys (Alliance) medium and Rodrigo Cavaca (Check Mat) heavy and Gustavo Campos (Atos) Open Champion.

The IBJJF European Open was a well run adrenaline fuelled ride and I can not recommend it highly enough. The only advice I would offer to anyone wishing to take part is to come prepared as this really is the benchmark for BJJ competition in Europe.

- Caleb

by Rowdy B.

Sunday the 24th I was a competitor in the West Coast Qualifier tournament in Santa Cruz. This was a tournament with much on the line. A chance to win an all expenses paid trip to Abu Dhabi to compete in their World Cup. Where else does a blue belt have a chance to earn thousands of dollars for a win? Nowhere else.

Making the seven hour drive up from San Diego I expected this to be great. I was not disappointed. The tournament was held in the Civic Center in Santa Cruz and was easy to find. If you were early you could find street parking for free, other wise you had to feed a meter every two hours. After showing my passport at registration and collecting a nicely done competitor t-shirt I made my way into the auditorium.

If you have ever competed at the Pan Am or Mundial you would have had instantly felt a feeling of familiarity. The only difference was things being on a smaller scale. The mats, fencing, tables everything reminded me of other high quality events I have competed in.

The tournament was scheduled to start at 9 AM and I was pleasantly surprised when at 8:45 AM competitors were called to the warm up area. Believe it or not, matches did start at 9 AM as advertised. The ID, weight and gi checks were exactly at other tournaments I have been to run by the IBJJF, so things were efficient and there were no surprises. Unless you were over weight, as the scale I used in the warm up area gave me a 0.3 pound lighter reading than the final scale used to either qualify or disqualify you. As I was an early competitor maybe they were zeroed later, I would like to hope so.

Watching the other matches and the tournament progress I was struck by the level of competition in the white and blue belt divisions. With so much at stake everyone brought their “A” game. People had obviously been training extra hard as this was a big chance and the matches showed it. Checking scores I think I could cover 85% of the matches with a 2-0, 10-0 or submission as the final result.

Emotions were worn on peoples’ sleeves, competitors gave it their all and when a loss was dealt, sometimes the great dissatisfaction shown through. But coaches calmed down, competitors got back up and hugged. To win here took an effort I had only seen before at the Pan Am or Mundials.

A great system to move competitors along, a clear and loud PA system unclouded by music, good mats, fierce competition, referees who answered every question of them, beautiful medals and things running on time. Can you imagine a better tournament? The organizers can, and I can’t wait to see how the World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Cup turns out!

- Caleb

By Jon Broster
This event was hosted by Zé Marcello of Brazilian Top Team and Jude Samuel of European Fight Network.

Arriving at the venue, it was clear for all to see that this was no ordinary competition. Dartford Judo Club is the Performance Institute for British Judo and is, therefore, home for a number of Olympic judo players. As might be expected, the facilities are excellent:

• Two full size Olympic judo mats.
• Cinema-style seating for around 200 spectators (ie soft chairs, not bleachers).
• Large, clean changing facilities.

Dartford is around 30 miles south east of the centre of London, and is within easy reach of all 4 of London’s airports, as well as being only a short drive from the English Channel, placing it within easy reach of European competitors and making it an excellent choice of venue for this international event. Participants had traveled from all over the United Kingdom and there were significant numbers of French and Polish competitors as well as people from Portugal, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

At the weigh in it was obvious that this was a very serious event – everyone was in great shape, there was no one who looked to be over weight or really skinny – and with good reason; up for grabs were all expenses paid tickets to the finals to be held in Abu Dhabi in April.

The event was well organized and, despite starting a few minutes late, ran smoothly all day. The officials all looked very smart, sporting black polo shirts and the venue had been suitably adorned with tournament sponsorship boards. One obvious difference from more standard events, was the relatively small number of divisions; there were no juniors, masters or seniors, simply adult divisions divided by weight for white belts, blue belts and a combined purple, brown & black belt division. The women were simply divided into 2 divisions by weight.

Right from the beginning there were some outstanding performances.

In the white belt under 83kg division, Wout Westra (Gracie Barra Netherlands) submitted all his opponents and finished one match in around 15 seconds, to land the quickest tap out of the day, with an armbar from standing.

East European judo player Vasil Panfil (RGA) smashed his way through the under 93kg blue belt division, repeatedly throwing all who stood before (some as many as 4 times) clocking up huge scores in the process, before taking both his weight division and the heavier of the two absolute divisions.

At the lighter end of the blue belt divisions Londoner Daniel Agard (BJJ School)demonstrated some beautiful sweeps and submissions on his way to winning both the under 73kg and the lighter absolute divisions.

In the women’s division, the fight of the day had to go to the white belt who held out for the full time and was only beaten on points by her brown belt opponent, showing some fantastic defense in the process.

Division A (the combined purple, brown and black belt division) was like a who’s who of European BJJ competitors; there were no fewer than 14 European gold medal winners competing, together with medalists from every major tournament across Europe and around the world.

The standard of competition was, as would be expected, outstanding.

In the under 83kg division Henrique Santana (Gracie Barra) ground out victories all his opponents, scoring well and conceding very few points indeed to his opponents.

I think for many the stand out performance of the day was by Luke Costello (Gracie Barra Birmingham) at under 92kg, who, despite being only a purple belt, showed some fantastic movement, taking the fight to and beating brown belts and coming close in the final against Nic Gregoriades (RGA) who is one of Britain’s leading black belts.

The atmosphere throughout the day was fantastic, thanks in no small part to the sizable and very vocal French contingent. Now it only remains to wait until April to see how well the European qualifiers rise to the challenge of taking on the best in the world.

As a spectacle, this was without doubt one of the best BJJ tournaments that has ever been held in Britain – congratulations to all those concerned.

The venue, Dartford Judo Club.

- Caleb

I attended the “World Series of Grappling” put on by Grappler’s Quest last weekend in Las Vegas Nevada. This was my 4th GQ event and I think it maintained its high level of organization with just a few glaring problems. This event is held annually in the first week of December and always promises a lot of good competition and a well put together tournament. To add to the excitement there was a Pro Division this year with a bunch of high caliber big name BJJ and grappling guys and gals competing for a cash prize.

The Good:

The Pro division was awesome fun to watch from lightweight to heavyweight. I enjoyed watching as many of the matches that I could manage between my own matches and was in awe of the skill and competition on those Pro mats. They did a good job of announcing the finals of those pro brackets so you knew when to watch and who you were watching.

As always they put on a fast paced, well put-together event. For the most part everything kept moving. We had guys in our group that were among the last divisions to go and we left for the long drive home at about 8:30pm which is pretty typical for GQ events.

The refs I have always thought were awesome at GQ events and this year was no exception. They are all helpful with the new guys and are amazing at resetting matches in as close to the original position as possible if they went out of bounds.

The level of competition I thought was very very good. It could have been just me but it seemed like there was a whole bunch of guys from Paragon (and women for that matter) that were bringing the hammer down on the mats. I include myself as one of those whom had the hammer drop down on them.

The Bad:

The Venue – They normally have it at a very large sports complex where there are bleachers, open air, great lighting, and visibility of the mats. This time around they opted for one of the conference rooms in the Texas Station hotel in North Las Vegas. Although it was really nice staying in the same hotel as the tournament so you didn’t have to load up and drive to the event, the actual conference center was much too small for an event of this size. There were no bleachers to speak of other than a few rows of folding chars on the floor and a few rows of folding chairs on an elevated platform with seating for about 60, which lead to everyone’s favorite pass time at tournaments: crowding the mats. So from any seat you could not really see any of the mats or matches going on which made it very difficult to not only find your own mat, but to try to find your team-mates mat became nearly impossible. In order to watch the Pro Division I had to watch from about 50 feet away in the crack between a doorway and one of the tables. Otherwise it was shoulder to shoulder to get to any of the mats.

The P.A. system you could hear fine in the conference room, but the second you stepped outside the conference room to find a seat or to warm up it was impossible to hear any of the announcements.

Originally on the website the Pro brackets were going to be contested on Friday night, but a few weeks before the event it got switched to 1pm on Saturday. I think that was a mistake. It would have been a lot better as a spectator to watch on Friday night. The mats would not have been crowded, you would not have to worry about missing your own match while watching the pros, and it would have opened up a lot of room for the normal competition on Saturday.

The mats had HUGE cracks where the pieces of the mats came together by the end of the day. It made these lovely little crevasses that I am sure where just begging to break some toes. I am not sure what had happened because GQ always uses Zebra Mats and they have always been awesome but something about the way they set it up had the mats coming apart all over the place. Before every one of my matches we had to stop and try to adjust the mats back together with little success.

To sum it up as always Grappler’s Quest put on a classy show with a pretty fast paced, mostly on time tournament with one flaw- the venue. I hate to say it but if they hold it at the hotel again I will not be attending and I think most of the people I train with feel the same.

- Caleb