BJJ Polish Nationals 2009

Already running for five years uninterrupted, the Polish Nationals happen in different places, always in November. This year it was Kozmin Wp. the town chosen. There was sensible improvement from last years competition. This time medals were specially made, I was impressed with the quality. The comp had two days so the times were respected, but occasionally they did not manage to use well the four areas, making some competitors wait too long between fights.

Refereeing is a big problem everywhere, and in Poland it is not different.  Many mistakes and lack of information of common procedures by referees happened all the time. I did see refs making mistakes, but I did not see refs cheating or erring on purpose, so a bit of training and better understanding on rules can do a big difference for next year.

The level of BJJ in Poland has been improving fast, and now we see many talented brown belts, specially in the light weight division where all the four finalists could win european comps at any time. Piotr Bagi (Berserkers), as always, fought everything, winning the absolute on Saturday and returned Sunday. Suffering a leg contusion on the finals, he still swept his opponent but fell short of one advantage to win the match.

The Heavyweight Elite Division (Brown and Black belts, over 88 kgs), was completely dominated by our grappler Mariusz Koziej. He simply overcame all his three opponents, establishing side or knee control, choking them all with variations of the same technique, as can be seen on the videos below. One can notice that he uses leverage and technique on all matches, demonstrating technique rather than power, with so much control that his opponents simply cannot react.

Mariusz was awarded the trophy of best fighter of the tournament, honouring our club with this brilliant achievement and demonstration of his potential. The Rio Grappling Club is proud to have him colaborating so much to the growth and improvement of our students, and his victory will give us extra motivation to next year competitions. Yes We Can!

 

 

Rafal Petertil

This is a grappling blog, but we also admire good striking, and is worth watching some highlights from one of the best polish strikers, Rafał Petertil, a friend from Wrocław.

Results from II RGC Meeting

Our second meeting in Wroclaw gathered 45 athletes from Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic.
Thanks to the presence of RGC clubs from Wrocław, Dąbrowa Górnicza & Zielona Góra, and friends from Jungle Czech Republic, Pitbull Slovakia, Oktagon Rybnik, Drysdale Kielce, Sqra Gold Team, Lutadores Opole, Head Hunters Jelenia Góra and Częstochowa, the competition happened without incidents in a nice atmosphere, appropriate for the meeting, conceived to be a training ground for our students and preparation for big tournaments.

Special thanks to Mariusz Koziej, Walmaro Medeiros, Fernando Araujo and Wiktor Siekierka that so much contributed to the event.

Soon we will add photos here. Check the complete results below!

White Belts

-66 kgs:
1. Norbert Warchol – Sqra Gold Team
2. Kamil Ciepulis – RGC Dąbrowa
3. Marcin Ciszek – Częstochowa

-73 kgs:
1. Marcel Robert – Oktagon Rybnik
2. Bartosz Niebylski – RGC Dąbrowa
3. Petr Kupčík – Jungle Czech

-81 kgs:
1. Jarek Kochanowicz – RGC Wrocław
2. Paweł Tomalik – Lutadores Opole
3. Łukasz Dąbkowski – RGC Zielona Góra

-90 kgs:
1. Ivor Hedgehog – Jungle Czech Rep.
2. Paweł Jastrzębski – Lutadores Opole
3. Kamil Zgondek – RGC Wrocław

+90 kgs:
1. Sebastian Kapusta – RGC Dąbrowa
2. Tomasz Zakiewicz – Head Hunter Jelenia Góra
3. Krzysztof Grela – RGC Zielona Góra

Blue Belts

-73 kgs:
1. Daniel Krakowiak – RGC Wrocław
2. Krszysztof Flak – RGC Dąbrowa
3. Wiktor Siekierka – RGC Wrocław

-81 kgs:
1. Martin Krenek – Jungle Czech Rep.
2. Andrej Spike – Jungle Czech Rep.
3. Kamil Tarnowski – Drysdale Kielce

-90 kgs:
1. Łukasz Zawada – RGC Wrocław
2. Roman Cedik – Jungle Czech Rep.
3. Łukasz Jabłonski – RGC Dąbrowa

+90 kgs:
1. Jon Tkach – Jungle Czech Rep.
2. Filip Kopij – RGC Wrocław
3. Lukas Holub – Jungle Czech Rep.

Abu Dhabi World Trials – Australia

The First Trial for Abu Dhabi BJJ Pro 2010 will happen in the land of Oz.

The Abu Dhabi Pro Australasia will take place on Sunday, 15 November 2009 at Endeavour Sports High.

The Abu Dhabi Pro Australia/Australasia is proudly supported by Triple Bull, Nippy’s, Boost Mobile, Aerial 7, CJ Signs, Grapplingstore.com, Rhino Mouthguards, Little Corner Shop.

Abu Dhabi Pro Australia/Australasia Media Contact
Michael Tyrpenou
Mob: 0410211087
Email: michaelt@surfingnsw.com.au

Abu Dhabi Pro Australia/Australasia Event Director
John Shimooka
Mob: 0414585845
Email: john@consolidatedsports.com.au
Abu Dhabi Pro Australia

Alessio de Liberti wins in NY and Hamburg

Our grappler Alessio de Liberti left Livorno, Italy to venture alone in the No Gi Pan-Ams last week in New York. His effort was not in vain, as he brought home the gold medal in the blue belt master division under 67kg.

No Gi Pan-Am Results (blue belt master feather)

1st: Alessio de Liberti – Rio Grappling Club
2nd: Alberto Robles – Renzo Gracie
3rd: Kevin Saboe – Kioto
3rd: Scott Vieira – Renzo Gracie

Not a person to sit down in the sofa after a win, Alessio went this weekend to Hamburg, Germany, fighting in a submission tournament with rules without points or time limit. He submitted 6 opponents to become the winner there, a great achievement only a week after the comp in NY.

We hope his feat inspires all our grapplers. Alessio always competes, in big and small tournaments, and his dedication is being paid with fantastic results.

Professional Jiu Jitsu comes to Africa

The African Continent is the most isolated when it comes to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. One can find renowned brazilian coaches of BJJ in North America, Middle East, Asia, Australasia and Europe, as well as many competitions of all sizes, but in Africa the locals must do with what they have. Not many black belt travel often there, and the distance for them to travel is huge, so very seldom African fighters have the chance to train in Brasil or North America. I met some South Africans living in England and training BJJ there, but most of them don’t return home, which would contribute more substantially to the growth of the sport in their area.

When it comes to competition, the problems are even bigger. The distances between the major cities can only be covered by plane, offering another challenge to the fighters that must struggle with money in order to compete. So even competitions have mostly hometown crews entering them, not many people can afford flying from Luanda or Johannesburg to Cape Town and vice-versa to dispute medals.

Having read that, one would think that BJJ is pretty small in Africa, and the level is not really high. Nonsense! The local fighters have a very good grappling, the clubs are booming in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Luanda, as well as in other parts. All comes down to dedication, and after 4 trips to South Africa, I can say those guys are serious about grappling and committed to overcome the barriers. 

So the importance of the Abu Dhabi African Trials to Africa is huge and cannot be underestimated. For the first time, a BJJ competition will be offering the chance to local fighters to qualify and have all expenses paid to compete in the most prestigious BJJ tournament in the World. Distributing over Us$ 148,000.00 to the competitors in the next main event, the Abu Dhabi BJJ Pro World Cup offers a real chance to 5 Africans to go compete against the BJJ elite next April in the UAE. This event will be a turning point to BJJ in Africa, allowing all practitioners to fight for the chance to represent their flag in the biggest professional BJJ competition.

This opportunity is only possible due to the generosity of the National Government of the United Arab Emirates, which will pay the flights, accommodation and grant Visas to the five African qualifiers, as well as others qualified through the same process around the World. This initiative is an effort of Carlos Santos and Fernando Paradeda, sponsored by H. H. Sheik Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyam, Patron of the World Professional Jiu Jitsu Cup.

We’d like to thank them for making it possible, as well as to our local crew in South Africa that is putting the pieces together to deliver a great tournament: Nathan Raaths, Sheryl Newman, Reinhardt Fourie, Jurgen Putter, Michal Shapiro, Stuart Rider and the Rio Grappling Club South Africa Crew that are contributing to bring this project alive.

5th of December will mark this important step towards including Africa in the map of Professional Jiu Jitsu, with the Trials happening in Johannesburg, and if all goes well, the idea of the organisers is to expand the number of qualifiers in future trials, opening even more the doors of Professional Jiu Jitsu to Africans and helping promote the sport all over the continent. We hope to have the full support of all the African Grappling community, because this is a project worth being involved with, one that will bring inclusion not only to South Africans but to the whole continent.

For more info about the African Trials, please go to: www.africabjjtrials.wordpress.com

Worldwide Trials

The World Trials to Abu Dhabi BJJ Pro World Cup 2010 have defined most dates, with the first tournament happening in Australia and the last ones in Japan and Belgium. Europe, Brasil and North America will have more than one trial.

Check all the dates below:

Australia – 15th of November, 2009

New Zealand – 21th of November, 2009

South Africa – 5th of December, 2009

England – 12th of December, 2009

Brasil Rio – 17th of January, 2010 (TBC)

USA East – 31st of January, 2010

USA West – 13th of February, 2010 (TBC)

Canada – 06th of March, 2010

Brasil South – 14th of March, 2010 (TBC)

Belgium – 20th of March, 2010

Japan – 20th of March, 2010

Finals in Abu Dhabi – 15th, 16th and 17th of April, 2010

(TBC) – event will happen, dates to be confirmed.

Yan Cabral wins another MMA bout

Our friend Yan Cabral submitted his seventh opponent in a row, establishing a professional MMA record of 7-0-0. He fought Peter Angerer, from German Top Team in Geneva, Switzerland, and got him in a kimura on the end of the first round.

You can follow the action on the video below:

Glasgow BJJ Open 2009 – results

The Glasgow Caledonian University held last Saturday, 26th of September, the biggest bjj comp to happen in Scotland to date. Over 100 competitors from Scotish and English clubs entered. It also marked the first time a female division was run in Scotland with 3 separate divisions and an absolute. The biggest winner was the Griphouse Gym in Glasgow (coaches Paul McVeigh and Doug MacMaster).

Full Results:

Team Standings

1. Griphouse: 95 points
2. Royce Gracie JJ Scotland: 20 points
3. Cross Combat Edinburgh: 19 points
4. Gracie Barra Birmingham: 18 points
5. Aliveness Gym Aberdeen: 15 points.
6. Checkmat Sunderland: 14 points
7. BJJ Scotland: 13 points
7. GB Lagarto: 13 points
8. Rick Young (GB Scotland): 12 points
8. Bridge Of Allan Grappling: 12 points
9. Combat Base NE: 9 Points
10. Hostile Territory: 8 points
11. Carlson Gracie/Rey Diogo Aberdeen: 3 points
12. Strike UK: 1 point
13. AMAG: 1 Point

Individual Results: –

ADCC 2009 Barcelona – Open Weight

The most important division was the last one to be held yesterday in Barcelona, confronting some of the best grapplers in the World for a prize of Us$ 40,000.00.

After winning their respective weights, Braulio Estima and Xande Ribeiro advanced to the finals, beating difficult opponents. Braulio defeated Marcelo Garcia and Vinicius Magalhaes, while Xande won Andre Galvao and Gunnar Nelson. The final match promised to be a battle to the end, but a shoulder injury forced Xande to give up.

Braulio Estima is the Absolute Champion of ADCC Barcelona 2009, a just reward for a fighting career that took him from Pernambuco, northeast of Brazil, to Birmingham, England, where he lives and teaches. This blog congratulates him and hopes that Braulio keeps fighting BJJ and Grappling, without leaving for MMA and its big money.

Absolute Results:
1. Braulio Estima – BRASIL
2. Xande Ribeiro – BRASIL
3. Vinicius Magalhaes – BRASIL
4. Gunnar Nelson – ICELAND

ADCC 2009 Barcelona – results

The most prestigious Grappling Tournament in the World, the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championships is still happening in Barcelona, with the Male and Female Open Divisions scheduled to start soon. Here the results of the weight divisions:

-66kgs:

1. Rafael Mendes
2. Rubens Cobrinha
3. Ryan Hall

-77kgs:

1. Pablo Popovitch
2. Marcelo Garcia
3. Gregor Gracie

-88kgs:

1. Braulio Estima
2. Andre Galvao
3. David Avellan

-99kgs:

1. Xande Ribeiro
2. Gerard Rinaldi
3. Vinicius Magalhaes

+99kgs:

1. Fabricio Werdum
2. Roberto Cyborg
3. Jeff Monson

Superfight:
Jacare won against Robert Drysdale

Women’s -60kgs:

1. Luanna Alzuguir
2. Sayaka Shioda
3. Hillary Williams

Women’s +60kgs:

1. Hannette Staak
2. Penny Thomas
3. Cris Cyborg

Once again brazilian grapplers dominated the event, winning all weight divisions and the superfight. As soon as the Open Weight divisions end, we will publish their results.

II RGC Wroclaw BJJ Meeting

Fellow Grapplers:

This is an announcement of the II RGC Wroclaw BJJ Meeting.

This tournament will be held in our gym in Wroclaw, on the Saturday, 17th of October. It will be limited to a maximum of 120 participants.

This is a meeting, not an official tournament, it will be open for invited groups and all Rio Grappling Clubs, allowing us to prepare better for bigger tournaments.

Clubs interested in participate, please contact us in advance informing the approximate number of competitors.

The comp will be run in our gym, there are two official wrestling matted areas, but not much space available to public, so we are not encouraging spectators.

Entries are limited and we will have only a few divisions like on our first meeting. Remember that this will be a friendly comp, so the idea is to gain experience and prepare for bigger ones.
. 

Professional BJJ

Back in 1990, when I started grappling, professional Jiu Jitsu would sound like an utopian dream. The official state BJJ tournament was boycotted by most clubs, the Brazilian Nationals did not exist, and the biggest comp we had was the Atlantico Sul, named after a condo in Barra da Tijuca.

BJJ was barely practiced in most parts of Brasil, with Rio de Janeiro and Amazon states being the only significant ones in terms of numbers and technical quality.  Fighters supported themselves by teaching or other daytime jobs, and most sponsors would give us food, tournament fees and clothes.

As a surfer, I always dreamt of seeing BJJ being practiced everywhere, with a professional tour and decent prizes.

With the success of Royce in the UFC and the explosion of MMA , Jiu Jitsu experimented a growth that most of us would never think of, and competitions are happening all over the World, with the most significant growth in North America.

Unlike surf that is organised by former athletes and became global, bringing money and professional marketing to the sport, BJJ is controlled by a mob that preys on its competitors, offering no more than a t-shirt and a medal to athletes. The money itself only goes one way, from the wallet of the fighters to the pocket of the parasites that mix personal and public interest with a clean face.

After more than 15 years of constant abuse and exploit, it is a shame that athletes keep supporting this scam, conducted by the same people that control the Brazilian, American and International Federations since their inception, without elections and without being accountable to anyone.

This group has no interest in developing BJJ as a professional sport, as they would have to share their revenues with the people generating them. If we wait for them, professional BJJ will never happen.

Thankfully, the growth of BJJ opened up many doors, and it was in the United Arab Emirates that the seeds of professional BJJ are being sown. Carlos Santos, under the patronage of H. H. Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan, started to teach the military forces of that country. With time, Carlos started teaching school kids and launched a program that now is in its third phase, reaching 20 thousand school kids from Abu Dhabi and employing 81 Brazilian BJJ coaches.

Not settling for less than excellence, Carlos envisioned a better future for our sport. He started small, promoting local and regional BJJ comps but always with increasing money prizes. The next step was to create a World Pro BJJ Cup, which happened earlier this year. Now the whole thing is expanding with full support of the government and many trials will be done all over the World, qualifying athletes that will receive all travel expenses to compete next April in Abu Dhabi. The II World BJJ Pro Cup will split over Us$ 130,000.00 (One Hundred, Thirty Thousand American Dollars) among the finalists and will mark the establishment of the FIJJA, a federation committed to promote BJJ all over the World in a professional way.

Trials will be run in North, Central and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania, setting the standards for a future World Professional BJJ Tour.

This initiative will cement the future of the sport, bringing a new generation and keeping athletes that were leaving BJJ behind to venture into MMA due to financial pressures. 

Our club became responsible for the African Trials, that will happen on 6th of December in Johannesburg, South Africa. Other trials will happen from November to March al over the World and as soon as we have all details available, we will post them here.

For more information about the trials in South Africa, please write to: quantumtribe@webmail.co.za

For more info regarding trials elsewhere, please write to: fernando@paradeda.com.br

Scandinavian BJJ Open 2009

Set to happen in Stockholm, Sweden, on the 17th and 18th of October, this is one of the biggest bjj comps held in Europe, being run every year since 2003. Open to all nationalities, the tournament will have money prize for the black belt adult open champion, many gifts offered by sponsors and high level grappling.

For complete info, please visit their site at:
http://www.sobjj.se/

Summer Wrap Up

I am back to Poland after more than two months travelling (and without blogging at all, sorry folks, I blame it on facebook!), and looks like summer is pretty much gone here. It was vacation time in Europe, but our students back home kept training at least 3 times a week, while I went to South Africa to visit our clubs in Johannesburg and Port Elisabeth, before heading to Italy where our first summer camp was done on the Adriatic sea, close to Ferrara.

Trainings in Johannesburg were organised with my time split among our four clubs. RGC Quantum Tribe hosted me first, then I went to RGC Tap Out, RGC Bedfordview and RGC Randpark Ridge, coaching daily classes and two big seminars. We also pulled together the first ever BJJ competition in Joburg, gathering 50 grapplers and training athletes, coaches and referees in official BJJ rules.

Since it was almost a year and six months from my last visit to South Africa, things have changed a bit. Our coaches have stepped up to the challenge of growing bjj, adding more classes, bringing more students, and looks like they worked hard on their own games too.

Wiekus Swart and Bobby Karagiannidis,two of the finest South African grapplers, were awarded the black belt, while younger Nathan Raaths, after winning a MMA bout by submitting his opponent with an armbar in less than 2 minutes, got his brown belt on the same day. All in all, the overall level of our students has improved exponentially, with special mentions to Dino Bertolis and Francois Groenenwald. Those two young talents are sure to rock any competitions they enter, with or without GI.

Nathan, Bobby, me and Wiekus – 1st of August, 2009

My visit to Port Elisabeth is also worth mentioning, our club there has new premises with new mats, new students and a coach so enthusiastic with the technical details, that it is just a matter of time to see the blossoming of BJJ in that beautiful city.

RGC PE

Back to Europe, I spend the last ten days of August in Lido degli Estensi, a beach located close to Ferrara, where Matteo Menna organised our first summer camp. The experience was fantastic to all of us. I travelled with my black belt student Mariusz Koziej, and we were joined by Eduardo Machado, a brazilian black belt that lives in Florianopolis, so we had 3 black belts participating of the classes, 7 to 12 italians (some guys joined a few classes but could not stay for the whole camp) and, lost in translation, our swedish friend Kim Ekerwald, that after a week was already speaking some italian words.

The camp was a great experience for all of us, all the guys sharing information and training hard, the whole group ate together and stayed together most of the free time, food was great and weather too, maybe a bit too hot to train but sweating is not bad if you have the sea nearby and showers

 

Eduardo stands and Mariusz sits in the middle.

For more pictures of the camp, check the gallery at our facebook group.

Pix from the Wroclaw Meeting

To see the whole gallery, go to: http://picasaweb.google.pl/wojciech.rybicki/ZawodyWrocek#

Videos from Livorno I

Recent and historical. Images from the I Rio Grappling Cup in Livorno three weeks ago, and a sequence of freestyle matches from 1979!

Watch below the final match under 66kgs between Matteo Menna and Thier Tavares; under 84kgs between myself and Tommaso Pispico, and highlights from our wrestling coach Riccardo Nicolini, fighting freestyle 30 years ago, on his way to the Olympic Games in Moscow, where he took 5th place.

Viva el Barça!

Not the biggest fan of football, I still admire the breton sport like most brazilians, specially when played with art. And this past season, El Barcelona showed skills, talent, luck and art, playing beautifully and winning all possible titles (Spanish League, Spanish Cup and the Champions League), defeating the Manchester United in Rome.

Their coach, Pep Guardiola, played a motivational video to inspire the players just before the game.

Well worth the seven minutes:

Full results I RGC Wroclaw Meeting

Sunday, 31st of May, 2009

Participants: 67

Teams: RGC Wroclaw, RGC Silesia (Gliwice, Zawiercie, Dabrowa Gornicza), Sqra Gold Team, Boi Team Wroclaw, LGT Zielona Góra, BJJ Jelenia Góra, Jungle BJJ Praga and Lutadores Opole

Blue belts:

+90kgs
1. Patryk Horbatiuk – RGC Silesia
2. Michał Łapka – SQRA Gold Team
3. Konrad Łęski – RGC Wroclaw

-90kgs
1. Łukasz Zawada – RGC Wroclaw
2. Łukasz Dźbik – RGC Wroclaw
3. Robert Małocha – LGT Zielona Góra

-81kgs
1. Andrej Galanda – Jungle BJJ Praga
2. Bartek Bibrowicz – RGC Wroclaw
3. Adam Karolczyk – RGC Silesia
3. Michał Organiściuk – SQRA Gold Team

-73kgs
1. Martin Krener – Jungle BJJ
2. Krzysztof Łaba – RGC Silesia
3. Kamil Bali – Boi Team
3. Krzysztof Flak – RGC Silesia

-66kgs
1. Artur Kuzera – RGC Wroclaw
2. Maciek Bochenek – RGC Silesia

White belts:

+90kgs
1. Paweł Kaźmierczak – LGT Zielona Góra
2. Tomasz Zackiewicz – BJJ Jelenia Góra
3. Kamil Zgondek – RGC Wroclaw

-90kg
1. Robert Balicki – Boi Team Wroclaw
2. Rafał Zawidzki – RGC Wroclaw
3. Ivor Kollar – Jungle BJJ Praga
3. Adam Maciocha – RGC Wroclaw

-81kg
1. Jakub Cerny – Jungle BJJ Praga
2. Bartosz Kocierz – RGC Silesia
3. Szymon Wolny – RGC Wroclaw
3. Paweł Tomalik – Lutadores Opole

-73kg
1. Dawid Machura – RGC Silesia
2. Sebastian Baran – RGC Silesia
3. Paweł Łabuda – RGC Wroclaw
3. Adrian Wisła – RGC Wroclaw

-66kg
1. Tomasz Środoń – SQRA Gold Team
2. Norbert Warchoł – SQRA Gold Team
3. Daniel Guszta – RGC Silesia
3. Paweł Kociubiński – RGC Wroclaw

First impressions on the I RGC Meeting

Wroclaw, the meeting place. And yesterday as time for our first meeting cup, an idea to integrate the RGC schools in the region and make a small competition, also open to invited clubs.

The tournament had 65 entries in the white and blue belts, and a superfight between purples. The clubs RGC Gliwice, Zawiercie, Dabrowa and Wroclaw were presents, as well as Lutadores Opole, BJJ Jelenia Góra, BJJ Zielona Góra, SQRA Gold Team, Boi Team Wroclaw and Jungle BJJ Praga. Jungle is the first BJJ school from Czech Republic, coached by my friend Fernando Araújo, a black belt from Rio de Janeiro living in Prague. His students won two divisions in the blue belt and one in the white, with others showing good skills and already some competition experience.

The overall level of the tournament was good, notably among the blue belts, and I was happy that most students from Wroclaw, experiencing a competition for the first time, displayed heart and skills. With more training and more experience, they shall do well in future comps. The best performance from our guys came from Lukasz Zawada, Lukasz Dzybk, Artur Kuzera and Szymon Wolny. Guys from Silesia did well too, with a special mention to all the team that came from RGC Gliwice, there is a lot of potential there. Outstanding was the heart of Patrik Horbatiuk from Zawiercie, that took 2 very tight armbars, impressively escaped from both, passing the guard and controlling his experienced opponent (a judoist) to win the finals over 90kgs (he weighs 80!).

The decision to not have advantages was a good one, the matches have stalled a lot less, and twice we called overtimes to decide the winner, so in the end we always had clear decisions, without any complaints throughout the competition. Mariusz did a good job refereeing, and at 4pm we finished the meeting, giving medals, certificates and t-shirts to the winners.

I am still tired but it was worth it every minute. I will bring full results tomorrow.

Yan Cabral wins in Sweden

Our friend and BJJ black belt has just won another MMA match by submission yesterday, this time in Sweden. He won by Katagatame on the 3rd round. Soon more details and pictures here!

New header

We have just changed the header of our blog. What do you think of the new layout?

Roma BJJ Challenge 2009

My past 10 days in Italy were very productive, and besides the seminars and classes, I could follow the RGC squad in two competitions. After the great success last week in Livorno (read post below), we came down to Roma to participate in the III Roma BJJ Challenge.

A very well run tournament by Federico Tisi with help from Andrea Baggio and the Italian Connection, the cup had 150 people fighting BJJ under standard international rules, the structure was good for the numbers, the referees did very well overall, with only minor mistakes and I did not see any bias. All refs are active competitors and this can only be good for the growth of the sport in Italy.

Only to complain is the weather, it was really hot and the gymnasium felt like a greenhouse, making it difficult for the athletes to perform their best in that conditions. A place with better ventilation would do for next years, as in late May chances are that will often be hot in Italy.

Our team surely stole the show this year, taking the two most important trophies, the Open Divisions  on the purple and blue belts.

Matteo Calamandrei took gold in the Open Purple belt. Without opponents in his weight division, Matteo won two matches showing takedowns and good control of both opponents, winning the most important division at stake (there were not brown and black belt divisions on this tournament).

Ion Condei and Ricardo Bennati (Sport Goofy), training partners, took gold and silver in the blue belt Open Division, as well as under 88kgs.

Besides that we added more experience to the other fighters, setting the pace for the next season.

Our Results:

Purple Belt Open Division:
1st place – Matteo Calamandrei

Blue Belt Open Division:
1st place – Ion Condei
2nd place – Ricardo Bennati

Blue Belt under 88kgs:
1st place – Ricardo Bennati
2nd place – Ion Condei

White Belt under 100.5 kgs:
3rd place – Giacomo Pani

White Belt under 70kgs
3rd place – Fabio Tondolo

The First Rio Grappling Cup!

Livorno, where the Rio Grappling Club started in Italy 5 years ago, hosted the first Grappling Cup organised by our association yesterday, Sunday 17th of May.

Teaming up with the Italian Federation of Grappling, we offered 500 Euro in cash, divided by the 5 winners of the Class A. Official matted areas, electronic scoreboards and referees were sent by the FIGR/FIJLKAM, and we took care of setting up everything and let the fighters do the show. About 80 grapplers from all over Italy came to the comp.

We adopted the official FILA rules. Although not without flaws, those rules are a lot better than the ones used in ADCC Sub Wrestling tournaments. This, far from being only my voice, was what I heard from many competitors, including Luca Anacoreta from Rome, one of the best italian grapplers and winner yesterday (under 74kg class A).

Our team, stronger than ever in Italy, did well winning or qualifying in most divisions, with amazing performances by Matteo Menna, Simone Baldi and Erik Tornaboni among others. I decided to compete at the last minute as there were no one from our team under 84kgs.

Even weighing around 79kgs, I took the chance of fighting without training specifically for it or preparing psichologically, and thankfully managed to overcome my 2 opponents, winning both matches by submission. After two years and a half without competing, I was pleased to return to the mats, although I felt the rust and did not perform as well as I wanted, but in the end what matters is to win without doubts. My first match was ended with a rear naked choke and the finals with an armbar. Soon I will upload videos and a slideshow of the tournament.

Class A results:

Under 66kgs
1. Matteo Menna – RGC Ferrara
2. Thier Tavares – Ass. Aranha
3. Mattia Macchelli – RGC Firenze

Under 74 kgs:
1. Luca Anacoreta – Rogerio Olegario
2. Ciro Ruotolo – Nova Invicta
3. Andrea Lavaggi – RGC Sestri Levante

Under 84kgs:
1. Roberto Atalla – RGC
2. Tommaso Pispico – GB Italy
3. Daniel Gianpaolo – GB Italy

Under 96kgs:
1. Erik Tornaboni - RGC La Spezzia
2. Gianluca Palombi – A.S Pegaso Ladispoli
3. Sela Sokol – IC Perugia

Under 120kgs:
1. Matteo Calamandrei – RGC Firenze
2. Vito Rea – Galaktik Sora

Class B results:

Under 60kgs:
1. Simone Baldi – RGC Ferrara
2. Filippo Fioretto – IC Team Centurion
3. Andrea Matzuzzi – Le Rughe Grappling Clan

Under 66kgs:
1. Michele Baldassarri – Sakura Judo
2. Omar Sterni – Yoseikan Morini

Under 74kgs:
1. Giacomo Landi – Aranha JJ
2. Johnny Cecchini – Rendoki Dojo
3. Franco Benassi IC JJ center PR

Under 84kgs:
1. Stefano Di Donna – Sakura Judo
2. Marco Longo – RGC Firenze
3. Riccardo Pelosi – Aranha JJ

Under 96kgs:
1. Alberto Prandi – Le Rughe Grappling Clan
2. Michele Bovo – Padovar JJ

Under 120kgs:
1. Luca Renga – Sakura Judo
2. Fabricio Carvalho De Souza – Nova Uniao

I World Pro BJJ Cup

The biggest event so far organised by Carlos Santos during the first weekend of May in Abu Dhabi, UAE, did not disappoint the crowd that came from all corners of the World. The organisation and logistics were great, and the matches very dynamic, showcasing the future of BJJ as a professional sport. Props to the whole staff and the great support from the sheiks, helping take our sport to a new level with this event.

The greatest name of the event was Tarsys Humphrey, who won both the Open division and u85kg, cashing the biggest paycheck. The revelation of the competition was the brown belt Rodolfo Vieira, who won the division u95kg, defeating famous names to take the gold. Another surprise was Rafael Mendes, a newcomer in the black belt that has been winning a lot but had lost previously twice to Cobrinha, the biggest name of the division. This time Rafael set the pace and won a difficult match, establishing himself as the best feather weight, at least until they face each other again.

The total cash prize of the event was Us$ 111,000.00 (one hundred and eleven thousand american dollars), only second to the tournament held in Jordan last December. The Capital Challenge gave Us$ 141,000.00 in money to the athletes.

Watch the videos from the finals:

u95kg

u85kg

u75kg

u65kg

Open Division