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
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.
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!
Well, we do not have a section where we spotlight the best blogs we find in the internet, and I am sure I will not start doing this regularly, least of it because most of the time I spend surfing, I read blogs about economics and stuff totally unrelated to martial arts, but I thought the title would fit nice to this thread.
One of the best pound per pound MMA fighters in Europe, Paul Mc Veigh, BJJ brown belt and as Irish as the leprechaun, Guiness and the St. Patrick’s parade, writes in his blog about fitness, conditioning and training for MMA athletes, as well as hilarious stories of drunkenness and mayhem in Glasgow, besides throwing out some nice girls pix into the mix to make it even more interesting. A must read!
As 2008 approaches its end, people around the World make their wishes for the starting year, and we are not exception. First we thank all our students all over the World for the great support in 2008, and congratulate them for the growth and excellent results in competitions, and praise our italian team.
Under the leadership of Bernardo Serrini and a strong group mentality, Italy has performed way above average, and they developed simple things we hope to see in all our clubs worldwide for 2009, like monthly meetings and a strong commitment to bring people together.
Enough said, lets make the Rio Grappling Club wishlist (the order is aleatory)!
1. To grow organically next year, with more students joining each one of our clubs and increase the size of our family;
2. To inprove our participation in BJJ and Grappling events worldwide, with even better results than in 2008;
3. To expand our presence in South Africa, and bring together to train with us, there and everywhere, people from different cultures, races and creeds, promoting integration, peace and understanding;
4. To see all our students sharing more information over the internet, and even travelling to other countries to train together;
5. To keep the mission of taking BJJ to the four corners of the World, travelling also to the Middle East, Eastern Europe and different parts of Asia;
6. To keep working hard at our HQ in Wroclaw, Poland, receiving World Class teachers for seminars and our students to train with us, bring up the technical level and unite the students socially as a group;
7. To improve communications between all our schools and clubs, promote our Facebook group and make better use of our blog;
8. To help organise the sport in Europe, supporting tournaments like The Catalunya Cup and do our owns in Poland and Italy with high standards and money prizes;
9. To promote Grappling as a way to achieve better health, and integration between body, mind and soul;
10. Above all, to see a World with less suffering, less inequality, less exploitation, less wars and financial greed, and more dialogue and understanding between people and nations (we do not breath only martial arts, after all)
Last but not least, we wish that everyone in 2009 become a better person than in 2008, using the martial arts as a way to achieve self control, self understanding and a better comprehension of the nature, trying to avoid conflicts and destructive attitudes.
We are facing a huge financial crisis, and in fact is a great opportunity for us all to understand that the most important aspects of our life are not related to money or material comfort. After all, we are only tourists in this beautiful blue planet, and our goals are not to hoard cash, but to live, to love, to learn and to leave a good legacy. Lets not forget that, and try to find happiness in ourselves, in our family, in our friends and in the things that money cannot buy.
A Healthy 2009 for us all!
This tournament happened on 2nd and 3rd of August in Cape Town, but only now we have full results from our team.
Marina Veronese – 2 golds (both the women’s Gi division -72kg and open weight); Louise Leech – gold in the No Gi women’s division -72kg, silver in the No Gi open weight and bronze in the Gi -72kg; Dennis Ovcina – 2 Golds (Gi and No Gi -75kg advanced), and 2 Bronzes (Gi and No Gi open weight); Brandon Leech – 2 silvers (Gi and No Gi -68kg advanced); Liam Cleland – gold (No Gi -100kg advanced); Bradley Cossey – silver medalist (No Gi -75kg advanced).
Fantastic performance from our athletes, that more and more prove to be among the best grapplers in South Africa, where the sport is developing at a huge pace.
Gradually our presence online is expanding. Now Bernardo Serrini has launched a channel on Youtube where one can watch matches from our italian students on competitions. We have already 27 videos there and the number will quickly grow when the new season starts. Check them out at: http://uk.youtube.com/leglock75
Training drills and techniques are being posted on our Facebook group and only members are allowed to watch them.
Jacare means Gator in portuguese, and like the reptile, Ronaldo always go for the kill when fighting. Here he shows us a nice choke from the back using his own lapel. Simple and effective!
BJJ has been growing a lot all over the World, and each generation of black belts builds on another level. Two ascending names on the scene, coming from Rio de Janeiro, are Felipe Mota (Gargamel) and Yan Cabral.
They both fight on the middle heavy weight (-88kg) and are constantly battling each other. This fast paced fight happened on the World Championships of the CBJJE in São Paulo and Yan was the winner. Afterwards they fought on the Rio Open by the CBJJ and this time Felipe won. Watch the first one now here!
BJJ Master Paulo Caruso is making a quick visit to Prague and our friends from Jungle BJJ are hosting a seminar with him next week. Caruso holds a masters degree in sports science and was physically preparing Flavio Canto (bronze medal in Athens 2004 – Judo) and Minotauro among other famous brazilian fighters. For more detailed information please visit: Jungle BJJ
Our friends from Budapest are organising a major grappling tournament in the 10th of May. The comp will use BJJ rules adapted for No GI, and the prizes are excellent, 1,000 Euros for the open class winner as well as 500 Euros for each winner in the advanced classes.
This is the third edition of their No Gi tournament and the organisers are expecting lots of participants from all parts of Europe.
For more info please contact: maxicarvalho@hotmail.com
This is my last week coaching in Livorno before I fly to Wroclaw in Poland, and we are having great sessions with our local students as well as many visitors.
Wednesday was not different and we had Matteo and Gambe driving from Ferrara, and the brazilian black belt Thier Tavares, who came with his student Davide all the way from Arezzo.
I am pleased to introduce Thier to our guys in Tuscany, as he moved from Brasil 8 months ago and is still adjusting to life in Europe. He is a very humble and down to earth person and very technical, and trained in Rio de Janeiro, the craddle of BJJ.
Tonight is our last class until summer and we expect some of our friends from Firenze to come down, as well as our students from Ferrara.
Next week I will start the classes in Wroclaw and I am really amped because we will introduce No GI and Beginner classes and start weekly focused programs elaborated by myself that will speed up the learning proccess.
This is not a marketing hype, is a new concept on BJJ classes that I developed that can only work inside a group with advanced students and must be carried on for 6 months in order to be really effective. After 15 years of teaching experience, I feel very confortable to say that this will really work.
I do not want to explain too much or else people will be copying that elsewhere. One must come and train with us for a few weeks at least to really grasp what is going on. Anyways, since I have not arrived in Wroclaw yet, I am posting group pictures from my last visit in 2007.
One of the most talented fighters to appear in the late 90’s was Margarida. His real name being Fernando Pontes, he was given this funny nickname that means “Daisy” in english due to coloured braces he had on his teeth when started BJJ. His skills as a fighter made him feared by his opponents for his explosive game, relentless attacks and an appetite for submissions.
The funny nickname stuck but did not prevent him from being one of the best fighters of his generation, winning the most important BJJ tournaments and submitting big names like Fabio Gurgel and Saulo Ribeiro with chokes.
Our friend that lives and teaches in Toulouse, France, is on a rampage! Ten days ago, Yan came to Italy to fight BJJ and won the black belt division under 80kgs with a great display of technique against a brazilian opponent. This Saturday, fighting MMA in Luxemburg, at an event named Fight Fiesta De Luxe 4, he defeated the greek fighter Christos Petroutsos at 4′37” of the first round with an armbar.
See the winning armbar here!
Then watch his BJJ fight in Modena on this YouTube video. Pay attention enough, and you will hear me screaming instructions on the match.
I have posted this video in our blog before, but it was not working from YouTube anymore, so I deleted the post. Today I found the same video on Daily Motion and now I hope it is not taken out again. Watch it before it is too late!
This rare vintage video features Carlos and Helio Gracie demonstrating BJJ in the 50’s, the originals were filmed in 16mm and it is indeed very interesting to watch.
As part of my visit to RGC Italia, this weekend I went to Firenze and Ferrara to teach seminars, and as usual, the classes covered specific topics. Saturday was time for the Firenze BJJ’ers to get more familiar with guard passes. I started defining important concepts on posture and fundamentals of opening the guard, and afterwards we worked on stand-up passes, from the most basic to more advanced ones. We had 22 people coming from Firenze, Bologna, Perugia, Cesena and La Spezia. In the end everyone sparred working on guard passes and defense.
On Sunday in Ferrara, the topic was sweeps when our opponent stands up. We worked closed and open guard sweeps, and in the end I trained with all of our students before grading some of them.
Matteo Tugnolli received his blue belt after his stunning performance in Modena (see post Montana International JJ Cup) and Matteo Mena got his second stripe on the blue belt. Stripes on the white belt were awarded to Ion Condei, Cristian Gessi, Simoni, Vlad and Enrico, signaling to them they are too very close to change belts.
Since I arrived in Livorno last week, I am taking the classes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Yesterday the class was busier than usual, with 4 of our guys from Ferrara and Bologna, and the visit of 3 friends from Massa Carrara. Carrara is famous worldwide for its marble, but BJJ is picking up there too. In the class I taught 2 sweeps and later we drilled guard passing and defending.
Our club in Livorno is located inside the Popeye Club, owned by Riccardo Niccolini, a great freestyle wrestling coach that was placed 5th at the Olympic Games in Moscow 1980, before having a car accident that tore his leg muscles and prevented him from competing.
His passion for the sport, however, never faded, soon he started doing arm wrestling and won many titles including the World Championships. Later he was in the famous movie “Over the Top”, starred by Sylvester Stallone. Now he coaches one of the best freestyle wrestling teams in Italy and owns the Popeye Club. At his gym one can train Freestyle Wrestling, Boxing, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Arm Wrestling and Olympic Weight Lifting.
Modena, Italy. This Sunday, 30th of March, had one of the first BJJ tournaments in Europe organised with the help of the CBJJE. This new federation has demonstrated to be a partner of the athletes, rewarding their hard effort with money prizes and well structured competitions. This tournament was not different, and had the participation of Wendell Alexander, head coach of Nova Uniao and one of the responsibles for the CBJJE. Each of the 5 black belt divisions gave 500 euros to its winner. The fee was only 30 euros, compare it to the European Championships, that charges 80 euros and gives nothing but medals and t-shirts!
Our team had 13 people coming from La Spezia, Livorno, Ferrara and Bologna. It was my first time watching them fight, and everyone did so well, even the ones losing displayed good technique, fighting spirit, tenacity and respect for their opponents, making me very proud of them.
We made 3 champions and 2 third places, in a competition with over 160 people from many clubs from Italy, France, Switzerland and Poland. A special mention goes to my friend Yan Cabral, that won his fight scoring 20 points on his opponent, at the black belt class under 80 kgs.
Our results:
Matteo Tugnolli – Gold, white belt, -65 kgs
Ion Condei – Gold, white belt, -88kgs
Wolodymyr Katerynchyk – Gold, white belt, +88kgs
Cristian Gessi – 3rd place, white belt, -88kgs
Gianluca Boni – 3rd place, blue belt, -80kgs
Me, Wendell Alexander and Yan Cabral Young Matteo Tugnolli passing guard RGC Italia
One year ago I packed my GI and took a plane from England to South Africa, without a hint of what was waiting for me there. Would there be any grappling at all? If so, what would be the level? Were those guys training like in Europe or North America? I did not know, but adventure is my middle name, so I decided to take a risk and went there for a month. If worse came to worst, at least I would surf Jeffreys Bay, one of my dreams since I started surfing, so I was amped anyway. Read the rest of this entry »
Master Ricardo de La Riva is one of the most accomplished grapplers of all times, and this Youtube video shows some highlights, techniques and short interviews with many famous fighters. Awesome!
Check this quick video showing Daniel Niemeyer receiving his black belt from his teacher Robinson Machado at our club in Cabo Frio, RJ, two weeks ago. Congratulations Dan, and keep it up!
Xmas is coming and so is 2008. A new year arrives and is time to reflect on the past year, check our goals, fix the route if needed and keep forward. Is also time for gradings in Brasil, and this year we have a new black belt in our ranks. Congratulations to Daniel Niemeyer, from Cabo Frio. He received his belt from Robinson Machado, in the first ceremony to be held in our new gym (same location, new dojo).
Marco Chuck (RGC Buzios) will be holding his own ceremony this friday and I was hinted that Luiz Eduardo Rosa Junior will receive the brown belt. Luiz, aka Dentinho, won recently two medals on the purple belt in Teresopolis, a gold in the light open and a bronze in the middle weight, at the Pan American (CBJJE). This month he travelled to Sta. Catarina and took the silver medal in the South American (CBJJ), this time in the light weight. Watch one of his fights below.
Gradings were also held in South Africa, Italy and Cyprus. Igor presented Panicos Aravis his well deserved purple belt, and I promoted Bernardo Serrini (Italy) and Chris Bright (S. Africa) to the brown belt, as well as Liam, Sergio, Bradley, Dennis and Ryan from Johannesburg to the purple belt. All those changes can be noticed on the page About Us, that keeps the records of our official gradings worldwide.
Mauro Chueng is keeping busy in Portugal. He is helping the Dynamite Team (Muay Thai) from Algarve, improving their ground game and coaching their athletes that will fight MMA. Mauro has a solid No Gi experience and trained extensively with Pequeno back in Brasil, besides being one of the most creative fighters I have ever seen in Jiu Jitsu, so I expect some of those guys to be kicking ass soon.
I acted as a referee in the I Catalunya Vulkan BJJ Cup. I noticed that our sport is growing in Spain and had the opportunity to meet good teachers from the new generation that are bringing the art to a higher level in the old continent.
Among them, Yan Cabral and Paulo Sergio in France, Leonardo Pelucio in Tarragona, Augusto Frota and Anderson Pereira in Switzerland, as well as my friends Rafael Haubert (Barcelona) and Edson Sururu (Marbella) showed through their athletes that BJJ is improving fast in Europe. So Merry Xmas and put up your resolutions for 2008, among them do not forget to train more, rest well and eat properly, to keep healthy and fit to fight!
Gianluca Boni (RGC Italy, Bologna and Ferrara) has sent me results from the latest grappling comp in Italy, the V INTERNATIONAL OLIMPIC SUBMISSION WRESTLING TOURNAMENT. Two of our students got silver medals on this No Gi tournament held on the 25th of November in the city of Modena.
Names and divisions are listed below:
Pier Andrea Petazzi RGC Bologna -78Kg C Class
Ion Condei RGC Bologna -88Kg C Class
Posted by atalla 
Posted by atalla 
Posted by atalla 
