Since the lineup for Combat Jiu-Jitsu Worlds Team Duel was announced, it was clear that this was going to be an exciting event. Four teams of five elite grapplers met in Cancun, Mexico in order to strike and submit each other until only one team was remaining. Dorian Olivarez and Damien Anderson drove B-Team to progress from the opening round, while Ben Eddy and Mike John did the same for Tenth Planet Jiu-Jitsu.

After two fantastic team matches in the first round, the final was a little less satisfying as none of the five matches ended with a submission. That meant that one representative from each team was chosen to compete in EBI overtime and unfortunately for B-Team, Mike John defeated Dorian Olivarez. The main event superfight also went to EBI overtime, where Elias Anderson defeated UFC legend Urijah Faber.

Full results for the event can be found here.

The 2022 World Judo Masters comes to a close

The final major Judo tournament of the year took place in Jerusalem, Israel this past weekend and a new group of champions was crowned. Almost four hundred men and women competed against each other over the course of several days to determine who would walk away with the prestigious gold medals, and in the end only fifteen of them were able to do so.

Romane Dicko defended her crown and finished the year as the concurrent Masters and World champion, while Tato Grigalashvili won the triple crown in 2022 by becoming the Masters, World, and European champion. Elsewhere at the event, Michaela Polleres won her first Masters title and Japan won the team title with a string of fantastic performances from all of their athletes.

Full results for the event can be found here.

Polaris announces women’s under 66kg grand prix

Polaris have noticed the success of their last event that was headlined by a middleweight grand prix and have decided to attempt to replicate that success again. Their next event, Polaris 23, will see another $20,000 tournament take place in the women’s under 66kg division. It’s unclear as yet whether there will be a title on the line this time around as well, but the promotion doesn’t currently have a champion in that division.

Polaris have announced that the event will take place on March 11th and although they haven’t confirmed the lineup for the tournament, it’s guaranteed to feature some of the top competitors from that weightclass. They’ve also confirmed that there will be at least one edition of Polaris Contenders leading up to the event, where up-and-coming grapplers can battle it out for a place in the grand prix.

First trial event for ADCC 2024 announced

It has only been a matter of months since ADCC 2022 wrapped up, but the promotion has already got to work in arranging the next edition. The next ADCC world championships will take place in 2024, but there will also be eight trials events available for athletes to win a place in the tournament leading up to it. The first of those trials has now been announced, and it will take place in Poland on the 16th of September, 2023.

After the first European, Middle-Eastern, and African trial, the North American East Coast trial will take place in October and the first Asian and Oceanian trial in December of the same year. That’s when the build-up for ADCC 2024 really picks up speed as five more trials will take place after these first three and there will be dozens of invites being announced by the promotion at the same time.

Boxing star Ryan Garcia tries BJJ

Undefeated top boxing prospect Ryan Garcia has recently started training BJJ under Rener Gracie, with the jiujitsu coach posting a photo of it on Instagram:

Quick Hits

• Sean O’Malley revealed that he’s focusing exclusively on grappling in training, in anticipation of a UFC title-shot.
• Top 19 year-old competitor Andrew Tackett was just promoted to black belt in BJJ by Rodrigo Cabral after winning brown belt no gi worlds.
• Zion Clark, the All-American wrestler who was born without legs, won his first professional MMA fight.

Technique Corner

Setting up the Kneecut pass

Three attacks from the Crucifix

Cross-collar choke from Mount, to Armbar

Meme of the Week