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BJJ Stars put together a fantastic lineup for the absolute grand prix in their tenth event, featuring a host of high-level grapplers to compete for 200,000 Brazilian Real. The opening round saw one of the most interesting matches of the night, with a huge weight difference on display between Mica Galvao and Otavio Nalati. Mica Galvao overcome that disadvantage with relative ease though, and went on to face Kaynan Duarte in the next round.
Mica Galvao’s injury
Galvao was doing great in that match as well, until Duarte reaped his knee and appeared to cause injury to the young prodigy; getting disqualified in the process. Although Mica Galvao progressed, he lost in the next round to Fellipe Andrew and it was clear that there may be something more serious wrong with his knee. Erich Munis had some close matches on the other side of the bracket, but he won all three and defeated Andrew in the final to take home the grand prize.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Exciting talent emerges at Finishers: Survivor Series 3
Finishers: Survivor Series 3 took place this past weekend. The event featured a team grappling tournament with a unique feature: five teams were battling it out instead of four. The first match to determine who entered the semi-final saw an exciting grappler emerge as one to watch for the future. Zack Ghalayani submitted two opponents in a row to book ‘The Hive’ a place in the next round. He notched another submission win in the semi-final to help them progress from there as well.
Despite the best efforts of Ghalayani and his teammates, they were beaten in the final by ‘Team Wildcard’. Wildcard only managed to register three submissions in the tournament as a team, but two of them came courtesy of Dillon Masington. Masington showed a fantastic leglock game during both of the matches he won and even though he was caught in several deep submission attempts in his final match, he escaped each one to fight to a draw and help his team win the tournament.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Competitor list finalised for IBJJF Brasileiro 2023
The IBJJF Brazilian National Championship, commonly referred to as ‘Brasileiro’ is fast approaching this year. The tournament attracts virtually all of the top grapplers from around Brazil, and several American and European competitors make the trip to try and earn a prestigious title every year. 2023 is no exception either as Lucas Pinheiro, Cleber Sousa, and Diogo Reis are all competing; and that’s just in the lightest two weightclasses.
Reis isn’t alone either, as there’s a total of 9 representatives of the newly-formed Melqui Galvao Jiu-Jitsu team registered to compete at adult black belt. Obviously major gyms are heavily represented, with Dream Art, Alliance, and ATOS registering 13 athletes in the premier divisions. Fratres Jiu-Jitsu has 14 competitors making the trip while GF Team has managed to put together a huge team of 19 elite grapplers to try to win the team trophy.
Full adult black belt competitor lists can be found here.
Unique ruleset and great lineup set for Kairos Pro Jiu-Jitsu
As always, brand new events tend to fly under the radar a little. One way to combat that is to bring big names on board for the event, and another is to create an interesting ruleset that might draw attention. Karis Pro Jiu-Jitsu has managed to do both of those for their first event on May 7th, 2023. The tournament will take a round-robin format and each match starts with a coin-toss to determine whether it takes place in gi or no gi.
That alone would make for an interesting prospect, as the competitors would need to be sharp in both disciplines in order to give themselves the best chance of victory. Kairos Pro Jiu-Jitsu has also managed to book several elite female grapplers in the under 66kg tournament though, with the UK’s top talents Vanessa English and Ashley Bendle attending. They’re also bringing in exciting competitors from further afield, like ADCC trials winner Julia Maele.
Quick Hits
- Former UFC Flyweight world champion Deiveson Figueiredo took part in a blindfolded BJJ match with a sight-impaired Para Jiu-Jitsu competitor.
- Polaris have announced that Dillon Danis intends to make his return to professional grappling at one of their upcoming events.
- Popular podcaster and veteran grappler Lex Fridman was just awarded the first degree on his BJJ black belt by Phil and Rick Migliarese.
- Elite grappler Gilbert Burns has been booked for a quick turnaround, as he’ll be facing Belal Muhammad at UFC 288 in just two week’s time.
Technique Corner
Mounted Cross-collar choke
D’arce choke from Butterfly guard
Details for controlling the sleeve
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