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Five athletes win invites to ADCC 2024 in European Trials
The build-up to ADCC 2024 has officially started, as the ADCC European, Middle-Eastern, and African Trials 2023 has come to an end. This means that 5 men have won an invite to the world’s most prestigious no gi grappling tournament, one in each weight class. There were several ADCC veterans and other elite competitors entering the event and every division was stacked, but the under 77kg in particular featured a lineup of some of the best grapplers in the weight class.
Top B-Team prospect Jozef Chen beat 3 ADCC veterans in order to win 77kg and he wasn’t the only young grappler to make a big impact, as Owen Jones won the under 66kg division as a 20 year-old purple belt. Returning Trials winners Santeri Lilius and Luke Griffith won 88kg and 99kg respectively, while Heikki Jussila caused a huge upset when he shut down Dan Manasoiu in the final of the over 99kg division to win that invite.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Gabrieli Pessanha continues dominance at BJJ Stars 11
BJJ Stars 11 took place recently and the promotion managed to gather some of the top heavyweight female competitors around for their grand prix tournament. Gabrieli Pessanha has been unstoppable for the last two years so she was one of the early favorites coming into the event, and she won her first two matches on points in order to book her place in the final. Yara Soares had hard-fought matches to earn the spot opposite her, and the two have an extensive history on the mats.
They’ve fought a whopping 17 times at black belt and although Pessanha has won 13 of them, there have been several times that Soares has managed to gain the upper hand. BJJ Stars 11 wasn’t one of those times though, as Pessanha managed to submit her with a straight ankle-lock and take home the title. There were some fun superfights at the event too, with Uanderson Ferreira, Yatan Bueno, and Diogo Reis all emerging victorious against their respective opponents.
Full results for the event can be found here.
ADCC veterans shine at EUG x JJB Grand Prix
Evolve Ur Game and Jiujitsu Battle are two experienced professional grappling promotions but in an unusual move they actually decided to work together. The two organizations co-promoted a recent middleweight grand prix event with $10,000 available for the winner of the tournament. It was a solid lineup but the two early favorites were a pair of ADCC trials winners and veterans of the 77kg division at ADCC 2022, 10th Planet’s Andy Varela and New Wave Jiu-Jitsu’s Oliver Taza.
They were placed on opposite sides of the bracket and both men won their first two matches in order to book their place in the final. Varela put on a particularly convincing display in his semi-final against Andres Granados, where he dominated the match and won 19-0. Varela rode that wave into the final and although no points were scored in his match with Taza, he still won by judge’s decision and took home the grand prize.
Full results for the event can be found here.
Gracie vs. Ex-UFC champ at ADXC 1 announced
Abu Dhabi Extreme Championship will be staging their very first event on October 20th and the promotion has announced two main event matches for it. It will be both a gi and no gi event, so the main events are going to reflect that as well. The gi main event is a great rematch between Isaque Bahiense and Gustavo Batista, as these two men have met 5 times before. Although Bahiense leads the series 4-1, each match has been very close and none of them have ended in a submission.
The no gi main event is one for the MMA fans though, as former WEC and UFC world champion Benson Henderson will be making another appearance in professional grappling since retiring from MMA. He’ll be taking on Bellator fighter and one-time title-challenger Neiman Gracie at the event, in what is sure to be an exciting match between two savvy veterans. Several more matches are expected to be announced in the coming weeks, as the full card starts to fill out.
Quick Hits
- GF Team have just announced a historic merger with JiuArt, in an attempt to provide their athletes with greater access to funding for training and tournaments.
- The B-Team members decided to make a visit to a Sumo stable after winning Quintet 4, with Nicky Rodriguez and Craig Jones taking on Sumo wrestlers.
- The Denver Nuggets recently took some time out from their busy NBA training schedule to take part in a BJJ training session together.
- IBJJF world champion Talita Alencar fought Stephanie Luciano to a draw at Dana White’s Contender Series 63 but her opponent received a UFC contract instead.
Technique Corner
3 Guard passing drills
Sumi Gaeshi counter to Single-leg takedown
3 Getting up drills
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