Bracket-making meeting for European Open / Photo: Rafael Nogueira

It wasn’t just the black belts of the adult division who put on a show in Lisbon at the European Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

An athlete who made history in the adult division, our GMA Saulo Ribeiro put in an appearance at the event and took the superheavyweight and absolute titles in the senior category. At open weight, he took on our GMA in Portugal Sérgio Vita in the final.

To check out the complete results from the European Open, click here. Check out Saulo in action in Portugal below:

Satoshi against Michael Langhi / Photo: Raphael Nogueira

Roberto Satoshi was one of the top standouts at the European Jiu-Jitsu Championship this weekend in Lisbon, Portugal.

Now he didn’t just come out of the blue and appear on GRACIEMAG.com’s pages. Last year Satoshi won the European Championship and the Pan, as well, but as a brown belt.

In his first outing against the black belts at the Europeans, the Bon Sai representative overcame the likes of Michael Langhi and Jonathan Torres. In the following video, sent in by the folks at BJJFights.com, Satoshi performs a picture perfect armbar at the 2012 European Championship.

Willcox going for omoplata / Photo: Carlos Ozório

At the Rio de Janeiro leg of tryouts for the World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship this past weekend, Gabriel Willcox captured a berth for himself at the main show in Abu Dhabi. The black belt beat five opponents in qualifying, so one could say the training he’s been doing under submissions aces like Ricardo de la Riva and Felipe Costa its effect.

FORMULA FOR YOUTHFUL TRAINING

Always at the top of the heap at the International Masters—a tournament where the featherweight has even won the absolute—, the 35-year-old Willcox is still giving the young bucks more than their fair share to chew on. By the time he compete’s at the main event in Abu Dhabi he’ll be 36. Now to put on a show for the Sheikh, Gabriel will carry on with the formula for youth that’s got him thus far. In fact, he plans to stick with it for a while yet, to keep him going strong into his 40s. Here’s his secret to prolonged youth, as he explains in Portuguese in the video below:

“To keep fighting into your later years you have to do good physical conditioning. The secret is to lead a healthy life, eat well, rest well, train hard. These days I train a lot more correctly than I used to. I feel experience counts for a lot. I used to do a lot of wild stuff. These days I train properly; I feel a lot better at 36 than I did at 16.

I’ll keep at it for as long as I can keep it up in the adult division; I’ll be in there till I’m 40.”

Adriano Silva put in a solid performance at the Rio tryouts. Photo: Carlos Ozório.

GRACIEMAG.com didn’t miss a beat at the Rio de Janeiro chapter of tryouts for the World Pro Jiu-Jitsu Championship. Of the brown and black belts to enter the running, the following qualified for the main event in Abu Dhabi: Ricardo Evangelista, Rodolfo Vieira, Adriano Silva, Vinícius Marinho, Gabriel Willcox, Gabrielle Garcia and Jessica da Silva.

Check out the photo gallery of the mat wizards in action:

Rodolfo attacks from mount. Photo: Carlos Ozório.

Following the excitement determining the finalists on Saturday, Sunday saw the athletes to qualify for the World Pro Jiu-Jitsu Championship come through the pipes. The winners will travel with all expenses paid to the main event in Abu Dhabi.

Among the standouts was 2011 double Worlds winner Rodolfo Vieira (GFTeam), confirming his status as favorite by beating brown belt Luiz Panza (Barbosa) in the final. After landing a takedown, passing guard and making it to mount, Vieira finished up with an armbar. Of his four-total matches, three ended by this same submission hold.

Adriano rallied back and beat Vitor Henrique. Photo: Carlos Ozório.

At under-83 kg, Vitor Henrique (GFTeam) had a one-guard pass lead over Adriano Silva before the Barbosa black belt swept and then mounted to rally back and win by 6-3. Adriano had a total five matches at the event.

Willcox hunts for omoplata. Photo: Carlos Ozório.

Another hard fought encounter saw the veteran Gabriel Willcox (Soul Fighters) overcome Marcelo dos Santos (Instituto Reação) by first sweeping and then scoring an advantage from half-guard. Marcelo did fight back with a sweep but ended up losing on the scorecards. At 35 years of age, Willcox had five matches and is through to the big event in the UAE.

In the under-74 kg division, GFTeam’s Vinicius Marinho and Theodoro Canal shut out the final, with Marinho designated the gold-medal winner. In the over-92 kg division, Thiago Gaia (Nova União) didn’t make it to his match with Ricardo Evangelista (GFTeam) on time and ended up losing by WO.

Gabi still unbeatable / Photo: Carlos Ozório

In the female contest, Gabi Garcia’s reign continues. Having won her lone Saturday match, on Sunday she outpointed Fernanda Mazelli with a takedown and guard pass. Now in the under-61 kg division, Jessica Santos was the big winner, having overcome Hellen Bastos.

And then there was the men’s absolute final, worth US$ 400 to the winner, which Augusto Ferrari won by choking out Theodoro Canal.

Evangelista against Bruno Bastos / Photo: Carlos Ozório

Saturday saw the final match-ups materialize for the Rio de Janeiro state tryouts for the World Pro Jiu-Jitsu Championship, a qualifying tournament for the main event in Abu Dhabi.

Check out the finals and the photos from the tryouts:

65kg
Gabriel Willcox vs Marcelo dos Santos

74kg
Vinicius Marinho vs Theodoro Canal

83kg
Vitor Henrique vs Adriano Silva

92kg
Ricardo Evangelista vs Thiago Gaia

+92kg
Rodolfo Vieira vs Luiz Panza

Female 61kg
Hellen Bastos vs Jessica Santos

Female +61kg
Gabrielle Garcia vs Fernanda Mazelli

GFTeam drum section celebrating results / Photo: Carlos Ozório

What would bring someone to take a one-hour ride by bus to a scalding hot gymnasium at another city on a sun-drenched long weekend in Rio de Janeiro? The answer’s simple: top-notch Jiu-Jitsu. This Saturday marked day one of the World Pro Jiu-Jitsu Championship-qualifying tournament held in Niteroi, a city across the Guanabara Bay from Rio de Janeiro. The gymnasium wasn’t in the best of shape but the fighters made up for it, making the trip worthwhile for anyone who forwent spending the day at the beach.

Besides getting to meet up with old friends, the highlight of the event was being able to get a glompse of heavyweight and absolute word champion Rodolfo Vieira. The GFTeam ace submitted three opponents on his way to Sunday’s under-92 kg final against Barbosa team’s Luiz Panza. Besides the excitement of having made it through to the weight class decider, Rodolfo was even more overjoyed by the news he would he seeing action at the European Open later this month: “It was a surprise. A friend of ours said he’d pay the trip, and I’m going,” he reported.

Thiago Gaia against Igor Silva / Photo: Carlos Ozório

In the brown and black belt division, Rodolfo’s team secured another four berths in the main event in Abu Dhabi. In the over 92 kg division, Ricardo Evangelista overcame Bruno Bastos (Nova União) by a sweep. Besides having overcome one of last year’s finalists in Abu Dhabi, Evangelista went path three other opponents. At the other end of the bracket, Thiago Gaia (Nova União) had four matches himself. He had his work cut out for him in the semifinal against Igor Silva, but Gaia managed to work his way to back control and squeeze out a choke.

Another Master Julio Cesar student, Vitor Henrique reached the under-83 kg final after four matches. The semifinal started out with him training by a sweep to Victor Bonfim (Gordo Evolve), but he reciprocated with a sweep of his own and notched two more advantages for the win.

Barbosa team representative Adriano Silva had four matches of his own. In going through to the final, he beat David Vieira by a sweep.

Vinicius Marinho against Davi Ramos / Photo: Carlos Ozório

The under-74 kg division belonged to GFTeam, with Vinicius Marinho and Theodoro Canal dominating the action. Marinho had three matches, with the semifinal standing out most, where he faced No-Gi Pan winner Davi Ramos. In a back-and-forth affair stuck in 50/50 guard, the match ended tied at 8-8 but with Vinicius holding a two-advantage point lead. Canal beat four opponents in closing out with his teammate.

Willcox celebrates. Photo: Carlos Ozório.

Now Master Julio’s team sat out the under-65 kg division. The weight class belonged to the veteran Gabriel Willcox (Brazilian Fight), who can often be seen putting on a show at the Rio International Masters championship. Ahead of him, the black belt will take on the also-experienced Marcelo “Galinha” dos Santos (Instituto Reação). Willcox had four matches, while Marcelo had three really good ones.

In the femae division, Gabrielle Garcia (Alliance) carried on with her winning ways and now has Fernanda Mazelli ahead of her in the final. In the under-61 kg final, Jessica Santos takes on Hellen Bastos.

Juan Pablo teaches at GB JWoodland Hills. Photo: personal archive.

It doesn’t matter what belt a practitioner has reached, the basic moves accompany Jiu-Jitsu stylists throughout their entire evolution. Tight moves and freely moving hips, for example, are of the essence both for the basics and for the more intricate techniques. Holds taught ever since white belt, like the armbar, get honed over the years and become deadly.

In the video below, Professor Juan Pablo Garcia of Gracie Barra Woodland Hills demonstrates a good way to perfect hip motion for attacking an opponent’s arm. However, the “clinic” also helps make a fighter’s movement effective in a variety of different training situations.

Practice!

Jiu-Jitsu starts on the feet. Photo: GRACIEMAG.com archives.

The main fundamentals of Jiu-Jitsu are on the ground, there’s no denying it. But since every match starts standing, to be a well-rounded practitioner one needs to polish up their takedown techniques.

At Gracie Barra Dana Point, Flávio “Cachorrinho” Almeida demonstrates a good option GRACIEMAG.com readers can use in their training.

Watch, learn, practice and, most importantly, enjoy your training!

Lepri at No-Gi Worlds / Photo by Luca Atalla

Despite his craving to be there, Alliance black belt Lucas Lepri contacted GRACIEMAG.com to make known the fact that he will have to sit out the European Open coming up January 26-29 in Lisbon, Portugal. The current holder of the lightweight title of the event, having shut the division out with his teammate Michael Langhi, reported the reason for his absence:

“I’m moving from New York to Atlanta. I’ve got so much to do and haven’t been able to focus on training the way I’d like to. Now I’ll be teaching at Alliance Atlanta alongside Master Jacaré.

“I’m really pleased with this new phase I’m going through, and I hope 2012 will be just like 2011—loaded with conquests,” said Lepri, who besides the European title, this year won the Jiu-Jitsu Pan, not to mention the No-Gi Worlds.

To get a glimpse of how Lucas Lepri’s campaign went at the 2011 Europeans, watch his semifinal match against JT Torres:

Ricardo Cavalcanti livens up his students. Personal archive photo.

Our GMA at Carlson Gracie Las Vegas, Ricardo Cavalcanti is known to suit up his Santa Claus outfit to get the kids at the academy in the Christmas spirit. In the video below, our black belt Santa teaches some Holiday guard-passing tricks.

Vinny Pezão at ADCC 2011 / Photo: Daren Bartlett

Fully focused on MMA, Vinicius “Pezão” Magalhães didn’t even do Jiu-Jitsu-specific training, but even so he was one of the standouts at ADCC 2011, winning the heavyweight division after withstanding a seemingly arm-snapping arm bar from Fabricio Werdum. Back in his days in the gi, Pezão starred in major battles with gentle art icons, catapulting him into the world of full-contact fighting.

“Facing monsters like Rômulo Barral and Rodrigo Cavaca helped me become the fighter I am today,” Magalhães says in GRACIEMAG #178, on its way to bookstores around the world.

Among other revelations featured in the upcoming issue, Pezão explains the difference between competition Jiu-Jitsu and Jiu-Jitsu for MMA, both of which he is an expert in, as well as identifying the benefits of doing gentle-art training for them.

“I feel my focusing on grappling for MMA made me more aggressive at grappling competitions. In MMA we don’t think so much about points—we seek positions where we are comfortable so we can get the tapout. With this attack-and-not-get-hit mindset, I became a better finisher. And just as grappling for MMA helped me in competition, the Worlds, Pans and Brazilian Nationals I was in were essential in my not letting the pressure get to me when doing MMA. One big difference is that Gi training is slower paced, while the MMA game is explosive and quick.”

To find out more, get your copy of GRACIEMAG #178, your portable academy. Subscribe here for future issues.

Caporal performing the armbar of the night / Photo: personal archive

Atos black belt Rodrigo Caporal added another MMA win to his record last Saturday, December 17, at Chinese promotion RUFF 2, submitting Teerjiang Hasitierr.

“I’d trained hard for this fight. I spend 45 days doing grueling training here in China—lots of Jiu-Jitsu, boxing and Thai boxing. Thank God it all worked out and I won,” he told GRACIEMAG.com.

The win came by armbar submission just 1:24 minutes into the first round.

“I won the 5000rmb prize for submission of the night,” he said in closing.

Check out the pictures from the event, taken by Esther Lin:

Caiçara finishes in style. Photo: Carlos Ozório.

While in Canada thousands packed the arena to watch the UFC, in São José dos Campos, São Paulo state, the same was true for Real Fight 8. A tradition in the city, the fans who crowded in to watch the event were treated to Brazil routing Argentina by 3-0 besides local hero Carlos “Caiçara” Galvão adding another triumph to his ledger.

In the matches between the neighboring South American nations, José Conceição landed a takedown and made it to back mount on Ernesto Cristoforato, finishing with a rear-naked choke in just 1:19 minutes. Then it was Pablo Desiró’s turn to quickly dispatch Emiliano Insaurralde. In just 41 seconds, he got the takedown, mounted and achieved the knockout.

In one of the most highly anticipated fights of the night, Carlos “Caiçara”, the brother of ADCC champion André Galvão, used his Jiu-Jitsu to up the score to 3-0 for Brazil. The black belt got the takedown and worked his way to mount before deftly catching his opponent in an armbar, also in the first round.

Moto-Serra throws a kick. Photo: Carlos Ozório.

In the main events, Danillo Moto-Serra used ground and pound and leg kicks to good effect in securing a unanimous decision over Ricardo Silva. The Claudio Godoy black belt took the fight to the ground, where he made it to mount and landed a barrage of strikes for the knockout in just 2:32 minutes of fighting. Now Elias Silvério defeated Gilmar Manaus by unanimous decision.

Godoy punches from mount. Photo: Carlos Ozório.

Of the fights on the card to attract fans from elsewhere in the state of São Paulo, the one between Claudir Dutkevis and Junior Maranhão, a student of the UFC’s Charles do Bronx, caused the most excitement. After a hard-fought three rounds, Claudir would win the unanimous decision.

Check out the complete results from the show:

Real Fight 8
São José dos Campos Tennis Club
December 10, 2011

Artur Vidal defeated Guto Kojak via desistance at 1:24 minutes of R1;

Tiago Machado submitted Francisco Caiçara via triangle at 2:53 minutes of R1;

João Paulo submitted Allan Popeye via rear-naked choke at 2:38 minutes of R2;

Claudir Dutkevis defeated Junior Maranhão via unanimous decision.

Brazil versus Argentina

José Conceição submitted Ernesto Cristoforato via rear-naked choke at 1:19 min of R1;

Pablo Desiró defeated Emiliano Insaurralde via TKO at 41 min of R1;

Carlos “Caiçara” Galvão submitted Mauricio Ariel via armbar at 3:33 min of R1.

Main events

Elias Silvério defeated Gilmar Manaus via unanimous decision;

Claudio Godoy defeated Salvador Minniti via TKO at 2:32 min of R1;

Danilo Moto-Serra defeated Ricardo Scrippe via unanimous decision.