A Worlds out of the movies
Roger Gracie submits every single one of his opponents and wins his second absolute world title, in a championship where team Alliance came up with five champions at black belt. GRACIEMAG tells it all with a show of images in a special issue.
The GRACIEMAG team showed up in California with reinforcements to decipher the enigma of the Pyramid: who would steal the scene at the Jiu-Jitsu World Championship.
After all, keeping up with every step of the great gi-clad artists in an event counting 1,865 participating athletes from at least 40 countries* was no task to be left to amateurs. The result is emblazoned on the pages of GRACIEMAG 148, soon to make it into your hands.
There are 35 pages and 105 photos by no less than seven different photographers, an unprecedented number in the 14 years of coverage of the Jiu-Jitsu World Championship. Spread out across the pyramid-shaped gymnasium of the California State University, in Long beach, from the 4th to 7th of June, their lenses managed to capture all the drama, outbursts of joy, the suffering of the 96 most important hours of the Jiu-Jitsu calendar.
Tagging along with the geniuses at work, reporters Ivan Trindade and Marcelo Dunlop went to great lengths to witness and report everything of greatest importance that was said and that took place in California. With hawkish eyes and keen ears, the duo watched and listened as Roger Gracie displayed impressive superiority, submitting each and every one of his opponents. The same weekend Roger Federer conquered the Roland Garros stadium to become the Grand Slam title record-holding tennis player, the Gracie, who is as respectful and well-mannered as his like-named Swiss counterpart, and as skillful in the gentle art as Federer is in tennis, turned absolute world champion twice-over and etched his name into the Jiu-Jitsu championship walk of fame.
Beyond Gracie the blanket, Long Beach was a red carpet for awe-inspiring talent to strut its stuff. To shine brilliantly were such beasts as now four-time champion Cobrinha, who came up against the toughest of opposition, vanity and other struggles. There was the near-perfect Romulo Barral, absolute runner-up and two-time medium heavyweight champion. There too was the comeback show of Marcelo Garcia, now three-time champion, a consistent, technical and, why not, lucky, athlete.
Also on display were a reborn Gabriel Vella, the welcome surprises of Claudio Clasans and Ricardo Demente, guard-player and three-time champ Braulio Estima, new champion Guilherme Mendes, four-time adult championship winning team Alliance’s victory party. All this and much more you will find in the July issue.
Even with all the excitement of the Worlds, GRACIEMAG still found space for more info. Before setting off for California, Luca Atalla caught a flight by invitation from the royal family to check out the MMA event organized by Sheikh Mohammed of Abu Dhabi in China, with Rolles Gracie participating. And Roger’s cousin was brilliant as well, conquering Beijing.
In the GMA section, we return to Long Beach to narrate the best of what our associates did at the 2009 Worlds. With a show of images, we open with the anonymous heroes who make the association what it is and live the joy of a life dedicated to the gentle art.
Get the popcorn ready and arrange the pillows on the sofa. GRACIEMAG 148 is arriving next week, to retailers and subscribers.
Order now or subscribe and receive this can't-miss issue.
* Countries who had representatives at 2009 Worlds: Angola, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Republic of (South) Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Reunion, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Wales.
