"Tussa" Alencar playing guard in 6th AZ Open final against Bruno Bastos / photo by John Cooper illustrating article by Deb Blyth

Last year the event sold out and over 700 competitors turned up to participate in the competition, which included a 16-man black belt open class paying out $3,000 in prizes. Roberto “Tussa” Alencar (Gracie Barra NM) defeated four opponents, including Nova União standout Bruno Bastos in the final (check out the article about it here) .

In 2012 the pro division with cash prizes is back, and it’s a great warmup for the April 1 Jiu-Jitsu Pan. To get in on the action and pay the lower, pre-registration rate, sign up by February 27 by clicking here.

Full info at www.gdjjevents.com.

Check out the final between Tussa and Bastos:

The brothers sporting gold at the Arizona International Open / Deb Blyth

Best known for winning the Worlds as a brown belt in 2008, Ryan Beauregard leads the charge for Team Beauregard BJJ / BJJ Revolution in Arizona and is proud and happy to have his two younger brothers, Colin and Ian, standing by his side as he does so.

Ryan and his brother Colin started training Jiu-Jitsu about six years ago. “We’ve always been into competitive sports,” Ryan says, “But after high school we started getting into trouble . . fighting . . . we needed to find some way to channel our aggression. We found Jiu-Jitsu.” What they found was Professor Demetrius Ramos and BJJ Revolution right down the street from their house. “How lucky is that?” he asks.

Now a black belt and in a whole different league of competition, Ryan says he trains really hard and, as an American, feels like he has something to prove in a sport dominated by Brazilians. “When we first started training, I felt like we were behind, compared to those who grew up doing Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil, but we have put so much time into the gym. We’re not behind anymore.”

Ryan received his black belt after the 2010 Pan, so he’s relatively new to the “black belt club,” but he is holding his own just the same. He competed in Portugal and came in third and is planning on competing at the 2011 Pan and the Worlds in June. “We haven’t missed a Pan or Worlds since we started training Jiu-Jitsu,” Ryan says.

Ryan competing at Arizona International Open / Photo: John Cooper

At the 6th Arizona International Open, Ryan won gold in his weight class. “I had one match against Michael Martin,” he says, “He’s a local instructor. It was good for us to challenge each other. It was a good fight. He’s a tough guy. I won with a choke from the back.” In the open, Ryan had one match against Gracie Barra’s Don Ortega, which he lost. “Don won at the Worlds as a brown belt the same year I did,” Ryan says, “He was a light heavy and I won at light.”

For Ryan, the day was a big success and he was very happy about the results and the performance of his team. “We had five people from our personal academy in Phoenix here today and they brought home five gold medals. We also did two blue belt promotions on the podium today.”

Ryan says his experience at the 6th Arizona International Open was great. “I think Gustavo’s (Dantas) tournaments are awesome. He puts together a great tournament. Arizona has great competitors now and I think this is the reason.”

Colin Beauregard is the middle brother in the Beauregard family. He is currently a brown belt in the feather weight division. Colin had a great experience at the Arizona International Open. He took home gold in his division. “I had one match and won with a kneebar in a little over a minute,” he says.

Like Ryan, Colin competes and trains a lot. “I’ve had hundreds of fights,” he says, “I won the last three state championships I’ve entered; the last 2 state championships at brown belt, by submissions.”

Colin received his brown belt after the 2010 Worlds. He’s excited by the progress he’s made in the sport and the fact that most of his wins have been by submission. “I’m excited to tap the legs finally,” he says, “It’s how I’ve gotten most of my submissions since I’ve got the brown belt.”

The most seriously competitive-minded of the three brothers, Colin loves Jiu-Jitsu and the fact that it allows him to stay in a competitive sport after so many years of wrestling. “It’s a good release for me,” he says, “I’ve competed my whole life. Jiu-Jitsu has taken over my life since high school. It allows me to keep my competitiveness.”

Jiu-Jitsu has also brought the Beauregard family closer together. “All three brothers spend every day together,” he says, “We improve because of each other. We push each other. If Ryan goes to the gym, I have to go. If I ask Ian to go to the gym, he’s going to come no matter what. We never say no to each other.”

Ian, the youngest brother, moved to Phoenix about six months ago to join his two older brothers on the mats. Colin says that Ian is training with him and Ryan and “blowing through everyone” during his competitions.

“We always tell him at his tournaments that rolling here can’t be any harder than rolling with us,” Ryan adds, “We go hard on him. We never take it easy on anyone. We push all of our students and each other as far as we can. BJJ Revolution is the #1 team in the nation – we have no room to slack.”

“We love Jiu-Jitsu,” Colin says, “We do it because we love it.”

All three of the brothers competitively wrestled in school, but it was youngest brother Ian who found martial arts first, albeit an unorthodox form of it. “He found ‘Hawaiian Jiu-Jitsu’ in Arizona,” Ryan says. But then the guys found BJJ Revolution, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Older brothers with baby brother Ian after his big win / Photo: Deb Blyth

Ian Beauregard is a blue belt who now fights in the adult light division. At the 6th Arizona International Open, he won four matches, three of them ending in submission. In his final, he fought Jonathan Hill and won on points.

Ian’s been training for about four years. His signature move is a judo throw. “I like takedowns,” he says. Ian just turned 19 and only recently started competing in the adult division. Already, he’s done well, placingthird3rd in blue/purple gi and secondin the blue/purple no gi at the Abu Dhabi Trials in Las Vegas.

Ryan says he coaches Ian every day. “He’s blessed because he’s a mix of me and Colin. He sucks info from his two older brothers. He’s just now starting to shine and it’s showing the depth of our family. He’s still young. We’re going to see lots more of him. I’m very proud of him.”

Ian agrees with his brothers that Jiu-Jitsu has made his family closer. “We love Jiu-Jitsu”, Ian says, “My parents come to every tournament. I train with my brothers every day. We share everything, and we hang out every day. We’re all really close.”

Big brother Ryan concurs, “Jiu-Jitsu is the best thing that’s ever happened to me in my life. Not only has it brought me and my brothers closer together – we are together every single day smashing each other…my two brothers are everything to me, but it’s also brought my parents together, too. They never miss a match, no matter where it is. We have our own academy. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Dantas with stalwart competitor sidekick Kristina Barlaan / Photo: John Cooper

The 6th Arizona International Open got off to a good start on Saturday, February 26, 2011 as the kids, teens, and adult white and blue belts hit the mats starting at 10:00 a.m. to compete in this much-anticipated Jiu-Jitsu event. By the end of the day, over 1,000 spectators had filed in and out of the gymnasium, watching the tournament take place.

Day two consists of a black belt open with prize money, that names like Bruno Bastos, Roberto “Tussa” Alencar, Rafael “Barata” Freitas, and Samir Chantre, to name a few, flew in to compete for.

Nova União’s distinguished black belt Gustavo Dantas is the brain behind and creator of this event, along with three others he throws throughout the year. Over the last ten years, Dantas has built the reputation for throwing high-end Jiu-Jitsu tournaments in the state of Arizona. Currently, he offers three kids and adult tournaments and one kids-only tournament. Originally, his tournaments were all in-house, but eventually he invited other schools to his events, and once he hit one hundred competitors, he started taking them to larger locations. At the 6th Arizona International Open, 700 competitors signed up, but that was only because Dantas closed registration at that point.

Dantas, who is a self-proclaimed workaholic, perfectionist, and promoter, has taken Arizona Jiu-Jitsu by storm. When he started organizing his tournaments a number of years back, he reached out to every Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school in Arizona and invited them to his tournaments. “There are not too many states in the country where you can get the whole state together,” Dantas says, “All the schools in Arizona support my work. I’m really trying to improve Jiu-Jitsu in Arizona.”

Recently Dantas spoke with IBJJF Executive Director Andres Fernandes and told him he wanted Arizona to be 2nd in the country, next to the IBJJF in California, in tournament size and participation level. Dantas was happily surprised when Fernandes said Arizona already is 2nd.

It’s no surprise that Dantas has become as successful as he is. He takes his tournament business very seriously and seeks to enhance, and improve each and every one he organizes. “The key,” he says, “is to try to give competitors exactly what competitors want. Things like a tight, on-time schedule, good referees, a clean bathroom…people appreciate that. If my tournaments are even five minutes behind schedule, it bothers me.”

Dantas’s strategy has been to follow whatever the IBJJF is doing. “They’re responsible for the growth of the sport,” he says, “I try to do exactly what they do here in Arizona and I try to improve every year.” Dantas, who has very high standards and expectations about how tournaments should be run, has given people a reason to stay in Arizona for Jiu-Jitsu tournaments. “They don’t have to travel to find good tournaments anymore. They can get that here,” he says.

At one time, Dantas was an avid competitor himself, but these days he’s so busy promoting and organizing his tournaments and running his school, he just doesn’t have the time to train for competitions. “I compete when I can,” he says, “Last year I won the Masters and Seniors International as a Senior 1 and the Vegas Open in the masters division.”

More than competing, though, Dantas’s true passion lies in teaching and training his students. He currently has his school in Arizona and twelve affiliate schools. “I really enjoy it,” he says, “I’m really fortunate to have a hobby as a way to make a living. I’m very blessed.”

Dantas has been doing Jiu-Jitsu for twenty-two years. He grew up training with Nova União in Brazil and started training in Jiu-Jitsu at the age of 14. “I knew when I started that I would do it for the rest of my life,” he says, “After I got my degree in physical education, I moved to Las Vegas for two years before ending up in Arizona in 2000. This is my home now. I’m not going anywhere.”

Looking back, Dantas sees that Jiu-Jitsu changed his life by giving him an abundance of confidence. “Everyone respects the higher belts,” he says, “which turns into respect overall. There’s also honor and all the other good qualities martial arts bring with it. They’re all good things.”

In the next two years Dantas’s plan is to hit 1,000 competitors, but he likes to move slowly and efficiently. “My goal is to expand, but at the right time,” he says, “I’m going to start running six mats at a time at my next tournament.”

The tournament business is nothing new to Dantas. Even as a child he was always something of a promoter for tournaments and competitions. “Even in my neighborhood as a kid,” he says, “I would set up soccer games and get kids to come. From the beginning, I knew my tournaments would be big in Arizona. One day, they’ll be like the Pan – 2,000 people competing.”

Dantas doesn’t plan on going anywhere either. “I’ll still be doing this twenty years from now,” he says, “I’m not just trying to make some money over the weekend. I’m trying to promote Jiu-Jitsu in Arizona…to change lives the way it did for me. Jiu-Jitsu gave me direction. It changes what people can do with their lives.”

The one thing Dantas would like to see in the near future is to have more people from out of state come to compete at his events. “I would like to invite them to come to my tournaments,” he says, “They will not regret it.”

Daniel Madrid and Ben after their respective wins / Photo: John Cooper

Henderson trains Jiu-Jitsu under John Crouch at MMA Lab in Glendale, Arizona. He’s been training Jiu-Jitsu for about four years. Although he does not have time to compete much in Jiu-Jitsu because of his rigorous UFC training schedule, he did take a day out of his busy schedule last weekend to compete at the 6th Arizona International Open, where he won his adult Medium Heavy division.

“I don’t compete a lot,” Henderson says, “I wish I had more time to do it, but I need to make a living with MMA. I have fun doing jiu-jitsu and I try to do good with it.” Henderson trains in all the basic MMA staples, Jiu-Jitsu with Crouch, boxing with George Garcia, and muay Thai, and he’s been a wrestler for more of his life than not. “At MMA Lab we do it all,” he says, “Our whole thing is Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Sambo, wrestling, we just say, ‘let’s do it.’ We just want to do well and have fun.”

Henderson says when he’s in the cage God is his biggest weapon. “God’s in my corner and I’m content with that,” he says. As far as his skills, it’s not his martial arts background or the other disciplines that set him apart from the rest. “Skill-wise, I work on everything,” Henderson says, “But my greatest weapon is my heart. I never give up. I will fight ‘til the end.” Henderson says when you’re a fighter of any kind, you have to open up your heart and expose yourself. “You have to put yourself out there to be judged,” he says, “All that’s a part of being a fighter I think.”

Whether Henderson is fighting on the mats or in the cage, he considers himself a very low-key, “chill” guy. “It’s why I do well in any kind of competition,” he says, “I’m relaxed. I naturally have a Jiu-Jitsu frame of mind. I adapted well to the sport.”

Henderson says he never gasses out during competitions because he doesn’t experience that over-kill adrenaline rush that many complain about. “I like to use a high school analogy,” he says, “If you’re ready for a test; if you’ve done all you could have done – you started studying three months ahead, and you’re ready for it, it’s fine. But if you didn’t study, and you know you should have, then you’re nervous as heck. For me, I look at it like I’m as physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally prepared as I can be, so I’m not nervous.”

Henderson says it’s the same with Jiu-Jitsu. “I train hard,” he says, “I know I’m ready and have trained all the positions. It’s the same with everything in life. If you’re not prepared, that’s when the nerves come in, I try to always be as prepared as possible.

That’s good advice from a man who currently holds a 12-2 record in the UFC and wants to become the best fighter on the planet pound for pound – no ifs, ands or buts about it and will work as hard as he has to, to get there. “I don’t like to lose,” he says, “I like to finish everything. I’m competitive about everything, almost to a fault. Doesn’t matter what it is – Tic Tac Toe, Chess, Jacks or Pong…whatever it is, I want to win. I really love competing. I have that competitive drive. I don’t like losing, but you should be smart enough to take something away from the experience and learn from it if you do.”

Henderson’s definitely taken something away from his last fight with Anthony Pettis. “I was completely confident and ready to go,” he says, “The fight was in Glendale and all my friends and family were there for the fight. The winner of that fight was going to fight for a belt on the Maynard / Edgar fight card. I’m known as a Jiu-Jitsu guy, so I wanted to show my boxing and kickboxing skills. I took him down, but wanted to stay standing up now. It wasn’t the best game plan. I veered away from my coach’s game plan. I wanted to show Maynard and Edgar and the media what I could do. Pettis’ stand up was just really good. It was 2-2 going to the 5th round. It is what it is. I hated to lose, but I got something out of it.”

Henderson says his long term goals are to win the Pan, the Europeans and the Worlds, “But sadly that will all have to take a back seat to my MMA,” he says.

Next up for Henderson is his April 30th UFC 129 fight with Mark Bocek. “I’ve seen him fight,” he says, “But I only watch an opponent one time, and then leave the rest up to my coach, John Crouch, to do the studying of the film. He puts together the game plan for me.”

Henderson says his strengths in this fight will be whatever he decides they will be. “One of my strengths is instilling my will,” he says, “If I want to stand up, that will be my strength. I don’t like to be concerned about my opponent, but only how I’m going to instill my will. I’m just going to show up as the same guy who’s always been in the cage and do whatever it takes to get my arm raised.”

As for the Arizona International Open, Henderson had a really good experience. “This is a great tournament,” he says, “I love coming to these smaller local tournaments. This event has grown in size a lot. It’s a testament to Gustavo (Dantas). He brings great guys, great black belts here. I always have a great time at his tournaments.”

You can follow Henderson at: JCBJJ.com and on FB and Twitter: @smoothone155.

Bruno Bastos (left) and "Tussa" / Photo: Deb Blyth

Last year was a rough one for Alencar, who sustained injuries and couldn’t perform the way he wanted to. “I put on weight because I couldn’t train very much and I got fat,” he laughs, “I had to go up in weight and it didn’t help me.”

Now Alencar is healthy again and back to his usual heavy weight status., ready to fight for another Pan gold medal. First, however, he has some job in New Mexico.

“Master Draculino is coming to visit my schools to do a seminar,” he says, “I also have a brown belt getting promoted to black and Barata is getting his 1st stripe on his black belt. We’re celebrating two years at our GB Westside school. There’s a lot of things going on.”

As for his experience at the 6th Arizona International Open, Alencar says it was an awesome experience. “Barata came last year for the same tournament,” he says, “He came back talking about how organized and professional it was, so I came this year. I’m really impressed with Gustavo’s tournament. It’s at the same level as the IBJJF. The referees were great and the tournament was on time. He put so much hard work into this event. He’s done an awesome job. I’m really happy to have come to it and I want to bring my students back next year.”

Photo: John Cooper

Before coming to the tournament, Alencar worried if it was still his time, after his less than stellar year last year, but after taking gold in the open, he proved to himself that it was. “This tournament showed me I’ve still got it. I can still do it. I’m back! I felt myself progressing with every match. I was getting more confident with each one. So, after two figths, I was ready for Bruno, but I knew the match was going to go the whole distance.”

And it did. Alencar was losing by advantage points when he pulled guard. “Luckily I got the sweep and a mount and then the match was over,” he says, “I have a lot of respect for Bruno. I have watched him fight so many times at so many tournaments. I remember watching him when I was a purple belt and he was a black belt. He loves Jiu-Jitsu.”

Alencar says it was a great feeling to win the open class and to receive $2,500 for his efforts. “I’m going to save it as I always do,” he says, “I’ll put it in the bank and then maybe I’ll use it to buy a ticket to Brazil.”

Now Alencar’s looking forward to the Pan. “I’m going to try to get my title back,” he says, referring to winning it in 2009, only to lose it in 2010, “I want to push myself for the Pan and the Worlds. I also plan on going to Brazil for the ADCC world submission trials. If I pass, I will go to London in September.”

As for his overall plans for 2011, he says, “I’m going to try to bring a big show this year and have really exciting fights. I want to make it worth people’s while to watch me compete. I’m proud to wear the GB uniform. They’ve given me everything, the least I can do is represent them well.”

Bruno Bastos had four matches at the Arizona International Open and was really looking forward to going all the way to the finals. He was well on his way as he handily worked through his competition. In his first match, he submitted his opponent with an armbar in about one minute.

In his second match, he fought Rafael “Barata” Freitas from GB New Mexico and won on points. “I tried to finish with an Ezekiel,” he says, “But he held on for the bell.”

In his third match, he faced Guybson Sa from SAS/East West Combat Club. The match brought with it a bit of controversy as at one point, Bastos was out of bounds and Sa charged him and put his knee in Bastos’ face. Bastos was angry and Sa said it was unintentional. Bastos took a moment to compose himself and then the match began again. “I swept him, but didn’t get the points,” he says, “I got an advantage. As a fighter, you just have to keep going, so I did. I was on top, and moved to side control, but then the match was over. I thought I got an advantage for it, but I didn’t, so at the end, the match was even. I won by referee’s decision. Guybson’s very tough and very young. He has a lot of potential.”

Photo: John Cooper

Bastos’s final was with Alencar. “It was a very tough match,” he says, “Tussa and I have fought three times in no gi. This was the first time we’ve fought gi. We pretty much play the same game gi or no gi. We both have very good fundamentals. For the first six minutes, it was pretty much a judo match. Then I was winning three advantage points to zero. I almost took him down three times. Then he jumped guard and tried some sweeps and attacks. I defended, then I posted up and he switched the triangle to a sweep, and that’s how he scored the points, then he moved to mount. I was tired. If you make one mistake against a high level guy, it’s over. And that’s what happened today.” Bastos says he’s frustrated that he didn’t win. “I’ve been here twice to Gustavo’s tournaments and I’ve won both times. Today I didn’t.”

Unlike Alencar, Bastos had a good year last year. “The only time I didn’t medal last year was at the Pan,” he says, “Most tournaments I won. I took third at the Gi Worlds. It was a good year for me.”

As for the Arizona International Open, Bastos says that Gustavo is bringing more black belts to the tournament every year. “I had four matches this year,” he says, “I’ve never had that before. This is a good tournament. Every tournament Gustavo throws he brings in more competitors, more black belts, and the level becomes higher and higher. It continues to grow. He’s doing a great job here. I know he’s not satisfied yet because he loves perfection, but he is doing all the right things to make his goals.”

Next up, Bastos is looking forward to the Abu Dhabi trials in San Diego, then the Pan and then the Worlds. “I’m coming prepared,” he says, “If you’re not in shape, you can’t compete. There are so many tournaments coming up. I’m going to do my best in everything I do. My ultimate goal is to become World Pro Abu Dhabi champion and IBJJF and ADCC champion. I feel like if I had those three things, my mission in Jiu-Jitsu will be complete as a fighter. As a coach, my goal is to make one American student world champion in any belt,” he says, “I also want to help Gustavo make Nova Uniao first place again as a team.”

Madrid shares a non-competitive moment with his rival of the day, Benson Henderson. Photo: Deb Blyth

This medium heavyweight brown belt from Grace Fighting Systems started his day with two matches in his weight class. Because there were only three guys in his weight class, he had another fight after his first loss. “I ended up taking third place,” he says, “In my first match, I lost to Ben Henderson who beat me with a cross choke and ezequiel (forearm choke), and then in my second match, Phillip Aguilar beat me on points.”

The three met up again in the absolute, and the results were completely opposite. “I beat the two guys who beat me in my division,” he says, “In my first match, I beat Phillip Aguilar with a guillotine choke, and in my second match, I beat Ben Henderson by points, 6-4.”

“My final was a good match,” he says, “It was a really steady pace. We were guessing about what each of us was doing. Ben was doing a lot of ankle picks, so I had to square up my defense. It caused me to be slower.”

Madrid says Henderson had him in his guard at the end, but Madrid was able to roll and mount him to get to a score of 6-2. “I had a cross choke on him but couldn’t finish because of his wonderful locks of hair,” he laughs, “I didn’t want to pull it.”

From there, Henderson swept Madrid and got two points, closing the gap between them. “We got up to our feet,” he says, “He tried to push me back down. It was a scramble. He tried to get knee on belly to get the 3 points, but I was able to hold him off for the remaining five seconds.”

Madrid, who only received his brown belt a couple of months ago from his professor, Israel Juarez, says he competes a lot, and that this is not the first time he’s fought Henderson. “I lost to him in the open before,” he says, “Ben is an awesome fighter. One of the best people I’ve ever competed against. He’s in your face all the time. If you’re unprepared for him, just stay home.”

Like Henderson, Madrid also fights MMA as a professional and his record currently stands at 9-2. “My MMA career is my first priority,” he says, “I’m trying to make it my career. I’m trying to make my way to the UFC. I did ‘Art of War’ in China and fought Daijiro Matsui. I finished him with an inverted reverse triangle choke.”

Daniel and Friends / Photo: John Cooper

Madrid trains in both gi and no gi. “I believe if you train gi, it makes your no gi game so much better,” he says, “I want to become a Jiu-Jitsu black belt.” Although MMA is his priority, Madrid says he loves Jiu-Jitsu and that it’s changed his life. “It kept me from a path I didn’t want to go down,” he says, “It’s kept positivity in my life.”

Along with training and competing in Jiu-Jitsu, Madrid also instructs on the mats. “Jiu-Jitsu has allowed me to understand how to teach the gentle art as well as continue to better my own technique as well. I like to teach. It’s challenging and rewarding at the same time.”

As for the 6th Arizona International Open, Madrid says the tournament is a really great way for him to get some high-level competition experience. “This tournament is really good,” he says, “The structure gets better and better each year. I’m proud and honored to say I can be a part of this. Thank you to Gustavo Dantas for putting it on and letting us compete at the highest level.”

You can follow Madrid on Facebook and twitter to keep up with his MMA fights and Jiu-Jitsu tournaments.

The Open Class has drawn top names such as Gracie Barra’s Roberto “Tussa” Alencar and Nova União’s Bruno Bastos, as well as rising contenders like Guybson Sa, Marco Machado, Ryan Beauregard and ex-NFL wide-receiver, Michael Westbrook. Smaller fighters, such as Samir Chantre and Rafael “Barata” Freitas, have also stepped up to the challenge.

Stay tuned to GRACIEMAG.com for updates over the weekend.

The brackets will be available on Friday at http://www.strongvon.com/azopen6/

Check out the highlights of the 5th AZ International Open:

Live Jiu-Jitsu is aiming to collect one hundred gi’s by the summer. They will be collecting gi’s on both Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 to 2:00 pm at the 6 th AZ Open. Additionally, On The Mat (OTM) Fight Shop has been gracious enough to assist Live Jiu-Jitsu in this gi-drive. They will be offering a 15% discount for any new OTM gi to those who donate their old one (good condition). A good reason to donate to a great cause just got better!

Nova União founder and team leader André Pederneiras (right) donating gis to Tatame Legal of Fabiano "Babu" Freitas (left) / Photo: publicity

The tournament will be held February 26th & 27th at Westwood High School in Mesa, Arizona. Gi’s will be collected near the front entrance.

For more information about Live Jiu-Jitsu, its causes, or how you can help, visit their website www.livejiu-jitsu.org or via email at  emaillivejiujitsu.org@gmail.com.

Westbrook (left) receiving black belt diploma from Dantas (middle) / Photo: publicity

Former professional American football player Michael Westbrook is gearing up for his black belt competition debut, in the open weight division of the upcoming 6th Arizona BJJ International Open in Mesa, Arizona. The 2008 purple belt/superheavyweight world champion, and 2009 brown belt/superheavyweight U.S. national champion received his black belt from Nova União USA team leader Gustavo Dantas last November, after winning the 2nd Southwest BJJ Classic.

Besides Nova União black belt Westbrook, 2010 Pan-American champion Carlos Farias and Mexico’s Rodrigo Salas will be at the competition. The registration deadline is February 21st. Sign up now by clicking here.