Prepared for the US National Pro Florida in Tampa, Florida in Feb. 28? Once your travel is booked, you gotta sign up!

The event will be held at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

The registration period for the discounted rate is ending today, Feb. 11. The price per person is currently $75 and by tomorrow, Feb. 12 until Feb. 23 the price will rise to $95.

Sign up to compete for the travel package that will send you to the 2015 Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship in April.

In order to win the travel package you must win the designated division, whether it be the weight class or the absolute based on your belt rank. You can find more information about prizes at www.uaejjf.org

You can still register at www.usprobjj.com

Toronto BJJ at the Canada National Pro Toronto. Photo: Joey Simoes

Jorge Britto, head instructor of GMA Toronto BJJ, led his team to victory at the 2015 Canada National Pro Toronto at Seneca College in Toronto, Canada over the weekend. The event offered certain division winners a free travel package to compete at the 2015 Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship in late April.

The team represented Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu well, taking home four more travel packages to the event adding to the three they already earned at the Canada National Pro in Montreal back in November.

At blue belt, Meagan Curran won the female -65kg division, Sarah Scarr won the female +75kg division, and Adam Scratch won the male +75kg division.

At purple belt, Eric Phan won the male -65kg division and Nathan dos Santos won the male -85kg division both at the Montreal edition.

The brown and black belts were combined but brown belt Dainis Nguyen won the male -75kg division in Montreal and brown belt Jon-Taine Hall won the male +95kg division in Toronto.

Jorge Britto is very proud of his team’s efforts and accomplishments. Check out more of GMA Toronto BJJ at www.torontobjj.com

The US National Pro hit Santa Barbara on Jan. 11 and handed out fully-paid travel packages to compete at the 2015 Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship to those who won their respective divisions.

The event gathered names like Magid Hage, Clark Gracie, Mackenzie Dern, Wellington Megaton Dias, Eliott Kelly and more.

You can still register for the event in Tampa, Florida on Feb. 28 to win a chance at earning the travel package. Find out more information and register at www.usprojj.com

Watch the highlights of the Santa Barbara tournament below:

The U.S. National Pro Jiu-Jitsu Championship has updated the passport requirements for their event on Jan. 11 in Santa Barbara, CA.

Before, you had to present your passport on the day of the tournament but they have loosened the rule and they are now allowing competitors to present their passport within three weeks after the tournament. This is only for those who win the travel package to the Abu Dhabi World Jiu-Jitsu Championship in the UAE.

As a reminder, the only athletes eligible o compete in this tournament but be lawful citizens of North America. The list of countries includes:

Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Canada
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominica
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Grenada
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago
United States

The registration ends tomorrow, Jan. 6!

To learn more about the tournament around the corner and to register, visit www.usprojj.com

Canada National Pro – Montreal. Photo: Tri Nguyen

We are already approaching one of the biggest tournaments of the year–the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship. The 2015 edition will be full of athletes who have earned their ticket to the event by competing and winning the appropriate divisions at the national pro tournaments.

This past weekend on Oct. 4 & 5, GMA member Fabio Holanda held yet another championship in Montreal to distribute the travel packages to deserving contestants. Now dubbed the Canada National Pro – Montreal, the same awards were given.

This tournament, some of the divisions went back to being combined; the brown and black belts for male, the blue and purple for master male, and the purple, brow and black belts for the female absolute.

Here are the results and the ticket winners:

Dominyka Obelenyte secures the choke at the 2014 Montreal Trial. Photo: Erin Herle

The Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship has begun its events for the 2015 edition. This year the North American events will begin with Canada National Pro-Montreal.

GMA member Fabio Holando has put together the tournament once again and registration is now open.

If you win the qualifying division at the trial you will receive a travel package to compete at the main event next year in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The location of the Montreal trial is once again the Center Pierre-Charboneau: 3000 Viau St. Montreal, Canada.

You must sign up for a UAEJJ membership before you register to compete at the trial.

Become a member here: http://www.uaejjf.org/membership/becomeAMember

Register for the Montreal trial by Oct. 1 here: http://www.uaejjf.org/event/info/79

Gustavo Dantas with his student Sarah Black after the 2014 Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship. Photo: Personal Archive

The leader of GD Jiu-Jitsu Association, GMA member Gustavo Dantas, had a busy week in Abu Dhabi. In between cornering his Nova Uniao teammate Thales Leites at the UFC Fight Night he also competed and coached his student at the 2014 Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

He coached purple belt Sarah Black who earned silver in the -60 kg division. He also competed and secured the gold medal in the Master 2 -70 kg division!

“It was an amazing week! I had a great time in Abu Dhabi. After all these years of training and competing, I still learn so much about Jiu-Jitsu and about myself every time I compete,” says the BJJ Mental Coach. “My priority is teaching, promoting tournaments and now sharing my knowledge about mental skills training to the BJJ community, but once in a while I will try to jump in and challenge myself in a competition.”

Learn more about the BJJ Mental Coach and GDJJA at www.gdjiujitsu.com

Check out Gustavo Dantas in action:

Gabi Garcia after she won the open weight division. Photo: Erin Herle

The women competitors of the 2014 Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship accomplished yet another year of great fights. Going into the April 17-19 competition, they hit a milestone as the first year the purple belt females competed in their own division. The growth in numbers drove the United Arab Emirates Jiu-Jitsu Federation to split the categories and this year only the brown belts and the black belts remained together. The males earned all separate categories for their belts in 2013 and by next year we hope that the same will happen for females next year.

But for this edition, brown and black belts went against one another in the same brackets. Here are the results of the weight categories:

-60kg

There were many promising athletes in this division including the champion of 2013 Michelle Nicolini. But this year she met her match, brown belt Adriadne de Oliveira of Mestre Wilson. Armed with a threatening loop choke, she submitted her first, second and third opponents with the submission. The first match of the division was a deja vu of last year as Michelle Nicolini faced Mackenzie Dern and submitted with an armbar leaving Dern out of the competition. In the final, Adriadne competed against Nadia Melo who defeated Nyjah Easton in the semi-final. Adraidne submitted Nadia by a triangle armbar for the gold.

1- Adriadne de Oliveira
2- Nadia Melo
3- Michelle Nicolini

-66kg

Similar to the -60kg division, the first match of the bracket was one fit for a final as Luanna Alzuguir and Luiza Monteiro, who competed in the 2012 WPJJC final, competed against each other. Luiza was able to earn the win with points and also beat Fabiana Borges on her way to the final. Beatriz Mesquita accomplished a win over Marina Ribeiro and Shanti Abelha to make her way to the finals. Fabiana Borges was able to overtake Marina Ribeiro with advantages to win the third place spot. In the final, Luiza maintained the dominant positions against last year’s champion Beatriz and earned the gold via points.

1- Luiza Monteiro
2- Beatriz Mesquita
3- Fabiana Borges

-72kg

New black belt from Sweden by way of Denmark, Janni Larsson proved her promotion once again since receiving her belt last August. In her first match she defeated brown belt threat Monique Elias by points then went on to defeat Fernanda Mazzelli. She faced Polyana Lago in the final. Janni was able to win on points and jumped for joy with the outcome.

1- Janni Larsson
2- Polyana Lago
3- Fernanda Mazzelli

+72kg

The prior champion, Gabrielle Garcia, was able to win her division once more alongside two other Alliance members. Brown belt eighteen-year-old Dominyka Obelenyte was the contender in the final. Dominyka faced Andresa Correa and defeated her by points to go into the final against Gabi. During the final Gabi earned two points by taking Dominyka down and another three by passing. Dominyka recovered her guard a few times but was not able to submit or gain points against the champion and Gabi won via 5-0 on points.

1- Gabrielle Garcia
2- Dominyka Obelenyte
3- Andresa Correa

OPEN WEIGHT

There were 27 brown and black belts who competed in the open weight division. The bracket was created but not all showed up creating byes within the line-up. Here are the full results of each match:

Vanessa Nascimento defeats Michelle Nicolini by 3-0 advantages.
Jackeline Rodrigues defeats Vanessa English by 2-0 advantages.
Jessica Santos defeats Morena Cuba by 7-0 points.
Shanti Abelha defeats Suelen Dos Tobias by 2-2 points, 1-1 adv, 1 penalty for Suelen.
Beatriz Mesquita defeats Dominyka Obelenyte by 2-0 points.
Monique Elias defeats Fabiana Borges by loop choke.
Mackenzie Dern defeats Nyjah Easton by 4-0 points.
Viviane Gomes defeats Andrea Souza by referee decision after 2-2 advantages.
Janni Larsson defeats Marina Ribeiro by 3-1 advantages.
Gabrielle Garcia defeats Maryanne Mullahy by 5-0 points.
Nadia Melo defeats Talita Nogueira by armbar.
Polyana Lago defeats Ida Hansson by knee injury early on as Polyana jumped guard.
Sijara Eubanks defeats Eirin Nygren by 3-0 advantages.

Luanna Alzuguir defeats Nadia Melo by 4-0 points.
Monique Elias defeats Shanti Abelha by 6-0 points.
Mackenzie Dern defeats Jackeline Rodrigues by 2-0 points.
Sijara Eubanks defeats Viviane Gomes by bow and arrow choke.
Janni Larsson defeats Polyana Lago by armbar.
Beatriz Mesquita defeats Jessica Santos by 2-0 points.

QUARTER-FINALS
Monique Elias defeats Sijara Eubanks by 1-0 advantages.
Gabrielle Garcia defeats Vanessa Nascimento by 3-0 advantages.
Janni Larsson defeats Mackenzie Dern by 5-0 points.
Beatriz Mesquita defeats Luanna Alzuguir by 2-0 advantages.

SEMI-FINALS
Gabrielle Garcia defeats Monique Elias by armbar.
Janni Larsson defeats Beatriz Mesquita by 2-1 advantages

THIRD PLACE MATCH
Beatriz Mesquita defeats Monique Elias by 2-0 advantages.

FINAL
Gabrielle Garcia defeats Janni Larsson by arm lock from side control.

For a full photo gallery of all the matches, click here.

Check out a quick photo gallery of the open weight division finals:

Tim working the pass in his semi-final match in the brown belt adult open weight division. Photo: Erin Herle

One of the stand-outs set to make a statement even before the 2014 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship was Tim Spriggs of Crazy 88/Team Lloyd Irvin. The 23-year-old Baltimore, MD resident proved his abilities by winning the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo Brown Belt Grand Prix last November.

Tim Spriggs (right) and Erberth Santon (left) after closing out the brown belt adult open weight division. Photo: Erin Herle

Tim competed in the brown belt adult heavyweight division as well as the brown belt open weight division and won all of his matches — three were submissions, one was a stoppage due to injury. In the final of the open weight, he closed out with a fellow TLI member, Erberth Santos from Brazil who had been training with him for the past month at Crazy 88. The weekend left him with a winning streak that proved his capabilities since his promotion to brown belt last June.

Above all of his studies on the mat, Tim also proved his capabilities in academia having earned a college degree back in 2012 at St John’s University in New York City. Even though he was states away from the Crazy 88 team, he still made it work, training full time in the summers and remaining loyal to his team. At 16 Tim started training with them and has never strayed.

Representing his TLI team after winning the brown belt adult heavyweight division. Photo: Erin Herle

We asked Tim questions about his time at the Pans on the weekend of Mar 12-16 and what it takes to be successful. His often short declarative sentences tell of a person who is direct, focused and doesn’t play around. But don’t be fooled by his ferocious tendencies on the mat because he is every bit a gentleman.

Tim Spriggs wins big at the Pan. Photo: Erin Herle

GRACIEMAG: What was your toughest match at the Pan?

Tim Spriggs: My toughest match at the Pan was the first one in my weight division. Mostly because I hadnt competed since the Copa Podio. Match speed and intensity is very different from the training room and usually I compete much more frequently, so that I am used to that difference. Also, I was not able to finish the guy, that’s another reason.

What is one characteristic a person must have to be successful?

A burning desire to win. And not just at the competition. You have to be willing to put everything you have into each training session, your diet, and even your rest. The person with the most drive to do everything necessary to win will be the most successful.

A lot of your matches start with judo and end with you on your opponent’s back. Do you drill specific transitions or series of techniques?

I drill the techniques that give me the most success. So a lot of judo, guard passing, and submissions from the back. However, I am always expanding my arsenal, so I study all aspects of the art; takedowns, guard, and guard passing.

What are your long-term goals in Jiu-Jitsu?

Black belt world champion in my weight and the absolute. ADCC champion in weight and absolute.

You went to St John’s University and finished in 2012. What is your degree and does it/will it help you in achieving your goals?

I got my degree in sociology. Although it doesn’t really help me with fighting it does give me a better understanding of why people act the way the way they do, so it helps with interacting with people at the academy.

What is a typical training routine for you?

Depending on what day it is, I have early morning strength and conditioning, then morning training session. I teach in the afternoon, then another session in the evening. My training usually lasts around three hours or more during the grand slam season. [From the Europeans in January to the Worlds in early June]

Working the pass in the brown belt adult heavyweight division. Photo: Erin Herle

We’ll see Tim next at the Abu Dhabi World Jiu-Jitsu Championship on April 15-19 and the World Championship in Long Beach on May 28-June 1.

Check out the match:

Lucas secured the win after a six minute match winning by points from taking the back. Check out the match below by Montreal BJJ Scene:

Angelo Guerrero-Barden of Atos Jiu-Jitsu in the light absolute. Photo: AFROBRAZ

Of the many prize packages available to win at the Abu Dhabi WPJJC Montreal trial in Canada on Feb. 22, most of them were nabbed by the lower belts. A lot of the trips required a medal in the weight division and then later in an open weight division that was split for lighter athletes and heavier athletes.

Those who successfully get the ticket gain a paid trip to the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship main event in Abu Dhabi in the UAE. The package includes flight, hotel and food.

Males

The male athletes had to place in their weight division and then place first in the open weight.

Blue belt

Light absolute ticket winner: Angelo Guerrero-Barden – Atos Jiu-Jitsu
Angelo won the lightweight division.

Heavy absolute ticket winner: Tyler Beckley – Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu Detroit
Tyler also placed third in the super-heavyweight division.

Purple belt

Light absolute ticket winner: Dante Leon – Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu Detroit
Dante won the lightweight division.

Heavy absolute ticket winner: Benny Rupel – Clockwork BJJ
Benny won the ultra-heavyweight division.

Brown belt

Light absolute ticket winner: Sean Fisher – Precision Jiu-Jitsu
Sean placed third in the lightweight division.

Heavy absolute ticket winner: Mike Carbullido – Atos Jiu-Jitsu
Mike won the heavyweight division.

Female

The female athletes had to win open weight.

Blue belt

Light absolute ticket winner: Sandra Lanois-bazinet  – Ronin MMA

Heavy absolute ticket winner: Jacynthe Maloney – Brazilian Top Team

Purple belt

Light absolute ticket winner: Erin Herle – Cobrinha BJJ

Heavy absolute ticket winner: Yacinta Nguyen-huu – Brazilian Top Team

For the full results, click here.

Check out a mix of the lower belts within the photo albums on our flickr page: www.flickr.com/graciemag/sets

Here is a small photo gallery of the male open weight divisions by Afrobraz: