The tournament will be held on October 22 and 23 at Phoenix College in the city of Phoenix, Arizona.

For further information, visit at http://www.strongvon.com/southwestbjj3.

The Jiu-Jitsu tournament will offer kids, juveniles, adults (male and female), master and senior divisions, as well as two black belt open classes: the Open Light (167.5 lbs and under) and the Open Heavy (Over 167.5 lbs). The winner of each open weight division will receive a ticket to the 2011 European Jiu-Jitsu Championship in Lisbon, Portugal.

It is important to note that registration for the kids division will cut off at 200 competitors. Registration for the juvenile, adult, master, senior, and female divisions will stop at 450 competitors.

GD Jiu-Jitsu Events will reward all competitors to sign up by the pre-registrations deadline of 11:59 pm on October 8 with free tournament T-shirts. Anyone to register thereafter will not receive a T-shirt.

GRACIEMAG will be in Mesa to cover the event.

The Jiu-Jitsu competition features kids, juveniles, adult (Male and Female), masters and senior divisions, plus two black belt open classes: open light (167.5 lbs and under) and open heavy (Over 167.5 lbs). The winner of each open division will receive a ticket to the 2011 European BJJ Championship in Lisbon, Portugal*.

IMPORTANT: Registration will be closed for the kids division once two hundred competitors has been reached. Registration for juveniles, adults, masters, seniors, and women will be closed after 450 competitors.
GD Jiu-Jitsu Events will be offering FREE tournament T-Shirts to ALL competitors who Pre-Register for the tournament by the PRE-REGISTRATION DEADLINE of October 8th at 11:59 PM. Competitors registered AFTER this time will NOT receive a T-Shirt.

At this year’s event the likes of WEC lightweight champion Benson Henderson, former UFC star Hermes França, stalwart Nova União black belts Bruno Bastos and Guybson Sá and more were among the many competitors that made the competition a must-see.

Now you, too, can get a glimpse of the Jiu-Jitsu spectacle that shook Mesa Arizona’s Westwood High School this past June 26 and 27 with $1,000 awarded the winner of the absolute division, Bruno Bastos.

Check out the highlights from the event:

Megaton, Mackenzie, Kristina Barlaan and Gustavo Dantas. Photo: AZSBJJF.com

The four-man (two of them ladies) troop from the American state of Arizona that ventured into the Rio Open and International Master and Senior 2010 championships this past weekend made a mighty bang. The tiny delegation (in numbers and in size, as they are all featherweights) achieved a monstrous seven-medal tally and made a major contribution to their respective teams’ overall success.

While the male half of the outfit was represented by seasoned veterans Wellington “Megaton” Dias and Gustavo Dantas, president and vice-president of the Arizona State Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation, respectively, competing in the International Master and Senior old-timers’ tournament, the female contingent featured two fresh-faced rising stars in the Rio Open adult competition.

Dias’s daughter Mackenzie Dern couldn’t have had a better competition debut as a purple belt. The 17-year-old, who was finally promoted after winning a second adult world title in her weight group and taking runner-up in the absolute at the 2010 World Championship, kicked off her fledgling purple belt career with gold medals in her weight and the open weight classes.

Now Kristina Barlaan, a fixture on the winners’ podium at all the major competitions across the United States, helped her team, Nova União, take second in the overall team contest, scoring valuable points with her gold and silver medals at weight and open weight in the blue belt division, respectively.

Gustavo Dantas and Wellington Dias came up spades too, with Gustavo taking gold in the senior 1 featherweight group and Megaton in the senior 2 featherweight and absolute weight groups. If Megaton winning the senior 2 division is little surprise, as it’s never any surprise when he places in the adult division he customarily enters, the achievement becomes all the greater when considering how the Gracie Humaitá team he represents managed to recover the International Master and Senior team title they lost to Gracie Barra last year, Wellington’s points playing an important part in their return to glory.