Bruno at the 2014 European No-Gi Championship. Photo: Alcianna Photo

Text by Oliver Geddes:

It would be unfair to describe his clean sweep of the brown belt weight and absolute at the Rome International Open and the European No-Gi Championship as a coming-out party for Italy’s Bruno Ivan Tomasetti. He has been a mainstay on the European and World competition scene for over two years now, having already taken a world title at blue as well as the brown belt absolute at this year’s European Championship in Lisbon in addition to the FILA Gi and No-Gi World Championships. No matter what your previous accomplishments are though, winning 13 fights over one weekend, the majority by submission, is a feat that is worthy of note.

The first thing to be aware of about Bruno’s grappling skills is his judo background. He began training judo when he was seven years old, winning his first national title in the under-16 class at the age of 15, before taking bronze in the adult division the year after aged only 16. He also has a number of other competition successes, including a bronze at the under-20 European Championship and two silvers in the under-23 European Championship, as well as a bronze medal in the Military World Championship. To add to that list of achievements, he was also a member of the Italian national judo squad from 2000 until 2011, as well as part of the professional military police judo squad from 2003 until 2011.

But to call Bruno just a converted judoka would do him a disservice, particularly in recent months where he has shown a strong affinity for leg and specifically ankle locks, far from an area of expertise for a typical judoka. The judo competition ruleset tends to create fighters with excellent takedowns, chokes and armlocks, but given all leglocks are illegal in judo competition, it is rarely something they put much effort into learning since there is little practical benefit for them within their sport. If you have literally a few seconds to spare you can see Bruno proving that not all judoka are cut from the same cloth:

Bruno’s interest in leg attacks came about from watching sambo and no-gi grappling earlier in his training, but since he was competing professionally in judo he wasn’t permitted to take part in other sports under different rulesets. After calling time on his judo career, he jumped into training leg locks alongside the Italian national sambo team with the aim of turning a typical weakness of converted judoka into his strength. As can be seen from the clips above, this is something he has been more than successful in doing.

After taking silver in last weekend’s World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championships in Abu Dhabi, defeating Team Lloyd Irvin’s Tim Spriggs in the semi-final before losing on points to Braulio Estima student Nelton Pontes in the final, he has now set his sights on the World Championships in California. He plans to capture yet another world title to add to his resume. Look for him as a face to be challenging for titles in both his weight and the absolute when the end of May rolls around.

Adamson brothers on the podium of the brown belt featherweight division at the IBJJF Lisboa Open. Photo: Personal Archive/Instagram

Summertime is the American vacation window and Europe is often the most popular destination. With the newest additions on the IBJJF calendar, the Rome Open, Lisboa Open and European No-Gi Championship made the continent an even more desired location. Two Americans, who are also GMA members, traveled to all three competitions and taught a seminar in Ireland.

The Adamson brothers Zach and Nate are brown belts under Rafael Lovato Jr. who value all that the Jiu-Jitsu lifestyle offers and are constantly looking to advance their skills. Traveling to the three IBJJF tournaments they fared well, gained knowledge and shared theirs.

See how their trip went and what they feel about the Jiu-Jitsu scene over there:

GRACIEMAG: How did you and your brother do at Rome Open, European No-Gi and Lisboa Open?

ZACH ADAMSON: We started our journey in Rome and took silver in the featherweight brown and my brother [Nathan Adamson] took third. In the no-gi Euros I took third place.. Next we flew up to Munich, Germany to teach and train at Sanefighting, run by European brown belt Champion, Johannes Wieth. This was part of our plan to network so we can continue to teach seminars abroad and make more opportunities for our up-and-coming students to follow in our footsteps. Our next stop was Lisbon. I won in the featherweight brown belt and took third in the absolute as well.

Seminar in Ireland. Photo: Personal Archive/Instagram

How did your seminar in Ireland go?

Our seminar in Ireland was a huge success and we had over 30 students in attendance. We taught some of our best guard positions and the students were very receptive to the information.What can you say about the quality of European Jiu-Jitsu?

The quality was on par with that in the U.S. and I believe as Jiu-Jitsu spreads across Europe they we’ll see more and more high level black belts emerge. They love the Jiu-Jitsu life and are very eager to learn all the newest positions. All in all it was an unforgettable experience for my brother and I. We brought back IBJJF medals, taught our first international seminars and networked with many of the most influential practitioners and coaches across Europe. It’s safe to say the Adamson Bros will be back annually. We can’t say enough about how well we were treated, the Jiu-Jitsu lifestyle is alive and well here!

For more information on the Adamson brothers and their Oregon academy Seaside Jiu-Jitsu, visit www.OrBJJ.com

Joe, Danny, Bryan show off their no-gi medals on the podium. Photo: Alvarez BJJ Instagram

Black belt GMA member Danny Alvarez of Alvarez BJJ in Arlington, Texas took a team of students to compete alongside them in Rome, Italy. Normally at most IBJJF events around the country including Boston Open, Houston Open, Las Vegas Open and more, Danny himself pushes for the best results to get onto the podium and shares the same momentum with every one of his students who express the same interest.

On June 29, the first IBJJF Rome Open gave the Alvarez BJJ army a chance to prove their skills in the gi. Here are the results:

Joe Gonzales placed third in his purple belt master medium-heavy division.
Danielle Alvarez placed second in her purple belt adult lightweight division and third in the absolute.
Danny Alvarez won gold in his black belt master featherweight division.

Daughter Danielle Alvarez was out of competition for 10 months as she moved a few hours away from home to attend her first year of college. Prior to becoming a first-year college student, she competed often since she was a juvenile racking up titles in IBJJF tournaments all over the world as an adult, winning a ticket to Abu Dhabi WPJJC and earning the title of best blue belt competitor in Texas two years in a row. This competition was a good start for her return to Jiu-Jitsu competition.

The second day, on Sunday June 30 came the European No-Gi Championship and the time for the team to prove their skills without the gi. Here are the results:

Bryan Landin placed third in his blue senior 1 ultra-heavyweight division.
Joe Gonzales won gold in his purple master medium-heavy division.
Danny Alvarez won another gold in his black belt master featherweight division.

Congratulations to the team.

For more information about Alvarez BJJ you can visit www.AlvarezBJJ.com

Check out Danny Alvarez in action in his final at the European No-Gi Championship:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvvRgQBTl5k

Caio Terra and Alan “Finfou” at the 2013 European No-Gi Championship in Rome. Photo: IBJJF

The newest IBJJF tournament extended its reach to international soil all the way in Rome, Italy. The 2013 IBJJF Rome Open, a gi tournament, was held on Saturday June 29 with the European No-Gi Championship happening Sunday, June 30. One of the top stars present was that of 2013 rooster weight world champion Caio Terra.

While on his European seminar tour he made way for the IBJJF duo event and completed seven submissions for three gold medals. He won the black belt adult light-feather division for the Rome Open as well as the same division in the European No-Gi and the open weight. Proving his technique once again, he defeated larger opponents, even submitting them.

Watch this semi-final match in the no-gi light-feather division:

Jon Tuck, an up-and-comer from Guam with Jiu-Jitsu slicked up at Emirates Team in Abu Dhabi. UFC publicity photo

Macau, a three-hour boat ride from Hong Kong and three hours from Beijing by plane, is a city whose name means “Port of the Bay” in Cantonese, the local language in the province, where Portuguese is also spoken.

So Port of the Bay was the location picked to host the UFC’s maiden venture into China, a dream market for Dana White and his executive counterparts. If all goes to plan, tomorrow’s UFC will be a hit in the Far East.

Macau, like Las Vegas and New Jersey, is a land of high-end casinos, and a number of the sport’s up-and-comers are putting their chips on the main card this Saturday.

Such is the case with the lightweight Jonathan Cruz Tuck, a confident Jiu-Jitsu brown belt who harks from Guam, a US-controlled territory not far from China.

“Everything was planned, and his dream is starting to come true,” explains his Jiu-Jitsu coach Marcão Oliveira of Emirates Team. “He’s been like a son to me and Carol [DeLazzer] ever since he came from Guam to train with us. He comes over and spends some time in Abu Dhabi every year,” recalls Marcão, who himself was in the spotlight a short while back, when he won gold in the masters division at the European No-Gi Championship.

Jon Tuck has six wins on his record, three by way of knockout and the other three by submission, and he will have his work cut out for him when he faces China’s Zhang Tie Quan, who himself tends to do some softening up of his opponents standing before pursuing the tapout on the ground.

“We knew that if Jon kept a perfect record, when the UFC came to Asia he’d get a chance, especially with the Jiu-Jitsu title he holds—he won the Abu Dhabi WPJJC as a blue belt in 2010. Everyone loves him here in the Emirates. Tuck was received with open arms by all the trainers,” recalls Marcão.

Tuck spent two years just training. Most of the time, all he did was Jiu-Jitsu, with and without the gi. “When we realized he was tough, just right on the ground, he started training in MMA again. And on his return, he scored two sweet knockouts to cap off a good record.”

What do you think, gentle reader? Who takes it, the local hero or the foreign newcomer?

UFC on Fuel TV
Cotai Arena, Cotai, Macau
Saturday, November 10, 2012

Rich Franklin vs Cung Le
Thiago Silva vs Stanislav Nedkov
Takanori Gomi vs Mac Danzig
Dong Hyun Kim vs Paulo Thiago
Alex Caceres vs Montonobu Tezuka
Zhang Tie Quan vs Jon Tuck

Under card

Yusuhiro Urushitani vs John Lineker
Riki Fukada vs Tom DeBlass
Takeyda Mizugaki vs Jeff Hougland
David Mitchell vs Hyun Gyu Lim