Rome is the newest city to host an IBJJF event

The schedules for the Rome International Open and the European No-Gi Championship are out.

The two events take place this weekend at the Pallazetto Dello Sport, in Rome, Italy.

Take a close look in the schedules and don;t miss out the time of start for your division.

Click here for the schedule for the Rome International Open.

Click here for the schedule for the European No-Gi Championship.

Click here for the brackets of both tournaments.

For more info, go to ibjjf.com

Ricardo Evangelista atop the podium in Rome

After a thrilling five days of Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship, all attentions turn to Europe, for the next big IBJJF event.

On April 4 – 6, Rome will host two Jiu-Jitsu champoionships.

On April 4 – 5, It’s time for the Rome International Open and on April 5 – 6, the European No-Gi Championship takes place.

All that action to be held at the Pallazetto Dello Sport.

You still have time to register and go compete in two of the most important events of the gentle art calendar in the old continent.

The deadline to register for both events is March 27.

Click here to register for the Rome Open.

Click here to register for the Euro No-Gi.

For more info, go to ibjjf.com

Watch last year’s black belt absolute final between Ricardo Evangelista and Alan Nascimento

Here’s the heavyweight final at the recente European Championship.

Enjoy the battle between two of the most promising black belts today.

He made it all the way to the semifinal at the master 3 blue belt featherweight division.

He is Paolo Amodeo, the Sponky Tonk Man and Director Alessandro Migliori wants to tell you his story.

Watch the video and know more at http://www.facebook.com/sponkytonkmandocumentary

Danish Alexander Trans had a picture perfect final against Yuri Simões.

He swept the Brazilian in the early beginning and then passed guard, got the mount and finally finished with an armbar.

He said: “I knew he had a strong spider guard game, so when I swept, I immediately put pressure to pass and had success”.

Alex Trans

Trans also talked about the importance of being a pioneer: “This title is very important for my career and it’s nice to be the first European, but I train with a lot of Brazilians, I go to Brazil so often. I don´t pay much attention to being European”.

In the female division, Luanna Alzuguir played a strategic game to defeat Ida Hansson 2-0 with a sweep.

“The European brings me luck! I wanted to open my game, but when you face someone as skilled as Ida, a 2-0 is a landslide,” said Luanna.

Luanna Alzuguir

The other results of the black belt were:

Rooster

Caio Terra defeated Koji Shibamoto 3-0 on advantages

Light-feather

Jose Thiago Barros got the gold medal in a close-out with João Miyao

Feather

Rafael Mendes defeated Paulo Miyao 3-0 (guard pass)

Light

Michael Langhi got the gold medal in an close-out with Francisco Iturralde

Middle

Claudio Calasans Jr defeated JT Torres by referees decision after a 2-2 tie

Medium-heavy

Thiago Sá got the gold medal in a close-out with Renato Cardoso

Heavy

Jackson Souza defeated Yuri Simões 2-0 (takedown)

Superheavy

Lucio Lagarto defeated Rafael Lovato Jr 2-0 (sweep)

Ultraheavy

Rodrigo Cavaca defeated Ricardo Evangelista 4-2 (sweeps)

Female

Light
Laurence Cousin defeated Andrea de Souza 6-0

Middle
Vanessa Oliveira defeated Ida Hansson 5-2 on advantages

Medium-heavy

Luanna Alzuguir defeated Janni Larsson 2-0 (sweep)

At the teams competition, the final results were:

Adult Male
1 – Alliance – 86
2 – CheckMat – 44
3 – Brasa Caio Terra – 43

Adult Female
1 – Alliance – 56
2 – CheckMat – 47
3 – Roger Gracie Academy – 24

Juvenile
1 – Gracie Barra – 41
2 – Soul Fighters BJJ – 18
3 – Renzo Gracie Israel – 15

Masters
1 – Gracie Barra – 234
2 – Alliance – 182
3 – CheckMat – 153

Novice
1 – Icon Jiu-Jitsu Team – 54
2 – CheckMat – 39
3 – Roger Gracie Academy – 31

For the full results, go to ibjjf.com

In the male division, Danish Alexander Trans will take on Brazilian Yuri Simões for the title.

Trans made his way to the final with his usual pressure game.

In the quarterfinals, he caught Thomas Johanssen with a foot lock.

The opponent in the semifinal was Fabiano “Boi”Leite.

Trans managed to almost get the back in the earlier stages of the fight and worked the choke, but couldn’t quite finish the fight.

Even so, he got four advantages to secure his place in the final.

Yuri Simões

Yuri Simões had a tough path to the gold medal match.

After two wins by submission over Oliver Geddes and Jaroslaw Gadek, he faced Igor Silva in the quarterfinals.

The victory came with an armbar.

The opponent in the semifinal was former teammate Jackson Souza and the fight was fierce.

Yuri scored early with a takedown and worked the pass while defending Jackson’s sweeps.

Both Yuri and Trans talked about what they expect from the final Sunday.

“We fought before in 2011, in the Euro purple belt open class final, and I won. Iknow he is very dangerous and we also trained together in Brazil,” said Trans.

“He is not only strong, but very skilled. I’m ready for everything!” said Simões.

Luanna Alzuguir

In the female division, another battle between Brazil and Scandinavia.

Swedish Ida Hansson will face Brazilian Luanna Alzuguir.

Luanna fought only once for the chance at the gold.

She defeated Hansson’s teammate Janni Lasron in a thrilling match decided in the last 30s.

Behind in the scoreboard by 2 points, Alzuguir managed to get the sweep and work to take the back for an extra advantage.

“I made a mistake in the beggining of the fight and had to recover,” confessed Luanna.

Ida Hansson

Ida first defeated Gretchen Zoeller and then faced Vanessa Oliveira.

The semifinal was also thrilling and Ida only got the 2 points for the win in the very end.

This Sunday, the weight divisions of the black belt come into action and the day ends with the finals.

For the partial results after three days of competition, go to ibjjf.com

The Friday of competitions in Lisbon, Portugal, brought the crowd to its feet and crowned three talented fighters in special.

Gessica Ventura is the big champion of the blue belt female open class. The Alliance/Mario Reis athlete defeated Zafeiria Panagiotarakou 2-0 in the final. Fearless, Ventura ended the gold medal decider with her right shoulder out of the socket.

Hanna Tibling is the purple belt adult female open class champion. She defeated Katrien Verheeke 5-0 in the final. Tibling also won the heavyweight.

Nicholas Meregali is the purple belt open class champion. In his debut in the rank, Meregali also won the medium-heavy division. In the absolute, the Alliance /Mario Reis athlete defeated Diego Ramalho (GB) with a katagatami in the final.

After two days of competition, the teams standings is:

Adult Male

1 – Alliance – 46

2 – Nova União – 27

3 – Brasa Caio Terra – 19

Adult Female 

1 – CheckMat – 36

2 – Alliance – 27

3 – Roger Gracie Academy – 24

Masters 

1 – Alliance – 37

2 – Icon Jiu-Jitsu Team – 33

3 – Gracie Barra – 33

Novice

1 – Icon Jiu-Jitsu Team – 42

2 – CheckMat – 38

3 – Roger Gracie Academy – 31

Here’s a video with the highlights of day 2 in Lisbon.

This Saturday, on day 3, brown belts and black belts come into action.

Keep following the complete coverage at our social media channels.

For the complete results of the day, go to ibjjf.com.

Entirely devoted to white belts and blue belts, the Thursday in Lisbon was a 13-hour marathon of Jiu-Jitsu.

Over 700 athletes stepped on the 10 mat areas in the Casal Vistoso Sports Complex.

In the end, Russian Anton Selezenev came out as the main name of the first day.

He won both the ultra-heavyweight division and the open class, in the male blue belt.

After the first day, the teams standings are:

Adult Male

1 – Nova União – 22

2 – Brasa Caio Terra – 19

3 – Alliance – 14

Novice

1 – Icon Jiu-Jitsu Team – 42

2 – Check Mat – 38

3 – Roger Gracie Academy – 31

We prepared the following video so you can have a taste of what was day 1 in Lisbon.

This Friday, purple belts will join blues and whites in another great day of competition.

For more info, follow our live coverage on our social media channels.

Check out the path for the gold medal in each category.

The competition begins this Thursday, Jan. 23, in Lisbon, Portugal.

Click here for the brackets.

While you do that, watch last year’s black belt featherweight fnal between Rubens Cobrinha and Augusto Tanquinho.

So, it’s safe to make some predictions of how the adult black belt divisions could go and try to point out favorites for the finals and also the champions.

As usual, don’t take it too serious, as the predictions to follow are not in any way a sign that we are rooting for this or that athlete.

All we want is to make people talk about the European 2014.

Join the conversation and leave your own predictions in the comments area.

Black belt – Male

Rooster

Caio Terra

Caio Terra’s name among the 5 athletes registered for the division makes it fairly easy to point out a favorite for the gold medal. The two-time world champion (gi), is the man to be beat, but probably won’t be. Koji Shibamoto, champion in 2012 and second place in 2013 is the best candidate for a spot in the final with Caio.

Final: Caio Terra vs. Koji Shibamoto

Champion: Caio Terra

Light feather

João Miyao will be competing in his first major IBJJF competition since he was promoted to the black belt. Even so, his tricky berimbolo game is good enough to put him as the favorite for the gold. Seasoned competitors Gabriel Willcox and Rafael “Barata” Freitas are two of the biggest obstacles in João’s way to his first gold medal as a black belt in a IBJJF event.

Final: Rafael Freitas vs. João Miyao

Champion: João Miyao

Feather

Rafael Mendes

A division with a Worlds look, the featherweight brings together names like Rafael Mendes, Gianni Grippo, Samir Chantre and Paulo Miyao. Mendes is without a doubt the favorite because of his results in the past and also because of his skills as a competitor. The tricky thing is to point out who’s gonna be in the final with him (it also depends on how the brackets will be built). Young guns Grippo and Miyao will battle more experienced Chantre for the spot.

Final: Rafael Mendes vs. Paulo Miyao

Champion: Rafael Mendes

Light

Michael Langhi

Two-time European champion, Michael Langhi is in for his third title in Lisbon. This year, he will have young powerhouses AJ Agazarm and Francisco Iturralde as biggest opponents. Paulo Henrique Silva and Oliver Geddes can also create problems for the favorites.

Final: Michael Langhi vs. AJ Agazarm

Champion: Michael Langhi

Middle

Claudio Calasans Jr

The champion in 2013, when he defeated legend Fernando Tererê (DQ), Claudio Calasans Jr is at it again for a second gold. Teammate JT Torres is the other big name and there a big chance this becomes a “finaless” division with a close out between the two.

Final: Claudio Calasans Jr vs. JT Torres

Champion: Claudio Calasans Jr

Medium-heavy

Renato Cardoso (Check Mat) is on his way to Abu Dhabi. Photo: Preston Smith / CTRL Industries

Keenan Cornelius just announced he is out of the event, which changes everything. A recent sensation after he caught two-time world champion and UFC star Sergio Moraes in a leg lock, Checkmat’s Renato Cardoso is likely to be in the semifinal. In the other side of the bracket, Rodrigo Fajardo, last year’s runner up, has all the tools to secure his spot in the gold medal match again.

Final: Renato Cardoso vs. Rodrigo Fajardo

Champion: Renato Cardoso

Heavy

Jackson Souza

As the medium-heavy, here is probable that the young competitors will prevail. Jackson Souza is working hard to establish himself as a dangerous black belt. Yuri Simões, Tarcisio Jardim are also in the mix, as the talented and experienced Jefferson Moura.

Final: Jackson Souza vs. Yuri Simões

Champion: Jackson Souza

Super-heavy

Rafael Lovato Jr

Another talent-packed division, it’s hard to predict an outcome here. Antonio Peinado, Igor Silva, Lucio “Lagarto” Rodrigues, James Puopolo and Rafael Lovato Jr are the five names most likely to battle for the two spots in the final. Details will determine which ones make it all the way.

Final: Rafael Lovato Jr vs. Lucio Lagarto

Champion: Rafael Lovato Jr

Ultra-heavy

Alexander Trans

Big chances of a repeat of last year’s final between Rodrigo Cavaca and Alex Trans. Can the Brazilian Professor debunk the Danish this time? Ricardo Evangelista is also in the mix.

Final: Rodrigo Cavaca vs. Alex Trans

Champion: Alex Trans

Open class

The final I would love to see? Kennan Cornelius vs. Rafael Mendes, but they are teammates. My second choice would be Keenan vs. Rafael Lovato Jr. Who’s gonna actually be in the final?  No idea. Let’s wait for Sunday.

Female

Luanna Alzuguir

With only nine athletes registered in the category, it’s not easy to make predictions.

Luanna Alzuguir is the only household name and she should be the standout both in the medium-heavy division and in the absolute.

Well, the gi goes on only Thursday, of course, but today is registration check day.

Making sure you are in the right weight/belt rank/gender category is as important as getting right the last details of that technique you are sure to take everyone by surprise in Lisbon.

The IBJJF allows you 24 hours to see if all your info was typed in right.

If you find any error or have any questions, send an email to ibjjf@ibjjf.com.

You can check the official athlete’s list here.

You can check the official teams list here.

You can also check the final schedule here.

After checking your info, here is a treat for you to get into the mood and also have some ideas of moves for the weekend.

Gustavo “Guto” Campos and Rodrigo Cavaca battled in 2010 for the adult black belt open class gold.

“I wasn’t going to compete in the open, but the gang requested I sign up. They said I could win it, I was doing well… I ended up giving in and I signed up, “said Gustavo, afterwards.

Watch the trilling match.