Italian promotion Ocean BJJ is entering 2025 with a bold move: a headline sponsorship deal with Kingz Kimonos, the legendary grappling brand founded in 2011 and renowned for premium gear and deep connections with elite competitors and international tournaments.

The Ocean BJJ Pro Championship finals on September 20 will mark the debut of this partnership, with Kingz as the official sponsor. This milestone reinforces Ocean BJJ’s upward trajectory in the world of professional no‐gi grappling.

Since its inception, Ocean BJJ has been making waves: introducing a more advanced rule set, offering prize pools that scale with participation, and consistently attracting top-level talent. Aligning with Kingz adds even more prestige and signals the brand’s ambition to compete on a global stage.

“The fact that Kingz is getting involved with Ocean is massive news!” says Fabrizio Forconi, Event Manager of Ocean BJJ Pro. “This is only our second season, and yet the ruleset, production quality, and overall presentation of Ocean have already attracted not just top European names and several international athletes — from European trials competitors to our invited special guests for the finals — but also major industry brands that are clearly drawn to the way we work. That tells us we’re on the right track. Now that Kingz has partnered with Ocean, we’re only going to level up. Expect some exciting new developments, which will be announced on our social channels starting in August, well ahead of the finals on September 20.”

The Ocean BJJ Pro Championship finals will stream live on FloGrappling, featuring a world-class commentary team: Riccardo Ammendolia, Demian Maia, and Jean Jacques Machado.

“With just a few days to go before this year’s Trials kick off, we’re thrilled to announce a massive opportunity!”, says Fabrizio Forconi, event manager of Ocean BJJ Pro Championship.

“The 4 athletes who win the Ocean Finals (Men’s -80kg and Openweight, Women’s -65kg and Openweight) will be selected and individually contacted to take part – exclusively – in one of the upcoming American editions of WNO, live on Flograppling! A huge chance for these competitors to step onto that stage as freshly crowned holders of the title: The Most Dangerous Grappler on the Planet 2025!”

“We’re extremely proud of this new partnership”, says Forconi, “which represents a big step forward and a huge opportunity for all grapplers who choose to compete at Ocean — a format known for having one of the most permissive rule sets in the world, if not the most permissive, making it a natural selection ground for the planet’s boldest and most dangerous athletes, both men and women. Collaborating with WNO – Who’s Number One is a tremendous opportunity, and the trust FloGrappling is placing in Ocean is a source of great pride and a gateway to exciting future possibilities for the entire grappling community.”

The first ever Ocean BJJ Final is coming on September 21st and the promotion has just finished announcing an incredible lineup for the tournament. They’ve conducted 6 trials events in Italian cities to allow competitors to book their place in the grand finale, along with hand-picking some special guests from among the best grapplers in the world.

There are 20 entrants in the under 80kg division and 17 entrants in the over 80kg division, along with two four-woman tournament brackets at under and over 65kg. All in all, there will be a ton of high-level grappling taking place in Cagliari and all of it will be broadcast live on FloGrappling.

“We are delivering a show to the global audience watching live on FloGrappling, with commentary from Riccardo Ammendolia and Demian Maia, as well as to the thousands of fans attending in person at Zebra Globe in Cagliari, Sardinia, thanks to our synergy with BJJ Summer Week. It’s an event we want people to remember for a long time”, says Fabrizio Forconi, one of the brains behind Ocean BJJ.

One of the most interesting things about Ocean BJJ is the unique points system that focuses on rewarding deep submission attempts above all else. Competitors will be awarded one point per deep submission attempt and one point for any traditional point-scoring position or transition (takedown, sweep, mount etc). The intriguing element is that the points scored for positions and transitions will only matter if the points scored from submission attempts is equal. This means that competitors are always incentivised to hunt for the finish instead of relying on scoring points in the traditional manner, and a deep submission attempt is worth more than any amount of positional dominance.