The Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu Tour Los Angeles will be also a great place for the master black belt athletes to show their talents.

As well as the adult black belt division, master black belts also have free registration.

All they need to do is register normally and then send an email message to grandslam@uaejjf.org with the following data.

PLAYER MEMBERSHIP ID:

TEAM:

AGE DIVISION:

BELT CATEGORY:

WEIGHT CATEGORY:

They will compete money prizes (master 1 only) of $1500 for division winners.

There will be $1000 bonus for those who submit their opponents in the finals.

Some big names like Gustavo Pires, Ricardo Franjinha, Thiago Almeida, Bruno Paulista and others have already confirmed presence.

Click here to register now for the event organized by the UAEJJF and scheduled for Oct. 18.

The registration deadline is Oct. 12.

See in table below all the money prizes to be awarded at the event.

Money Prizes LA

Be Faria comemora. Foto: Ivan Trindade/GRACIEMAG

No último domingo, o bicampeão mundial Bernardo Faria confirmou seu favoritismo na divisão pesadíssimo da Pro League 2014, a liga profissional organizada pela IBJJF, e ficou com o prêmio de 5 mil dólares em Long Beach, na Califórnia.

Na final, contra o sempre perigoso Luiz Panza (Checkmat), o faixa-preta da Alliance venceu com um estrangulamento pelas costas. Antes da final, Bê Faria havia finalizado Gustavo Pires (GB) num triângulo justíssimo.

Em entrevista ao GRACIEMAG, Bernardo listou o que aprendeu na Pirâmide de Long Beach e comentou o ritmo frenético de finalizações no BJJ Pro League de Jiu-Jitsu.

GRACIEMAG: Você parecia mais agressivo, talvez mais confiante em Long Beach. Foi um novo Bernardo?

BERNARDO FARIA: Fiquei muito satisfeito com minha atuação e graças a Deus consegui vencer. Mas não acho que foi um novo Bernardo, não. Venho conseguindo vencer minhas lutas por finalização, lembro-me que no último Mundial eu fiz oito lutas e finalizei quatro. No Mundial do ano passado, se não me engano, finalizei cinco. Um deles, inclusive, o próprio Panza. Nesse nível muitas vezes não é fácil finalizar, mas estou sempre tentando. Acredito que minha atuação na Pro League passou essa impressão pois foram apenas duas lutas, aí fica essa imagem de 100% de finalizações, mas foram só duas [risos]. Acho que fiz o jogo que sempre costumo fazer, puxei para a meia-guarda e comecei a luta dali. Contra o Panza, ele puxou junto e resolvi subir, porque não gosto de perder muito tempo disputando quem vai ficar por baixo. Então subi logo.

Ele no Pan 2014 tinha conseguido pegar seu braço. Como estava sua cabeça para a luta?

Entrei mais focado ainda pelo fato de ele já haver me vencido. Mas na verdade isso não muda muito, porque sei que cada dia é um dia, cada luta é uma luta, e mesmo que você já tenha vencido alguém dez vezes, não significa que você vai vencer 11. Então temos de respeitar muito o nosso adversário, independentemente de como foi o passado. Todo mundo quando entra para lutar está sujeito a perder ou vencer, não importa quem é o adversário.

Qual foi o detalhe daquele estrangulamento no Panza?

Ele é um atleta muito perigoso, e venho acompanhando as lutas dele desde o ano passado. Entrei bastante preparado para o que ele podia fazer e graças a Deus deu certo. Tentei colocar o meu jogo e fazer minhas posições, mas ainda assim o Panza ainda conseguiu colocar algumas posições dele. Fiquei calmo, mantive o ritmo e esperei a hora certa de chegar. Assim que cheguei ao cem-quilos, não perdi mais. Fui progredindo até as costas e consegui o estrangulamento. Nas costas, procurei ficar calmo, justo e esperar a hora certa para ele abrir o pescoço e eu encaixar o estrangulamento. Foi difícil mas deu certo.

O circuito do Jiu-Jitsu estava perdendo muito lutador para o MMA. A proposta da IBJJF com a Pro League valoriza mais vocês?

Acredito que sim. Finalmente eles implementaram essa ideia e espero que sigam evoluindo com a proposta de premiar os atletas financeiramente. Torço para que no ano que vem, por exemplo, em vez de quatro campeonatos neste modelo, eles façam um por mês. E que aumentem os valores cada vez mais, porque nós atletas merecemos isso. E quem sabe não começam a premiar no Mundial? É difícil vermos atletas de outros esportes se dedicarem o tanto que nós do Jiu-Jitsu nos dedicamos, então sinto que merecemos ser premiados mais que ninguém.

Andre Galvao attempts the takedown on Romulo Barral at IBJJ Pro League final / Photo by Erin Herle

One of the attractions of the 2014 World Jiu-Jitsu Expo will be the BJJ Pro League.

Sixteen elite athletes will compete for $5K prizes in four weigh divisions.

The BJJ Pro League takes place at the Long Beach Convention Center, this October 19.

If you can’t get to Long Beach to watch it live, you can watch the live PPV stream.

Click here and reserve your seat now.

For tickets to the 2014 World Jiu-Jitsu Expo, go to worldjiujitsuexpo.com

Keenan Cornelius vs. Jackson Sousa

The IBJJF has released the brackets for the 2014 BJJ Pro League.

The event will consist of four weight divisions with four competitors each.

Each division champion will get a prize of $5K and the second place will get $1K.

The event takes place at the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo, on October 19, in Long Beach.

The brackets are:

Feather

Paulo Miyao vs. Koji Shibamoto

Osvaldo Moizinho vs. Ivaniel Cavalcante

Middle

Vitor Oliveira vs. Claudio Calasans Jr

Francisco Iturralde vs. Otavio Sousa

Heavy

Keenan Cornelius vs. Roberto Alencar

Jackson Sousa vs. Yuri Simões

Ultra-heavy

Gustavo Pires vs. Bernardo Faria

Luiz Panza vs. Ricardo Evangelista

For more info about the BJJ Pro League, go to bjjproleague.com

Click here to buy your ticket to the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo.

Use the promo code GRACIEMAG for a 20% discount.

Keenan Cornelius

The champion is back.

Winner of the medium-heavy/heavy division of the IBJJF Pro League in 2013, Cornelius will return this year to defend his title.

After the recent success at the 2014 American National, Keenan will be most likely in the same division as last year.

Besides Cornelius, the following names are already confirmed in the roster:  Otavio Sousa, Paulo Miyao, Claudio Calasans Jr, Yuri Simões, Felipe Pena, Bernardo Faria, Gustavo Pires, Jackson Sousa, Vitor Oliveira, Ivaniel Cavalcante, Luiz Panza and Ricardo Evangelista, Osvaldo Moizinho.

Here’s Keenan’s final in 2013.

Rodrigo Freitas of Gracie Barra wins the lightweight division. Photo: Erin Herle

The 2014 IBJJF Vegas Summer Open is underway at the Sport Center of Las Vegas right off the strip. The one-day event on Aug. 9 is one of the hottest in the summer.

The black belt adults took to the mat early in the day with multiple matches for most of the divisions. The open division will begin at 3 p.m. PST.

Here is how the divisions unfolded:

Light-feather

Fabbio Passos of Alliance defeated Sonny Nohara of SoNo BJJ by 4-0 points.
Nobuo Yagai of Rigan Machado defeated Sonny Nohara by points.
Fabbio Passos defeated Nobuo Yagai by 6-2.

Winner: Fabbio Passos

Feather

Vitor Paschoal of Caio Terra Association defeated Orlando Machado da Silva Junior of Norfight by toehold.
Samir Chantre of Caio Terra Association defeated Gerson Atoigue of Nova Uniao by armbar.
Gianni Grippo of Alliance Marcelo Garcia defeated Vitor Paschoal by 8-6 points.
Samir Chantre defeated Gianni Grippo by 2-2 points 2-1 advantages.

Winner: Samir Chantre

Light

Rafael Benedito of Zenith BJJ defeated Andrea Rico Vaughan of Gracie Humaita Las Vegas.
Rodrigo Freitas of Gracie Barra defeated Francisco Iturralde of Alliance by 2-0 points.
Rafael Benedito defeated Osvaldo Moizinho of Caio Terra Association by 2-0 points.
Rodrigo Freitas defeated Rafael Benedito by armbar.

Winner: Rodrigo Freitas

Middle

Nathan Mendelsohn of Coalition 95 defeated Romulo Cavalcanti of Carlson Gracie Team by armbar.

Winner: Nathan Mendelsohn

Heavy

Antonio Antonioli of Atos Jiu-Jitsu defeated David Reed of Fabio Santos BJJ by DQ by stalling.

Winner: Antonio Antonioli

Super-heavy

Gustavo Pires of Gracie Barra defeated Manuel Diaz of Caio Terra Association by armbar.
Bradley Beckwith of Alliance defeated Thiago Veiga Ximenes of Roberto Traven BJJ.
Gustavo Pires defeated Bradley Beckwith by armbar.

Winner: Gustavo Pires

Ultra-heavy

Carlos Eduardo Farias of Roberto Traven BJJ defeated Thiago Reinaldo de Souza of Gracie Barra by referee decision.
Ranieri Albuquerque of Gracie Elite Team defeated Misael de Oliveira Miranda of Luiz Paulo Jiu-Jitsu by 1 advantage.
Carlos Eduardo Faria defeated Prescott Foster Bailey Jr of Easton BJJ by two advantages.
Carlos Eduardo Faria defeated Ranieri Albuquerque by 8-2 points.

Winner: Carlos Eduardo Faria

See the full results here: http://static.ibjjfdb.com/Campeonato/000294/en-US/Results.pdf

Check out a full gallery of photos below:

Luiz Panza at Pan 2014

The 2014 Pan superheavy champion, Luiz Panza is confirmed in the 2014 IBJJF Pro League.

Panza will probably compete in the superheavy/ultra-heavy division.

The IBJJF Pro League takes place October 19, at the Long Beach Convention Center, inside the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo.

Besides Panza, the following names are already confirmed in the roster:  Otavio Sousa, Paulo Miyao, Claudio Calasans Jr, Yuri Simões, Felipe Pena, Bernardo Faria, Gustavo Pires, Jackson Sousa, Vitor Oliveira, Ivaniel Cavalcante and Ricardo Evangelista.

For more info, go to Worldjiujitsuexpo.com or ibjjf.com

Ivaniel Oliveira

Bronze medalist in the roosterweight division of the 2014 Worlds, Ivaniel Oliveira is the latest addition to the IBJJF Pro League.

He will be competing in the rooster/light-feather division on October 19, at the Long Beach Convention Center.

The IBJJF Pro League will take place inside the 2014 World Jiu-Jitsu Expo.

Other than Oliveira, the following stars are also confirmed in the event: Otavio Sousa, Paulo Miyao, Claudio Calasans Jr, Yuri Simões, Felipe Pena, Bernardo Faria, Gustavo Pires, Jackson Sousa, Vitor Oliveira and Ricardo Evangelista.

Victor Estima vs. Vitos Oliveira

The picture is getting more crowded by the day.

Today the IBJJF confirmed the presence of middleweight Vitor Oliveira at the Pro League #3.

The event takes place October 19, at the Long Beach convention center, inside the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo.

So far, the following names have been confirmed to compete at the Pro league # 3: Otavio Sousa, Paulo Miyao, Claudio Calasans Jr, Yuri Simões, Felipe Pena, Bernardo Faria, Gustavo Pires, Jackson Sousa and Ricardo Evangelista.

Jackson Sousa vs. Roberto Alencar

Another big name of today’s Jiu-Jitsu  is confirmed to compete in the 2014 IBJJF Pro League.

European heavyweight champion Jackson Sousa is the latest addition to the event’s roster.

He should compete in the medium-heavy/heavy division.

The IBJJF Pro League #3 takes place at the Long Beach Convention Center, inside the  World Jiu-Jitsu Expo, on October 19.

Besides Jackson, the Pro League will feature Otavio Sousa, Paulo Miyao, Claudio Calasans Jr, Yuri Simões, Felipe Pena, Bernardo Faria, Gustavo Pires and Ricardo Evangelista.

For more info, go to ibjjf.com

Gustavo Pires vs. Eduardo Telles

The IBJJF has added Gracie Barra’s Gustavo “Sirizinho” Pires to the roster of the 2014 IBJJF Pro League 3.

The event takes place October 19, at the Long Beach Convention Center, inside of the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo.

Sirizinho should compete in the super-heavy/ultra-heavy division.

Other than him, Otavio Sousa, Paulo Miyao, Claudio Calasans Jr, Yuri Simões, Felipe Pena, Bernardo Faria and Ricardo Evangelista are also confirmed for the IBJJF Pro League #3.

In another piece of news, the IBJJF also opened the registration period for the London Open International Championship, to be held October 18-19.

Hurry and take advantage of the early-bird prices with discount.

For more info and to register, go to ibjjf.com

Gustavo Pires is the black belt champ. Photo: IBJJF

At the Chicago State University the 2014 IBJJF Chicago Spring Open held its first day on March 29 for the gi divisions from blue to black. White belt gi divisions and all no-gi divisions will be held tomorrow.

Christian Uflacker in the super-heavy division. Photo: IBJJF

The big winner at black belt was Gustavo Pires of Gracie Barra who took gold in his heavyweight division as well as the open weight division. Other Gracie Barra winners took gold at black belt including Philipe Della Monica at lightweight and and AJ Agazarm at middleweight. Christian Uflacker of GMA Uflacker Academy, a local to Chicago, took home the gold in the super-heavyweight division.

At brown belt, middleweight David Garmo of Caique Jiu-Jitsu conquered the open weight division with Inacio Neto taking second after achieving gold in the medium-heavyweight division.

Horlando Monteiro won double gold. Photo: IBJJF

Purple belt female Kristen Mikkelson of GMA Brazil 021 won double gold with a match in her lightweight division and winning all of her matches in the open weight division. Male purple belt Edwin Najmi of GMA Gracie Barra Northridge won the adult lightweight division and Horlando Monteiro of Nova Uniao won the middleweight division and the purple belt open weight division.

In the teams competition the results were:

Gi

1 – Carlson Gracie Team – 259
2 – Brasa – 253
3 – Gracie Barra – 166

No-Gi

1 – Brasa – 170
2 – Gracie Barra – 105
3 – Carlson Gracie Team – 60

Check out the full results of day one here.

Check out the full results of day two here

See a full album of photos here.
See Gustavo Pires vs. Sada Kurimori in the heavyweight final: