O campeonato All Star 2 reuniu a comunidade do Jiu-Jitsu em Santa Cruz, na Califórnia, no último fim de semana. Os dois dias do torneio de Claudio França foram de muita ação, boa técnica e emoção até os últimos segundos.

Se você não estava no evento, o competente produtor Daniel Carettoni preparou este vídeo com seus principais destaques.

Check it out the All Star 2 highlights video

The All Star 2 Tournament gathered the Jiu-Jitsu community in Santa Cruz, Calif. this last weekend, and for or two days gentle art aficionados were thrilled with the display of heart and technique.

Even if you missed all that, Daniel Carettoni prepared this video with the event’s highlights.

Check it out!

All Stars Brazilian Jiu Jitsu 2013 from Daniel Carettoni on Vimeo.

Nathan Mendelsohn on his way to pass Rice’s guard

Protagonist of the most thrilling moment of last Sunday’s All Star 2 Jiu-Jitsu Tournament in Santa Cruz, Nathan Mendelsohn talks exclusively to GRACIEMAG about the last seconds guard pass over Tanner Rice and also reveals bold goals for his career as a black belt.

Watch our exclusive interview in the player below.

Nathan Mendelsohn checks if the three points are in the scoreboard

Nathan Mendelsohn was behind in the scoreboard by one advantage against Tanner Rice. It was the only fight of the black belt adult middleweight division of the All Star 2 Jiu-Jitsu Tournament, in Santa Cruz, Calif.

Rice had one advantage for a nearly sweep after pulling guard.

Playing on top all the time, Mendelsohn tried to pass the whole match, but had no luck in it.

“I thought I was ahead on advantages for the near guard passes, but when I looked up I saw I was going to lose,” he confessed.

A local talent training under black belt Claudio França, Mendelsohn had all the support he needed from the crowd.

“It was great to compete in Santa Cruz again!” he said “It was my first competition as a black belt and I’m glad it was here, a place that brings so maany good memories to me.”

Back to the match, there were less than 60 seconds left on the clock when he looked up. It was time for one last try and he went for it.

“I know his guard is really good, as we have fought five times now and it’s 3-2 for me,” he said, “but I had all the confidence I needed in my passing technique.”

The confidence paid off and the last try was the charm.

Finally, Mendelsohn managed to overcome the dangerous rubber-guard that Rice plays.

The crowd went nuts as Nathan held on until he saw the ref raising his hands with three fingers out.

Soon after, the buzzer sounded and it was all over.

After the victory, he already made big plans for his life as a black belt:

“Now I want to go out and win everything,” he exclaimed. “People say it’s gonna be hard and that in the first year you have to start in the smaller tournaments, but I’m not gonna put myself in that mindset. I want to win Pan and Worlds in my first year.”

Also in the black belt adult division, Osvaldo Moizinho had no problems to tap out Steven Cocos with a choke with the lapel.

As it was meant to be, only Rice signed up for the absolute and there were no fights there, saving the spot of “Moment of the Weekend” for Medelsohn’s guard pass.

All Star 2’s creator and organizer, Claudio França, already invited all for his next big event, The American Cup, scheduled next April 20-21, in San Jose, Calif.

Check out the complete results at allstartournament.com.

For GRACIEMAG’S full coverage, go to GOOGLE+.

The team results were as follows:

ADULT MALE

COALITION 95 – 90pts

CAIO TERRA JJ – 53pts

KAIJIN BJJ – 31pts

FEMALE

PARAGON BJJ – 21pts

CAIO TERRA JJ – 18pts

PENINSULA BJJ – 12pts

MASTER/SENIOR

COALITION 95 – 117pts

BAY JJ – 30pts

CAIO TERRA BJJ – 28pts

JUVENIL

ALLIANCE – 9pts

ONE WORLD – 9pts

COALITION 95 – 6pts

Here’s a exclusive photo gallery of All Star 2 this Sunday:

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Manny Diaz dominated the brown belt!

FOLLOW THE ALL STAR FULL AND LIVE COVERAGE HERE.

The first day of the All Star #2 Jiu-Jitsu Tournament went by without hicups.

The event hosted by Caludio França with IBJJF’s Alvaro Mansor as referee director followed the schedule to the letter, allowing the 380 competitors to get the most out of it.

First the kids took over the mats and displayed the usual intensity and devotion to the gentle art.

Children and teens from 4 to 15 years old put on a great show for nail-biting parents and anxious professors.

After all the thrills, the final teams kids results were as follows:

1st – Coalition 95 – 113 pts
2nd – Rice Brothers – 50 pts
3rd – Guerrilla – 46 pts
4th – Bay JJ – 46 pts
5th – Amazonas BJJ – 31 pts

Then it was time for the adults, beginning with the blue belts.

A lot of stories unfolded on the four mats set at the Civic Auditorium of Santa Cruz.

For instance, do you remember the Baywatch carachter Hobie Buchannon? He is now a Marcus Vinicius’blue belt in Beverly Hills.

In Santa Cruz, actor Jeremy Jackson conquered the middle-heavyweight master division and also ventured in the absolute, losing to a much heavier Jason Gustus.

The day ended with the definition of two absolute champions.

Luke Pollard became the blue belt open class male champion. He also won the ultra-heavy division. In the absolute, Pollard fought four times and submitted three opponents. The final was against Casey Rubinoff, defeated him with an armbar. Luke has train in Jiu-Jitsu for three and a half years at Kaijin BJJ.

Manuel “Manny” Diaz was the brown belt absolute champion. In the final match he choked Keith Fukumai from the mount. Diaz, who trained with Caio Terra for a year and a half and has trained for four years, tapped out two out of his three opponents in the open class. In his division, the ultraheavy, he also tapped his two opponents.

The action continues Sunday, when the black belts enter the stage.

As usual, follow GRACIEMAG’s up to the minute coverage at Google+.

Here are some of the best pictures of the day of action in Santa Cruz

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Pamela Anderson's castmate Jeremy Jackson will be diving into gentle art competition head first. Publicity photo.

The Jiu-Jitsu Challenge has been issued and is underway, with onetime “Baywatch” star Jeremy Jackson leading his newly formed crew in getting their feet wet in gentle art competition .

And they’ll be diving in head first: With no prior experience but determination a-plenty, Jackson, his fiancee, Loni Willison, and the rest of the troop will take on the American Cup Jiu-Jitsu tournament in just three months’ time, showing how there’s no better way to face one’s fears than through Jiu-Jitsu.

Still only just starting out in their preparations for gi-clad combat, the initiative has already inspired others across the United States to follow suit.

Registration for April 28-29 American Cup, in San Jose, California, is already open at americancupbjj.com. Sign up for a chance to test your mettle and get to rub elbows with celebrities, to boot.

Check out the latest chapter of the Jiu-Jitsu Challenge:

Baywatch cast, Jeremy Jackson on far left / Publicity photo

Rickson Gracie used to say that Jiu-Jitsu is a vast ocean, so you’d better try and be a shark, even against opponents who hardly know how to swim. Or something like that.

So the actor Jeremy Jackson, once on the hit TV show “Baywatch,” took up the challenge of diving into this ocean by signing up for the 5th installment of the April 28-29 Claudio França-promoted American Cup  in San Jose, California, and he got two cronies to join him, with no gentle art experience and just 90 days to prepare.

To find out more, click here.