Mark Zuckerberg made his Jiu-Jitsu debut at the Californian BJJTour event. Photo: BJJ Tour Social Media/Instagram

Professor Claudio França invites you to another tournament to bring together the Californian people of Jiu-Jitsu. The home base for the BJJ Tour will be in delightful Santa Cruz, California.

Organized by the same team as the traditional US Open, the BJJ Tour – Santa Cruz Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Tournament will be Saturday, September 9, 2023. The tournament will be held at the Kaiser Permanente Arena – 140 Front St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060.

All Age Divisions from Kids – Masters, and all belt ranks are welcome to compete.

Medals will be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in each division. Every registered competitor will receive a complimentary tournament T-shirt. Also, all registered kids competitors will receive a medal.

To register and maybe meet fighters like Mark Zuckerberg and other stars, click here.

BJJ Tour Santa Cruz

Photo: Milena Maldonado

As a brown-belt, in 2019, Jéssica Caroline had her best moment when she topped off a strong phase with titles in the IBJJF’s Pan and World Championship in Long Beach, California.

The two medals resulted in Jéssica, 27, being promoted black-belt atop the podium of the last Worlds, prior to the pandemic. Since then, the Alessandro Nunes-trained athlete won the South American and the Rio Open, and placed second in the Brazilian Nationals—all three events held by IBJJF/CBJJ in Brazil.

“In 2019 it was an incredible experience; I was really well prepared, I felt really good in all the fights I had, thus winning the title of champion,” she said. “This year I’m feeling great too, focused and training a lot… I’m going to give it my maximum to bring this title home again, now in the black belt.”

Asked about the state of the roosterweight division, the PAX Academy athlete added: “My category is quite interesting! There are some girls I’ve never fought, all at a high level. I’m anxious and excited! I want it to come soon, because it’s going to be a war.

“I’m prepared and confident; my training sessions have been difficult, and that makes me confident. Nothing can be harder than my training.”

A black-belt since September 2019, Jéssica also spoke of what she thinks it takes to win the World Championship, which is set to start on December 9 in Anaheim, California.

“It’s impossible for you to have success at the Worlds without having the discipline to train right and eat well,” she said. “That’s the work I’ve been doing in the course of all these years. I have a training routine, and discipline to do what’s right and say no to the distractions. When it’s fight time, I also like to see each fight as final, and, in my mind, the person who dictates the pace of the fight is me. That’s the path I’ll follow to become world champion!”

Check out below one of Jéssica’s fights from the 2019 Worlds in California.

Photo: Personal Archive

At 23 years of age, Jeferson Guaresi is one of the strongest athletes from the new generation of Jiu-Jitsu. The black-belt from Unity Jiu-Jitsu proved he deserves this distinction as he won the IBJJF’s World Championship and No-Gi Pan in the last two months. These are medals at the highest level of the sport, especially in the black belt division.

With just two years of experience as a black-belt — a promotion given to him by Murilo Santana — Jeferson has accumulated 29 wins, nine of which were by submission. At the No-Gi Worlds, for example, he won four matches and scored two submissions against Rodrigo Lopes and Joseph Watson. In the medium heavy final, Jeferson played the strategist to beat Pedro Rocha, a fighter known for his guillotines. Jeferson spoke about his performance in a recent interview.

“The final was an interesting fight, because my opponent only had one move about which I had to worry,” he said. “It was a fight where I had to be very focused on not losing my concentration, but I knew my jiu-jitsu is up to date. It just came down to not messing up, and I’d walk away with the win. That was when I scored two points right away and then managed my advantage.”

Jeferson is an avid competitor who has won more than 100 medals in national and international tournaments — including gold at the IBJJF’s No-Gi Pan, No-Gi Worlds and European Championship — in the past eleven years, the time he has been practicing jiu-jitsu. He shared some thoughts on this journey:

“My goal in jiu-jitsu has never been just to be world champion; that’s a consequence of my training. In the course of this time, my goal is to help all who are parts of the sport. I want to make the sport grow more and more, and I want to help people achieve their goals. I want the practitioners of jiu-jitsu to be good people to society too. I’m greatly inspired by my master, Murilo Santana, who is a big influence on what I’ve become today. Rafael Godoi, my first teacher, is also an important part in my education as an athlete.”

Jeferson is considered by many to be the originator of the “thrown by” guard pass — a move that has earned him multiple gold medals in different competitions, including at the No-Gi Pan. Here’s a pioneer’s perspective on how the guard pass works:

“It’s important that you know how to create space to position yourself when it’s time to move. The guard pass I do is intricate and requires perfect timing and form; the secret is in the positioning of the hip and knee, responsible for preventing the guard player’s returning with the leg to defend. Then, I use one of my hands to control my opponent’s hip and advance my entire body to win the three points.”

To see how it works, check out Jeferson’s step-by-step tutorial in the following images.

Photo: Personal Archive

Women’s jiu-jitsu has been growing fast, and one effect of this is noticeable in IBJJF events. From the blue belt up to the brown – where Thamires Monteiro competes – women are more professional and standing out more.

A few weeks ago, Thamires shone at the 2021 Pan, held in Orlando, Florida. The young Checkmat star defeated three opponents to bag the gold medal in the lightweight division. In the final, she scored ten points on Joanna Christine (Tac Team BJJ).

“I did three fights in the division; no points or advantages were scored against me in the course of the competition,” Thamires said in a recent interview. “I was able to put my whole game into action. I was one step ahead of the other girls.”

She trains at Checkmat La Habra, in California, alongside her husband, the black-belt Jackson Douglas. The 23-year-old Thamires dreams of becoming a strong black-belt. She trains under Lucas Leite, who is charged with shaping her way of fighting. At the Pan, for example, her way of conducting matches was quite clear – always scoring as much as possible until reaching a submission.

“The training is fully focused on competition: specific training and brawling,” she said with a laugh. “I love guard-passing; it’s my favorite game! But it’s been a while since I started challenging myself on the bottom, and it’s going well… I confess I even like it!”

Thamires then shared some thoughts on the growth of women’s BJJ: “I believe we’re on the right path to gaining our due recognition, but changes take time. Each passing year, the quantity of girls in competitions goes up, which really helps bring visibility to women’s BJJ. Big events like Fight to Win, BJJ Stars, BJJ Bet are including girls in their events. Of course it’s still one or two women’s fights to a card with five men’s fights, but it’s getting better. The more women we have in the competitive jiu-jitsu scene, the more visibility we’ll have and, consequently, the more opportunities. I hope.”

In the course of her career, Thamires has won gold medals in the American Nationals (weight and absolute), Brazilians Nationals and Pan.