Adam Wardzinski. Instagram

Adam Wardzinski has been making noise in the international BJJ scene  with recent triumphs at the Munich and London opens. An athlete of Checkmat, the student under Alan Finfou managed to sweep the German tournament with four gold medals.

And he didn’t get there by displaying ugly BJJ either. His absolute no-gi final vs. Matheus Rodrigues saw Wardzinski work from the guard to end up on top and lasso his opponent’s neck in an inexorable kata-gatame. Enjoy it in this video!

Adam Wardzinski. Foto: Reprodução/Instagram

Destaque no Jiu-Jitsu internacional, com recentes conquistas nos torneios da gringa, Adam Wardzinski está dando o que falar. Atleta da Checkmat, o faixa-preta aluno de Alan Finfou mordeu quatro ouros no Munich Open de Jiu-Jitsu, com vitórias no peso e no absoluto, com e sem kimono.

O destaque, porém, ficou para a bela finalização aplicada sem pano, na final do peso aberto. Em duelo contra Matheus Rodrigues, Adam trabalhou bem na guarda, terminou por cima e laçou o pescoço do adversário para pegar num justo katagatame.

Confira no detalhe a finalização, repare com atenção os movimentos e treine seu estrangulamento com capricho!

Igor Silva brilhou sem kimono mais uma vez. Foto: Arquivos GRACIEMAG

Para aqueles que pensam que golpes acrobáticos no Jiu-Jitsu só funcionam nos pesos mais leves,  o faixa-preta Igor Silva tem um recado.

Em seu duelo no Munich Open Sem Kimono, realizado em fevereiro, na Alemanha, o peso pesadíssimo tirou da cartola um belo armlock voador para finalizar Hassine Azarkan e ficar com o ouro. Após se estudarem em pé, Igor não pensou duas vezes e pulo com tudo na busca do braço, e terminou a disputa com menos de um minuto de combate, com esta bela finalização.

Confira o golpe, estude os movimentos e aplique os detalhes no seu jogo!

Diego Ramalho. Photo: IBJJF

The 2016 Munich Open gathered hundreds of athletes this Sunday, Feb. 21.

Gracie Barra’s Diego Ramalho was the standout of the event with double gold in the black belt open class division.

He won both with and without the gi.

Ramalho also won the medium-heavy division (Gi) and heavyweight (no-gi).

Here are the results for the black belt division:

GI

BLACK / Adult / Male / Rooster

First – Gabriel Alexander Rosberg – Art of Roll

BLACK / Adult / Male / Light Feather

First – Rodnei Barbosa Gabriel Junior – Zenith / PRBJJ

Second – Lucas de Souza Dantas – Nova União

Third – Jordy A. Jean Antoon Peute – Gracie Barra

BLACK / Adult / Male / Feather

First – Jonathan Paul Thomas – Alliance Atlanta

Second – Tsuyoshi Tamaki – Carpe Diem

Third – Daud Adaev – CheckMat

BLACK / Adult / Male / Light

First – Ashley Jordan Williams – Gracie Barra

BLACK / Adult / Male / Middle

First – Vinicius de Castro Nascimento – P360 Academia De Jiu Jitsu

Second – Mladen Jokmanovic – A-Force BJJ Academy International

BLACK / Adult / Male / Medium Heavy

First – Diego Dias Ramalho – Gracie Barra

Second – Marko Jokmanovic – A-Force BJJ Academy International

BLACK / Adult / Male / Heavy

First – Piotr Pawel Wojtkowski – Gracie Barra

BLACK / Adult / Male / Super Heavy

First – Karim Mohamed Ait Khalifa – Alliance International

BLACK / Adult / Male / Open Class

First – Diego Dias Ramalho – Gracie Barra

Second – Vinicius de Castro Nascimento – P360 Academia De Jiu Jitsu

Third – Karim Mohamed Ait Khalifa – Alliance International

Third – Daud Adaev – CheckMat

No-Gi

BLACK / Adult / Male / Feather

First – Daud Adaev – CheckMat

BLACK / Adult / Male / Light

First – Ashley Jordan Williams – Gracie Barra

Second – Marko Jokmanovic – A-Force BJJ Academy International

BLACK / Adult / Male / Heavy

First – Diego Dias Ramalho – Gracie Barra

Second – Mladen Jokmanovic – A-Force BJJ Academy International

BLACK / Adult / Male / Super Heavy

First – Haim Gozali – Renzo Gracie Israel

BLACK / Adult / Male / Open Class

First – Diego Dias Ramalho – Gracie Barra

Second – Vinicius de Castro Nascimento – P360 Academia De Jiu Jitsu

Third – Daud Adaev – CheckMat

Third – Haim Gozali – Renzo Gracie Israel

In the teams’ competition, results were:

GI

1 – Pound for Pound Team – 167

2 – Gracie Barra – 142

3 – Nova União – 129

No-Gi

1 – Gracie Barra – 83

2 – Pound for Pound Team – 40

3 – BJJ Globetrotters – 30

Click here for the full results.

If you are in Europe and love to compete in high level Jiu-Jitsu events, you should book a trip to Munich, Germany, on the weekend of Feb. 21.

The IBJJF will be hosting the 2016 Munich International Open at the TSV Unterhaching – Sportarena.

You have until Feb. 13, this Saturday, to register before the final deadline.

Don’t miss out and join some of Europe’s best competitors in a full day of thrills.

Click here for more info and to register now.

You know that high level Jiu-Jitsu competition is not limited to the European championship, don’t you?

Well, of course it isn’t as the IBJJF already has an extensive calendar in the old continent.

The first stop in 2016 after the European will be in Munich, Germany, on February 21.

This is a special event, as you’ll be able to compete both in gi and no-gi divisions on the same day.

You can also save money if you choose to register for both styles.

The registration deadline for the 2016 Munich Open is February 13.

Click here to know more and sign up now.

The Munich International Open saw so many entries in its previous editions that it first expanded to two events per year, and, this time around, included a no-gi event in addition to the gi divisions from before. With that expansion, fighters from across Europe had the opportunity to take part in two separate competitions in the same day, an opportunity that lead to almost twelve hours of hard-fought competition in Germany.

The no-gi event took place first of all, and the black belt results were as follows:

In the light-featherweight division, Frenchman Julien Gaillard took on Jorge Elias in a back and forth straight final match which was close all the way to the finish. After two sweeps apiece, and with the score 4-4 and tied at 2 advantages, Julien was able to off balance Jorge sufficiently from the bottom with a sweep attempt to score the advantage that gave him the lead and the victory.

At middleweight, Italy’s Luca Anacoreta was victorious, defeating both Ilke Bulut of Icon JJ (traditionally a lightweight, but moving up for the nogi event) and Nic Ruben Nikolaisen of Frontline Academy in Norway.

Middle-heavyweight saw Hungary-based Max Carvalho, representing Gracie Barra, taking the win over Pedro Palhares of Luiz Palhares team in the lone fight of the division. A single sweep was all that separated the two warriors at the end of the match.

Heavyweight saw two Norwegian-based Brazilians face off twice. Felipe ‘Gargamel’ Mota of Roger Gracie took on Renato Tavares of Frontline Academy in what was slated to be a three man division. In their first match up, Felipe was able to secure a finish with stepover ankle lock from the 50/50 guard, advancing through to the final. Unfortunately, the third man in the bracket was nowhere to be found which put Renato straight back into the final and giving him a chance for redemption. However, it was not to be. Although less decisive than the previous encounter, Felipe was able to control the match and eventually earned the win by 7 points to zero, and with it the heavyweight gold medal.

Lightweight Luiz Finocchio and Ultra-heavyweight Attila Banfi were both alone in their respective divisions and took gold before signing up for the open weight to get their opportunity to fight.

Max Carvalho continued his run of form following his middle-heavyweight division victory, going two for two and adding the absolute gold to his tally for the day. His opponent in the final match was Renato Tavares, who rebounded strongly after his tough losses in his division.

Shortly after noon, the nogi divisions began to draw to a close and the bullpen began to fill with eager competitors ready and waiting to try their luck in the gi. Some of those were stepping on the mats for the second time in the day, whilst others had made the choice to focus their efforts on just the one competition, feeling that the kimono was more to their liking.

At light-featherweight, Lucas Dantas of Nova Uniao took first place, defeating two brothers along the way. He overcame first Nicolas and then Julien Gaillard of Toulon BJJ to become champion of his division. Julien defeated Dutchman Jordy Peute in his own semi-final to reach the final.

The featherweight division, empty without the kimono, this time saw three competitors battle it out for gold. The final saw Luiz Tosta of Alliance International, fresh off claiming gold in the nogi masters at featherweight and in the absolute, taking on competitive veteran Gustavo Dantas. Both fighters had defeated Spain’s Sergio Calderon to set up the final, with Luiz finishing with a toehold and Gustavo taking a much closer win by 2 advantages in a slow-paced and tactical matchup. With the score tied at 2-2 and Luiz trailing by a negative point with less than twenty seconds left, Gustavo pulled guard and Luiz dived for his foot, locking in a very tight toehold as the buzzer rang. The fighters were stood up and moved to the center and a single advantage was given to Luiz, putting him in front and giving him the gold medal with literally the last move of the match.

Lightweight was another three-man division, opening with Ilke Bulut of Icon JJ taking on Luiz Finocchio of De Souza Dojo. After a protracted feeling-out process on the feet, Luiz jumped guard and Ilke was eventually able to work past the guard and secure the mount, eventually finishing with a cross-collar choke. This sent Luiz across the bracket to face Oliver Geddes of Roger Gracie Academy. After an early takedown by Luiz and an exchange of sweeps, Oliver was able to lock on a kneebar and finish the fight, advancing to the final. Ilke made the match a short one, passing Oliver’s Guard early and coaxing a quick tap with a wristlock from side control to take the lightweight championship.

Not letting his loss in the no-gi division hold him back, Pedro Palhares was on form in the middleweight gi division. After defeating Spain’s Jordi Lloveras by armbar, he then finished Luca Anacoreta with a gi choke and booked his place in the final opposite Thomas Oyarzun of Switzerland. Thomas had defeated Nic Ruben to earn his own place. Although closer than his previous matches, he was able to score 2 points with a takedown and stay out of danger from that point onwards to take Middleweight gold.

The medium-heavyweight division ended without anyone even needing to step onto the mat. Gracie Barra teammates Julien Cazier of France and Max Carvalho of Hungary decided to close out the two-man division, with the pair agreeing that Max would take the gold medal and move on to the absolute later.

The five man heavyweight division, which had the potential to be action-packed throughout, was also over almost before it had begun. Two competitors failed to show up on one side of the bracket, putting Felipe Mota through to the final unopposed, whilst on the other side Swiss-based Karim Khalifa of Alliance and Renato Tavares faced off, with Karim emerging victorious after 10 minutes of action by a single sweep, despite trailing on advantages. The strain of this match was too much for Karim, who had been suffering from an illness over the previous days and he was unable to continue, forfeiting the final. Thus Felipe took the gold, with Karim taking silver and Renato the bronze.

By this stage of the competition, with many competitors approaching their fourth division of the day, the absolute was understandably sparse. The final consisted of Felipe Mota on one side and Luca Anacoreta on the other, with Felipe having booked his place by defeating Nic Ruben Nikolaisen of Frontline Academy, and Luca defeating Max Carvalho. The final was defined by Felipe’s pressure and control – an early guard pull by the Roger Gracie fighter lead almost immediately to a sweep, and although Luca was able to sweep back, a third sweep put Felipe on top where he remained for the rest of the match, controlling the grips and consistently threatening the pass to remain in the driving seat for the last minutes. As time ran out, the score stood at 4-2, and Felipe had earned his third gold medal of the day.

Despite travelling all the way from Denmark for the competition, Checkmat’s Shanti Abelha was unable to find an opponent in the black belt divisions at either her weight or the absolute, instead occupying herself as a referee and adding two medals to her collection for both her weight class and the absolute divisions.

You have until this Friday, Feb. 21 to register to compete at the 2015 Munich Winter Open.

The event takes place next March 1st, so you still have time to book your flight (or train, or drive) and hotel to have a lovely weekend in Munich.

Here are five great reasons to do it!

Earn Your Spot At The Black Belt Worlds – The 2015 Worlds will be the first edition of the championship where a minimum number of ranking points are required for you to compete. Entrants will need 50 ranking points, and a gold at the Munich Open would earn you 27 of those – already over half way there!

Help Your Team Secure A Coveted Team Trophy – With representatives from many teams already attending, the team championships are likely to be hotly disputed. If your local academy is attending, help support your training partners and your instructor by signing up. Perhaps the medal that you win could be the one that pushes your academy into first place!

Compete in Gi & No-Gi On The Same Day – It’s not very often that you get the opportunity to have a lazy Saturday relaxing and then spend your Sunday winning four gold medals across your weight and the absolute. You can at the Munich Open! Only one early start required, and you get the chance to show your skills both with and without the kimono. You can’t ask for more than that.

Explore A Beautiful City – If you want to make a weekend of it, flights are relatively cheap and you can easily spend a Saturday exploring a city that is noted for its food, beers and beautiful sights – although you should probably save the beer until after you compete!

Watch Some Excellent Matches – The adult black belt divisions are sure to see a lot of high quality action, with names such as Max Carvalho, Ilke Bulut, Luca Anacoreta and Gustavo Dantas already registered. As well as the divisions, there will also be a long line of black belts looking to secure the open class titles later in the day. Also, since this is Gi and No-Gi on the same day, you will get to see these high-level competitors fight -twice-!

Convinced? Click here and register now!

In the final match, Luca faced the dangerous guard of English Oliver Geddes (Roger Gracie Academy) but did very well: the Italian submitted with a foot lock.

“I already knew that Oliver was a finisher and does not give much importance to the points in the match. Thus, I carefully protected my feet and my knees, since he is very good in these submissions from the waist down. I was struggling but when I saw the possibility, I counter-attacked and Oliver tapped.” Luca commented in conversation with GRACIEMAG.com.

To see all the champions, visit the IBJJF here.

The following is the battle between Luca and Oliver in the absolute final:

Ida Hansson in action in Munich Photo: IBJJF

The Saturday was all about Jiu-Jitsu in Munich, Germany.

The 2014 Munich International Open gathered hundreds of athletes at the EVS Munchen gymnasium.

In the adult male black belt division, the highest glory went to Cicero Costha’s Mauricio Lima, winner of the open class and the ultraheavy division.

The biggest name among women was Sweden’s Ida Hansonn, winner of both the medium-heavy and open class division.

In the teams competition, Gracie Barra topped the podium as the you can below.

1 – Gracie Barra – 190
2 – Pound for Pound Team – 113
3 – Icon Jiu-Jitsu Team – 83

The Munich Open had an unprecedented female refereeing quartet

In the other black belt divisions, the results were:

BLACK / Adult / Male / Light Feather
First – Edvaldo da Mota Ferreira – Academy Caveirinha
Second – Baruc Martin Barrios – Icon Jiu-Jitsu Team

BLACK / Adult / Male / Feather
First – Gabriel Marangoni de Oliveira – Zenith BJJ
Second – Carlos Eduardo de Almeida Goncalves – BJJ Revolution Team – International
Third – Julien Robin Gaillard – Toulon JJB
Third – David Gustav German Lejenäs – Hilti BJJ Stockholm

BLACK / Adult / Male / Light
First – Paulo Henrique Alves da Silva – Zenith BJJ
Second – Oliver Leys Geddes – Roger Gracie
Third – Cristofer Martin Barrios – Icon Jiu-Jitsu Team
Third – Felipe Thiago Pereira da Silva – Carlson Gracie International

BLACK / Adult / Male / Middle
First – Gareth Edwin Neale – Gracie Barra
Second – Philipy Jose Clarindo Gaspar – Gracie Barra JJ
Third – Matthew James Callaghan – Gracie Barra Europe

BLACK / Adult / Male / Medium Heavy
First – Julien Cazier – Gracie Barra
Second – Maximiliano de Figueredo Carvalho – Gracie Barra

BLACK / Adult / Male / HeavyFirst – Johannes Wieth – Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu International
Second – Samuel Monin – Gracie Barra

BLACK / Adult / Male / Super Heavy
First – Michal Bittner – Clube de Jiu-Jitsu Pitbull Czech Republic

BLACK / Adult / Male / Ultra Heavy
First – Mauricio Henrique Cristo Lima – PSLPB Cicero Costha

BLACK / Adult / Male / Open Class
First – Mauricio Henrique Cristo Lima – PSLPB Cicero Costha
Second – Maximiliano de Figueredo Carvalho – Gracie Barra
Third – Michal Bittner – Clube de Jiu-Jitsu Pitbull Czech Republic
Third – Gabriel Marangoni de Oliveira – Zenith BJJ

BLACK / Adult / Female / Middle
First – Shanti A. D. Abelha – CheckMat
Second – Rita de Cássia Jovel – Gracie Barra

BLACK / Adult / Female / Medium Heavy
First – Ida Josefin Hansson – CheckMat
Second – Gretchen Dawn Zoeller – Gracie Barra

BLACK / Adult / Female / Open Class
First – Ida Josefin Hansson – CheckMat
Second – Shanti A. D. Abelha – CheckMat
Third – Rita de Cássia Jovel – Gracie Barra
Third – Gretchen Dawn Zoeller – Gracie Barra

For the full results, go to ibjjf.com.

The IBJJF reminds everyone that the registration period for the 2014 Munich Open closes this February 21.

If you are thinking of competing in Germany, hurry and secure your spot right away.

The IBJJF also reminds black belts in the adult division that the points earned in Munich will count to qualify for the 2015 Worlds, under the new qualifying rules set by the entity.

Read more about the new rules here.

Click here and register now to compete in Munich.

It was the first major IBJJF event in the country.

The final was against  Max Carvalho (Gracie Barra). See how it went down: