Pedro Lott and his team during an IBJJF competition in USA. Photo: personal archive

Team Carlson Gracie is assembling, again, a strong competition squad for Jiu-Jitsu tournaments around the world. Currently a resident of Canada, Pedro Lott is a strong arm in this restructuring, and has as his mission, alongside Master Carlson Gracie Jr, the task of providing his athletes with opportunities to train at a high level, travel and compete in the main IBJJF tournaments and, above all, to have a career plan.

Pedro, a black-belt since 2008, spoke of how the roots of team Carlson Gracie — one of the biggest competitive forces of the aughts — remain strong, and how they plan not just to make good athletes, but for them to have solid careers in the sport.

“Master Carlson Gracie Jr. has been restructuring the team in such a way that all of today’s athletes will tomorrow have a future on the team, because competition is a short stage in the life of an athlete,” he said. “Today we’re champions, but tomorrow we have to pay bills, support families, and that’s what’s most important. The preoccupation of our master with these athletes is for them to be able, tomorrow, to live off the sport with dignity.”

The team’s most recent competition was the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Confederation’s (CBJJ) Brazilian Nationals, where it was represented by 126 athletes ranging from blue-belts to black-belts, including Guthierry Barbosa, Matheus Nascimento, Alexandre Molinaro — the team’s black-belts.

“From blue belt to black, we have lots of athletes,” said Pedro. “The names mentioned above, as well as Rerrison Gabriel, Cleison Santos, Yago Oliveira, Filipe Assis, Wesley Teixeira, Maria Raniele, Luiz Eduardo, are some of our athletes in the colored belts. They’ve been making some noise in the recent tournaments. They are students under Profs. Juan Lopes and Douglas Rufino, who are teachers with our team Carlson Gracie. We have other names that are greatly standing out, and you’ll know about them soon.”

Pedro, who leads his own gym on Canada’s West Coast, went on to talk about the challenges the pandemic brought — but also, on a better note, about the strides the sport has been making around those parts.

“BJJ on the West Coast of Canada was evolving at a pretty fast pace in the last seven years, but with this pandemic and the regulations by the Canadian government, things greatly slowed down around here,” he said. “In the last 19 months, our gym was closed for 12 months in total, opening and closing within the period. But the community will go back to growing again, and it has all my support to do so.”

He added: “At our gym, in Canada, we have many students who have been standing out in the masters; we have many IBJJF world champions. There’s a 23-year-old black-belt who won the Orlando Open in his first year as a black-belt, in 2020.

Chayse Diekema, Pedro’s student and Pan champion. Photo: personal archive

“I should mention my student Chayse Diekema, who, in the space of a year and a half, became champion at the European Championship in the blue belt without getting scored on, and in the same year, already wearing the purple belt, was champion at the Pan with a submission in the final. This year, she was runner-up at the No-Gi Pan with an arm that was injured from the quarterfinals on. At the gi Pan, she finished her opponents in all her fights, in an incredible performance. Her mindset in on another level; she’s going to take the brown belt by storm, and in the black belt she’s going to be in the top five of the world, without a doubt.”

Pedro ended the interview by talking about the legacy of the late Carlson Gracie.

“The fact that our team bears the Carlson banner makes our athletes and all our teachers stronger due to knowing that we don’t represent only a team, but rather a legacy that shaped the greatest athletes and representatives of the sport in the world. Carlson Gracie was Jiu-Jitsu’s ‘SWAT team’ for decades. When Jiu-Jitsu needed someone to defend its name and honor, it was Carlson or someone from his team who was there to defend the legacy.”

The ADCC North America Trials took place this Saturday in Coconut Creek, Florida.

The winners of each division secured their spot at the main event, next August, in Brazil.

Here are the winners of each division:

Female

-60kg (-132.2lbs) – Tammi Musumeci

+60kg (+132.2lbs) – Amanda Santana

Male

-65.9kg (- 145.2lbs) – Edward Cummings

-76.9kg (-169.5lbs) – Vagner Rocha

-87.9kg (-193.7lbs) – Mike Perez

-98.9kg (-218.0lbs) – Jason Bukich

+99kg ( +220.5lbs) – Paul Ardila

For more info, go to adccnorthamerica.com.

Today, May 7, is the past day for grapplers who hold an American, Canadian or Mexican passport register for the ADCC North America Trials.

The event is scheduled May 9, in Coconut Creek, Florida.

Winner of each division will get a spot in the ADCC main event in São Paulo, Brazil, on August 28-30.

The North America Trials are the only chance to qualify for the main event if you are a citizen of one of the three North American countries.

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

Watch the highlights of ADCC 2011

If you are interested in watching the action in Florida, there’ll be a live stream available.

The cost is $14,99.

You can order it here: http://bit.ly/TrialsADCC

Garry Tonon vs. Kron Gracie at the 2013 ADCC

Grapplers who hold an American, Canadian or Mexican passport can register for the ADCC North America Trials.

The event is scheduled May 9, in Coconut Creek, Florida.

Winner of each division will get a spot in the ADCC main event in São Paulo, Brazil, on August 28-30.

The North America Trials are the only chance to qualify for the main event if you are a citizen of one of the three North American countries.

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

The U.S. National Pro Jiu-Jitsu Championship has updated the passport requirements for their event on Jan. 11 in Santa Barbara, CA.

Before, you had to present your passport on the day of the tournament but they have loosened the rule and they are now allowing competitors to present their passport within three weeks after the tournament. This is only for those who win the travel package to the Abu Dhabi World Jiu-Jitsu Championship in the UAE.

As a reminder, the only athletes eligible o compete in this tournament but be lawful citizens of North America. The list of countries includes:

Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Canada
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominica
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Grenada
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago
United States

The registration ends tomorrow, Jan. 6!

To learn more about the tournament around the corner and to register, visit www.usprojj.com

A meeting at the 2011 ADCC world event. Photo: GRACIEMAG Archive

The ADCC is a prestigious event that happens only every other year. The participants earn their place through various ways but nonetheless are chosen through processes that deem the best in their category.

The trials for the 2013 event which will take place October 19-20 in Beijing, China were spread out around the world. There were tournaments in Europe, North America, Brazil, Asia, and the Pacific that were all given travel packages and invites to hand out along with the gold medals.

The existing champion of each division earns an automatic invite for the next event and many invitations are sent out for those who the committee deems a top contender. But how do they decide? Does the support from the public help convince them of who should be invited? Does social media have any bearing on the choice of who goes to Beijing?

A member of the ADCC committee spoke to GRACIEMAG about their complicated review process and gave us a list of ways a competitor might find their way to an invitation.

The selection criteria of inviting the competitors is mostly focused on:

• Fighters that have chances to reach the finals (according to skills and experience).
• Fighters that have won a previous ADCC World event.
• Fighters that won other grappling and submission fighting world famous events and are on top of their game.
• Teammates that have already in the past fixed fights or have the potential of fixing fights [or creating gentlemen agreements] which in ADCC is forbidden and is punished with disqualification.
• Famous MMA fighters that can show an amazing skill in the ADCC World event.
• Fighters from different grappling sports like (Judo, Sambo, Wrestling etc.)
• Fighters from different nationalities to keep the wide variety of nations competing, which helps the developing of the sport around the globe.

Plus many other important reasons that ADCC highly considers to retain the quality of the event.

So now that you have a better understanding of what the selection committee is looking for, who do you think is missing from the roster so far?

If you want to compete at the 2013 ADCC World Submission Championship, here is your chance.

The North-American ADCC Trials are scheduled october 14 in San Diego, California.

The event is exclusive for bearers of Canadian or US passports.

Registrations are open and the cost is $80.

Winners of all weight categories are invited to participate in the 2013 ADCC and get a Fuji Kimono.

The female trials will be scheduled soon.

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