Sean Roberts with his mentor, Ralph Gracie. Photo: Personal Archive

GMA members from Ralph Gracie Chino Hills, Rocha Jiu-Jitsu and Crispim BJJ are set for superfights in a new submission-only event.

Sean Roberts, who currently lives and trains at the Ralph Gracie headquarters in San Francisco, is a representative of his home school in Chino Hills and will be attending the Kurt Osiander Finisher Series first event on August 10 for a superfight. He received his black belt right before the 2013 Pan American Championship and will be going against an opponent who received his black belt from GMA member Eduardo Rocha in 2010.

All superfights are specific to whether they are gi or no-gi, Sean’s will be in the gi but he is currently looking for an opponent for another superfight in the event. The rules vary from other events as they do have a time limit, fifteen minutes. This way, the competitors are forced to really look for the submission and not focus on the points at all.

Other superfight match-ups include brown belt Mark Tse under Eduardo Rocha who will be going in a gi match against Crispim BJJ’s Kola Ajose. Another Crispim BJJ student in a match-up is Brooke Goldsworthy who is currently looking for an opponent in a gi match.

Alongside the superfights is a round-robin structured tournament that has 5-6 minute matches and submission-only format. Should the match end in no submission, a ref will determine the more aggressive athlete. Divisions are bracketed in pools like the Copa Podio and the competitor who gains the most submission/decision wins the group will advance to match-up against winners of the other groups in the division.

Submission-only tournaments are surfacing with points and advantages remaining for the most prestigious tournaments like Worlds and Pan-Ams. Is this the future of sport Jiu-Jitsu?

Tijuca Tenis Clube welcomes Rio Open, Master & Senior

This past weekend the IBJJF International Masters and Seniors Championship ran alongside the Rio Open to give the 30+ crowd its wo shining glory. Located in the Tijuca Tennis Club the four-day event catered to legends and novice competitors alike from white to black, master to senior 4 categories.

Two of GMA members traveled to the tournament and accomplished three medals.

Black belt senior 4 competitor Itabora Ferreira took home the gold in the middleweight category representing the Alliance banner. His team back home in San Francisco serves as the Alliance headquarters in Northern California. A cancer survivor, Itabora lives a fulfilled life of teaching and also proving his skills on the mat whenever he can.

Amal Easton was also present at the championship and he placed first in his senior 2 heavyweight division as well as second in the absolute. A Renzo Gracie black belt fighting under Gordo Jiu-Jitsu, he heads Easton BJJ academies in Boulder and Denver, Colorado.

Learn more about their academies and more in our GMA directory here.

“I’m going to take his belt on August 7, and Dana White will fire him on the 8^th” began the fighter.

Chael Sonnen in a photo by Josh Hedges

“I’m sure of it, since I’ve beaten all the champions in every competition I’ve been in. I’ve been calling him out for four years. He beat a math teacher (Rich Franklin), a one-legged Canadian (Patrick Cote) and he always avoided me. I know he’s going to be the toughest guy I’ve ever fought,” he continued.

Sonnen further mentioned that Anderson has several records and titles, but that he was booed in all his latest fights and sponsors want nothing to do with the Brazilian. At the press-conference he also said that he loved promoting this fight.

The bout is set for the coming 7^th of August, in Oakland, California. UFC 117 also features another four fights pitting Brazilian against American fighters.

Collaborator: Junior Samurai

Sonnen (in white) won't have an easy task. Photo: Josh Hedges

The Ultimate Fighting Championship confirmed the date and location for two more installments of the event. On August 1^st the second UFC on Versus event takes place in Salt Lake City. However, what’s of greater interest to the public is the one that follows shortly thereafter, UFC 117, on the 7^th.

According to MMAJunkie.com, Anderson Silva will defend his middleweight belt yet again on this date. His opponent this time is Chael Sonnen, who is coming off a win over Nate Marquardt and is responsible for the lone blemish on Paulo Filho’s MMA record.

UFC 117 is set to take place in Oakland, California. Besides Anderson vs Sonnen, no other bouts were mentioned.

But stay tuned to GRACIEMAG.com for more news.