Hugo Marques after winning the under-76kg final. Spyder Invitational

To kick off its 2018 season, last Saturday the Spyder Invitational BJJ Championship held a tournament in Seoul, South Korea. The tournament was a qualifier for the main show, which will take place in July.

In the over-76kg division, Kaynã Duarte was the big winner. The Atos fighter placed first, followed by Vinícius Ferreira (Alliance) and Victor Hugo (Ribeiro JJ).

In the under-76kg division, black-belt Hugo Marques represented Soul Fighters in style to take first place. Due to Spyder’s unique set of rules, which pits athletes of different ranks against each other, purple-belt Victor Nithael took second, showing that he is another one of Rodrigo Feijão’s students at Nova União to watch. The third-place finisher was Atos brown-belt Jonnathas Gracie.

With these six athletes, the two brackets for the July event are now complete. The qualifiers will be joining last year’s champions, as well as the invitees. Here’s how the divisions look:

Under 76kg
Shane Hill Taylor (Team Lloyd Irvin)
Wanki Chae (Beast Gym)
Paulo Miyao (Unity Jiu-Jitsu)
Hugo Marques (Soul Fighters)
Victor Nithael (Nova Uniao)
Jonnatas Gracie (Atos Jiu-Jitsu)

Over 76kg
Matheus Godoy (Alliance)
Rudson Mateus (Caio Terra Academy)
Keenan Cornelius (Atos Jiu-Jitsu)
Kaynan Duarte (AtosS Jiu-Jitsu)
Vinicius Ferreira (Alliance)
Victor Hugo (Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu)

Check back with Graciemag for coverage of the Spyder Intivational, and click the video below to watch the qualifier matches.

By Jeff W. Rosser

On Sunday, June 3, 2012, the Gwangjin Residents Sports Center in Seoul, South Korea, was the site of the 6th Motorone Open Jiu-Jitsu Championship hosted by John Frankl Jiu-Jitsu. This competition, which is held semi-annually, is one of the biggest Jiu-Jitsu competitions in Seoul. This time, the competition featured over 180 competitors from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as well as practitioners of other styles of Jiu-Jitsu, judo, sambo, and hapkido. Competitors competed in both gi and no-gi divisions. All matches were carried out under Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition-style rules. The majority of competitors in this competition were white, blue, or purple belts in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in South Korea is still fairly new but is quickly growing and becoming popular. In a land dominated by taekwondo and judo, there is little room for other outside martial arts to come in and gain a foothold but Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu seems to be doing just that.

John Frankl, an American and third-degree black belt in BJJ, studied Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Rickson Gracie and Roberto Maia. Aside from organizing this event, Frankl was also in attendance to watch and support the many competitors from the John Frankl Jiu-Jitsu Competition Team and many of his affiliated schools.

The following are the gold medal winners from this competition:

No-Gi Division Champions:

-62kg Gold Medalist: Jo Jun-yong
-68kg Gold Medalist: Jeong Yun-ho
-74kg Gold Medalist: Jeong Do-yeong
-80kg Gold Medalist: Jang Guk-jin
-86kg Gold Medalist: Seo Hyeong-jun
-92kg Gold Medalist: An Hyeon-jun

White Belt Division:

-57.5kg Gold Medalist: Song Ha-jin
-64kg Gold Medalist: Jo Jun-yong
-70kg Gold Medalist: Lee Su-min
-76kg Gold Medalist: Park Jae-hyeon
-82.3kg Gold Medalist: Ryu Gyeong-gwan
-88kg Gold Medalist: Gang Mun-su
-94kg Gold Medalist: Go Byeong-jin
– 94kg Gold Medalist: Kim Yong-u

Blue Belt Division:

-64kg Gold Medalist: Lee Ba-reum
-70kg Gold Medalist: Kim Min-u
-76kg Gold Medalist: Sin Hae-su
-82.3kg Gold Medalist: Gil Hyeon-gwon

Purple Belt Division:

-70kg Gold Medalist: Chae Wan-gi
-76kg Gold Medalist: Jeong Do-yeong

He ended up taking it out on Jeremy Horn, and after this fight Anderson and world MMA would never again be the same.