The IBJJF was forced to cancel the upcoming Seoul Open, scheduled next July 18.

The cancellation was due to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus outbreak in South Korea.

The entity released an statement regarding the matter:

“Due to the MERS virus outbreak in South Korea, the gymnasium booked for the event has sent us a letter stating that they were forced to cancel our event in order to prevent the virus from being spread. In accordance to the gymnasium policy, the critical outbreak news and after having contacted the local BJJ community, IBJJF has decided that the best thing to do right now is to cancel the event temporarily. IBJJF hopes the best for the South Korean population and for the situation to stabilize soon. The organization plans to follow up the safety conditions and the possibility to have another event in South Korea very soon. If you have any questions, please email IBJJF at ibjjf@ibjjf.com.”

For the BJJ community in Asia, the 2015 Asian International Open, scheduled September 12-13, in Tokyo, Japan, is unchanged.

For more info, go to ibjjf.com

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

IBJJF rule course in Helsinki.

November has been an important month for IBJJF and Jiu-Jitsu.

The sport governing body expanded and published rules of Jiu-Jitsu on three different continents, through the hands of ambassadors and refs.

IBJJF technical director and referee director, Alvaro Mansor taught the rules and regulations of the Jiu-Jitsu in Melbourne, Australia, while the referee and our GMA, André Terêncio, traveled to South Korea, where he taught during course of arbitration, and coordinated the referees in a competition there.

Received by Seung-jae Marc Lee, president of the local confederation, André was honored at the event in Seoul. “It was an incredible opportunity. I saw a movie in my mind, I remembered of my childhood, where I came from, who I am. I thought of my family and how they are proud of me today. I thank all the IBJJF for their incredible work, a team of which I am proud to be part”, he commented for GRACIEMAG.com.

Terêncio receives honor in Korea: ambassadors of Jiu-Jitsu.

Muzio de Angelis, in turn, took his knowledge of arbitrage to Helsinki, Finland. One of the main IBJJF referees, Muzio led activities and was also the observer of the entity during the BJJ Finnish Open 2011, that happened on November 19 and 20.

“The course about rules in Finland exceeded my expectations, there were a lot of people who cares for Jiu-Jitsu. The Finnish are very interested, and like the Polish, are some of the thougest Europeans in the sport. It was gratifying, and the IBJJF idea is really disclose the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu around the world, “said Muzio.

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