Xande Ribeiro taking the back. Photo: Ivan Trindade

This year the annual World Championship is holding its 18th event. The first year of the championship was held in 1996, a year after the first Pan American Championship. The location was set at the famous Tijuca Tênis Clube gymnasium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where it resided until moving to California in 2007. This year the event will be held at the same location, the Long Beach Pyramid from  May 29 to June 2.

In honor of the 18th year, we’ve gathered 18 reasons for you to join us whether you’re a competitor yourself, a non-competing practitioner, a big fan of the sport, a supportive family member or a complete newbie. Every day we will post a new reason.

To kick it off, we give you the first:

See and learn from the best all in one place!

The most obvious motivation for following the Mundials is so you can learn from the best in the business. The black belts prepare for this tournament every year by going back to training right after it ends in order to focus on the next one. All year-round athletes, even at lower belts, dedicate their lives to training, preparing and competition with the largest goal in mind– the world champion title. By watching the matches you can see some of the most basic to the most advanced or most unique or most common moves and their application.

Check out this article for examples of moves we’ve pointed out in recent matches around the world.

When we watch Jiu-Jitsu we can recognize positions we’ve learned and see them used in ways we may not have seen before. The fact that you already understand a position can allow you to learn slight details or transitional opportunities without having to be taught the technique. By being present at the World Championships it will allow you to see how champions handle themselves, how they warm-up, how they choose their moves wisely and even mistakes that you can learn not to make.

See a choke from the back that Xande Ribeiro successfully used in competition. Then watch the next video to see it taught inside of his GMA academy.

Now that you are motivated, hurry and register to compete in the 2013 World Championship and click here.

Ricardo Evangelista, sweeper from GFTeam. Photo: Rafael Carvalho/GRACIEMAG

Ricardo Evangelista was just one fight away from a perfect performance at the Brazilian National. But not even the defeat to Rafael Lovato Jr. in the black belt absolute final takes the mood away from the GFTeam athlete.

“It was good, a lot of people must have been surprised with my performance in the competition, huh,” laughs the black belt. “In the absolute final, I thought about submitting quickly, that’s what I did wrong,” he acknowledges.

Evangelista talked about the lessons learned in Barueri, analyzed the strategy used to beat Rodrigo Cavaca in the final of the ultra heavy division, and also taught us one of his favorite positions — useful for light and heavy guys. Check it out:

GRACIEMAG: How do you feel about your performance at the Brazilian National this year? Are you happy or upset?

RICARDO EVANGELISTA: I really enjoyed my performance, and many people must have been amazed and surprised with it (laughs)! I tried to fight forward and play my game. Today I managed to use a more aggressive game, but what made the difference was the heart and will. People don’t know, but today I teach in five different places and have to adapt my training and physical preparation in between. It is not easy to do it all the time, but I got the title.

Let’s talk about the ultra heavy gold first, the fight that came before the open final. What did you do there?

I’m a big fan of Cavaca and when the fight was over I talked to him. I went to fight with a strategy, in case he pulled guard first, but I managed to close the guard first and started ahead. I managed to sweep from the closed guard twice. It was an honor to have fought him. I felt very comfortable when I closed the guard and the victory began there. In the end, he scared me when he went for the foot lock, but those were the final seconds and I could resist. I think Cavaca is very flexible. With all that size, I couldn’t mount, and we got into a battle of mounting attempts and defense.

And the absolute final with Lovato. You almost passed, tried to get the back, but in the end you tapped out. Did you make any mistakes?

Lovato came from a long distance and took our medal, but it was deserved. He had a superb championship performance and every one of us would be congratulated. Unfortunately I lost. I think it was a very long time since I fought so many matches. Starting at the weight semifinal I felt my muscles fatigued. I had opportunities during the fight and thought about submitting soon — that’s what I did wrong. He knew how to use the strategy and play his game at the exact moment that I made a mistake. He deserves congratulations for the title.

Would you do anything differently?

I’ll try to make fewer mistakes and prepare myself better. When we meet again, it will be different. I’ll be better prepared physically and will push my pace of the fight, as I did at the beginning of this one. The lesson is: “No matter how many times you’ve been put to the test, believe in yourself.”

Tell us more about your sweeps. What is your favorite that is useful to our readers?

What I like to do, and my students in Rio like it too, is the “balloon sweep.” I could only do it once during the tournament, but it is always useful. I call it the “six-points sweep” (laughs) because you sweep and mount.

Video in Portuguese

There are not many people who willingly allow Renzo Gracie, Jiu-Jitsu and MMA legend, to put his hands on them. This guy in the video below, however, wanted to feel the wrath of the Mata Leao choke first hand by someone who has roots in its origin.

Watch this brave man act as a dummy for Renzo Gracie’s lesson on the rear naked choke. As he goes to sleep, note Renzo’s walk-through as he describes what happens after holding the choke long enough, without even seeing the guy’s face. But we can see his face and it’s pretty entertaining, don’t you think?

As Renzo says, “Kids, don’t do that at home, eh?”