Willcox going for omoplata / Photo: Carlos Ozório

At the Rio de Janeiro leg of tryouts for the World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship this past weekend, Gabriel Willcox captured a berth for himself at the main show in Abu Dhabi. The black belt beat five opponents in qualifying, so one could say the training he’s been doing under submissions aces like Ricardo de la Riva and Felipe Costa its effect.

FORMULA FOR YOUTHFUL TRAINING

Always at the top of the heap at the International Masters—a tournament where the featherweight has even won the absolute—, the 35-year-old Willcox is still giving the young bucks more than their fair share to chew on. By the time he compete’s at the main event in Abu Dhabi he’ll be 36. Now to put on a show for the Sheikh, Gabriel will carry on with the formula for youth that’s got him thus far. In fact, he plans to stick with it for a while yet, to keep him going strong into his 40s. Here’s his secret to prolonged youth, as he explains in Portuguese in the video below:

“To keep fighting into your later years you have to do good physical conditioning. The secret is to lead a healthy life, eat well, rest well, train hard. These days I train a lot more correctly than I used to. I feel experience counts for a lot. I used to do a lot of wild stuff. These days I train properly; I feel a lot better at 36 than I did at 16.

I’ll keep at it for as long as I can keep it up in the adult division; I’ll be in there till I’m 40.”

GFTeam drum section celebrating results / Photo: Carlos Ozório

What would bring someone to take a one-hour ride by bus to a scalding hot gymnasium at another city on a sun-drenched long weekend in Rio de Janeiro? The answer’s simple: top-notch Jiu-Jitsu. This Saturday marked day one of the World Pro Jiu-Jitsu Championship-qualifying tournament held in Niteroi, a city across the Guanabara Bay from Rio de Janeiro. The gymnasium wasn’t in the best of shape but the fighters made up for it, making the trip worthwhile for anyone who forwent spending the day at the beach.

Besides getting to meet up with old friends, the highlight of the event was being able to get a glompse of heavyweight and absolute word champion Rodolfo Vieira. The GFTeam ace submitted three opponents on his way to Sunday’s under-92 kg final against Barbosa team’s Luiz Panza. Besides the excitement of having made it through to the weight class decider, Rodolfo was even more overjoyed by the news he would he seeing action at the European Open later this month: “It was a surprise. A friend of ours said he’d pay the trip, and I’m going,” he reported.

Thiago Gaia against Igor Silva / Photo: Carlos Ozório

In the brown and black belt division, Rodolfo’s team secured another four berths in the main event in Abu Dhabi. In the over 92 kg division, Ricardo Evangelista overcame Bruno Bastos (Nova União) by a sweep. Besides having overcome one of last year’s finalists in Abu Dhabi, Evangelista went path three other opponents. At the other end of the bracket, Thiago Gaia (Nova União) had four matches himself. He had his work cut out for him in the semifinal against Igor Silva, but Gaia managed to work his way to back control and squeeze out a choke.

Another Master Julio Cesar student, Vitor Henrique reached the under-83 kg final after four matches. The semifinal started out with him training by a sweep to Victor Bonfim (Gordo Evolve), but he reciprocated with a sweep of his own and notched two more advantages for the win.

Barbosa team representative Adriano Silva had four matches of his own. In going through to the final, he beat David Vieira by a sweep.

Vinicius Marinho against Davi Ramos / Photo: Carlos Ozório

The under-74 kg division belonged to GFTeam, with Vinicius Marinho and Theodoro Canal dominating the action. Marinho had three matches, with the semifinal standing out most, where he faced No-Gi Pan winner Davi Ramos. In a back-and-forth affair stuck in 50/50 guard, the match ended tied at 8-8 but with Vinicius holding a two-advantage point lead. Canal beat four opponents in closing out with his teammate.

Willcox celebrates. Photo: Carlos Ozório.

Now Master Julio’s team sat out the under-65 kg division. The weight class belonged to the veteran Gabriel Willcox (Brazilian Fight), who can often be seen putting on a show at the Rio International Masters championship. Ahead of him, the black belt will take on the also-experienced Marcelo “Galinha” dos Santos (Instituto Reação). Willcox had four matches, while Marcelo had three really good ones.

In the femae division, Gabrielle Garcia (Alliance) carried on with her winning ways and now has Fernanda Mazelli ahead of her in the final. In the under-61 kg final, Jessica Santos takes on Hellen Bastos.