Roger Gracie back to Jiu Jitsu!

We have all enjoyed Roger Gracie's mma career to date and no doubt if he continues he will have some success but I would like to dedicate this post to ask Roger to return back to BJJ!!

Roger Gracie has had an incredible career on the BJJ circuit but every fan in the world and every grappler that I talk to would like to see him return. We all want the best BJJ fighter in the world compete! Metamoris was awesome but we gotta get Roger BACK!!

Please comment on this post if you would like to see Roger Gracie BACK!! 

- Xande vs Roger Gracie?

- will Rodolfo Viera be able to pass Roger Gracie's guard?

- how would Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida do against Roger?

- Andre Galvao vs Roger Gracie No-GI Superfight at ADCC?

It is only us, the fans, can convince Roger so please guys comments welcome and share this post on facebook!!

Changing of the Guard

Jiu jitsu is constantly evolving. The new generation of bjj superstars that included the "holy trinity" Roger Gracie, Marcelo Garcia and Ronaldo Jacare, have now moved on to new things, either MMA or bring up new competitors onto the scene. Few others have been as dominant as these three during the first decade of the twenty first centuary but now it is time to see new legends emerge.

The biggest three that have now emerged in my view are Rafael Mendes, Rodolfo Viera and the ever improving Marcus Almeida "Buchecha" who looks like the new king of BJJ GI competition. The latter two are the two dominant monsters at absolute with few, save Braulio, who can stop their dangerous attacking game.

For many fans it would be a dream to see Roger back in the game meeting the young lions with the GI and of course it would also be interesting to see Roger back in ADCC as well. 

I believe there are a couple of tournaments that are drawing more and more attention and the biggest is the Abu Dhabi Pro Worlds. With cash prizes awarded to the elite competitors and great media coverage it is exciting to see the sport taking the next leap. 

It is now interesting to see the new breed of bjj fighters rising up. Keenan Cornelius and Mendes brothers are bringing a new style to bjj and it is interesting to see them compete against the old school fighters and what will come of it. 

Marcelo Garcia, Saulo, Roger Gracie, Lovato, Renzo and many others are bringing in their students to compete and it is exciting to see how they do against the mature crowd. It is amazing how the sport continues to evolve and many new guys are able to impress.

Roger Gracie Talks About His Return to MMA and ADCC

The greatest BJJ player ever talks about his return. Makes you understand why he is so great!

Five Top BJJ Players Getting Famous

5. Pablo Popovitch

Hats off to the guy that beat Marcelo Garcia in the ADCC which is what he did in 2009. Pablo Popovitch, if you ever seen him fight, is an incredible grappler. Incredibly skilled, talented and powerful grappler that has been for years been overshadowed by the Marcelo Garcia phenomenon. Pablo really does deserve praise and someone to follow this year.

4. Braulio Estima - Gracie Barra is proud of its champions and Braulio Estima's performance last year has been more than impressive. Not only was he able to dominate everyone in his own division at ADCC 2009, he looked also unbeatable in the absolute taking gold thanks to his inverted triangle choke he does so well.

Braulio is a true champion and a very accomplished BJJ fighter having been BJJ champion many times before. Although for years outshined by guys like Xande and Ronaldo Jacare, Braulio is really showing his worth nowadays and will surely do well in mixed martial arts as well.

3. Demian Maia - there are few talents in BJJ who can make UFC fighters look like amatuers. This is what Demian can do literally playing with his opponents once the fight reaches the ground. Although Maia could not takedown Anderson Silva in his last fight, surely he has a great career ahead of him in the UFC once he improves his wrestling and striking.

2. Ronaldo Souza - Jacare is one of the most athletic and yet incredibly technical fighters. Having dominated the jiu jitsu and grappling scene for years, he turned to MMA with great success. Ronaldo is able to take down even the most versatile fighters with ease and once on the ground, they are helpless to resist him. His last fight against Villasenor in Strikeforce confirms this.

With his takedowns looking the better than most wrestlers and striking rapidly evolving, Ronaldo Souza will very soon be the middleweight Strikeforce champion. Good luck to him.

PS: Jake Shields I think got scared of how good Souza really is and has run off to the UFC.

1. Roger Gracie - when you look at what Roger Gracie has accomplished so far, he can't help giving credit to his achievements. He is the first fighter to win the BJJ Worlds Absolute 3 times and the only guy to submit all of his opponents in 2009 worlds by taking mount. He is also the only guy to submit all of his opponents in ADCC 2005 winning both his own weight and absolute. This guy is truly the greatest BJJ specialist ever and one of the best grappling stars in the world.

Roger is an extremely humble and hard working guy and is a great pleasure to see him compete. I just wish he fights MMA more.

I would personally also love to see him fight in Sambo just for fun, as Rigan Machado and Rickson did just to see how he would do. The rules are different but it would be interesting to see how BJJ vs Sambo does these days.

Eddie Bravo - a different perspective

This article really gives you a different perspective of Eddie Bravo, recognized as an innovator of brazilian jiu jitsu. His books are well-known and many bjj fans are buying them with the hope of improving their bjj and mma.

The famous match with Royler is well publicized but the guy is also really strange. He does give some negatives to the sport that I don't think he should. Draculino is right about that. Guys that have such high profile and that should develop the sport, can't afford to have associated with things like illegal drugs. These things have nothing to do with jiu jitsu.

Check out this article, it really describes the who 10th Planet phenomenon at what it is all about.

Of course, you have to give him credit. The guy beat the best jiu jitsu player of the 90s. Eventually he was going to lose of course and the triangle is such a universal technique that can catch anyone.

The fact that the guy never fought in MMA but claims to develop jiu jitsu for MMA is not right though. You have MMA legends like Sakuraba, Nogueira and many others who should have more to say on the subject. How can one develop an MMA oriented jiu jitsu system having never fought in the cage?

Top-10 Jiu Jitsu/Submission Fighters 2009

1. Roger Gracie

Roger has displayed never before seen consistency and ability to systematically submit his opponents on the mats one-by-one. His performance in the 2009 BJJ World Championships was simply stunning even though his biggest rivals were not participating this time around, namely Ronaldo Jacare Souza and Xande Ribeiro.

It is only a shame that we did not have a chance to see him in the ADCC 2009 but surely his upcoming MMA bout for Strikeforce will be an exciting event whoever his opponent may be.

2. Xande Ribeiro

Xande is a phenomenal technician and looked incredible until the Absolute finals in ADCC 2009 against Braulio Estima when he had to tap out due to injury. He will surely be back to claim the 2011 gold.

3. Braulio Estima

2009 has been an excellent year for Braulio Estima. He has taken gold in BJJ Worlds in the Heavyweight division and then won his division as well as the absolute in ADCC. This is a tremendous feat that pushes Braulio right into the 3rd spot in my opinion.

4. Jacare

Like Xande, Ronaldo Souza has been focusing much more on fighting in MMA and therefore was not able to participate much in jiu jitsu/submission wrestling competitions these days. Nevertheless his Superfight win against Robert Drysdale in ADCC 2009 shows that he still has what it takes.

5. Fabricio Werdum

Fabricio Werdum is a mixed martial arts veteran and clearly one of the top heavyweights fighting in Strikeforce. His performance in the ADCC was simply outstanding this year. Best of luck to him.

6. Robert Drysdale

Robert Drysdale is a great technician but is no doubt better without the gi. Drysdale still has an impressive record and we look forward to seeing great things from him in the future.

7. Andre Galvao

Andre Galvao is a great fighter but is another fighter that currently is focused on developing a successful mma career. His absence in the BJJ Worlds and inability to place in ADCC put him down to number 8.

8. Marcelo Garcia

Marcelo Garcia has been greatly disappointed in ADCC, not taking gold in his own division for the first time. Nevertheless Marcelo still holds more ADCC titles than any other fighter in the history, so we expect great things from him next year.

9. Pablo Popovitch

A truely awesome athlete is growing every year. Pablo Popovitch has defeated Marcelo Garcia this year. Nothing more to say.

10. Romulo Barral/Sergio Moraes

These two are rising stars and are incredible in the kimono. Both have not yet proved themselves in submission wrestling therefore place at number 10.

ADCC 2009 Sensation - Photos

I have had the chance to personally witness the ADCC 2009 Championship fights last weekend and certainly this was one of the most exciting weekends ever. Check out the official results here.

Firstly of course it was the assembled team. Marcelo Garcia, Robert Drysdale, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, Fabricio Werdum and so many others. The team was incredible despite some of the names that we were very much hoping for were missing or on the benches, including Roger and Kyra Gracie, Georges St. Pierre, Fedor Emelianenko and Gegard Mousasi.

Saulo Ribeiro was of course an exciting figure in the first half of the tournament showing impressive skill in submitting the younger jiu jitsu champion Romulo Barral only to lose later to the much bigger Fabricio Werdum who then went on to win the +99kg final to become Champion in the heavyweight division. Saulo displayed heart in fighting off Jeff Monson despite choosing to fight him with a kimono.

Another great name was Gunnar Nelson who impressed me immensely fighting in the absolute division representing Iceland. Gunnar showed surprising cardio and ability to attack the back of each of his opponents. Gunnar later faced the awesome Xande Ribeiro, losing to him by knee-bar. Xande would later win his division and lose via shoulder injury in the absolute finals to Braulio Estima.

Well-done to Xande who looked incredibly calm and displayed incredible abilities, the best fighter on the mats in my opinion.

Plenty of disappointments were also there, most notably Xande's injury to cost him the gold and Rafael Lovato who was submitted by Heel Hook which went too far and caused Rafael to drop out thereafter due to injury as Braulio applied the leg lock too far.

For Marcelo Garcia this was an enormous disappointment despite an impressive start when he submitted Kron Graice. He took silver for the first time in his division losing to Pablo Popovitch and later to Braulio Estima in the Absolute.

Well done to the organizers and participants! Well done ADCC!


Pablo Popovitch vs Gregor Gracie

Xande Ribeiro vs Vinicius Magalhaes

Fabricio Werdum vs Saulo Ribeiro

Tarsis Humphreys vs Igor Praporshchikov


Andre Galvao above working to pass the guard




Video of Marcelo Garcia in action!

Greatest Submission Fighters of All Time - ADCC Athletes Ranking

Gracie Magazine has kindly compiled a ranking of all the ADCC competitors and ranked them based on their accomplishments. Please see link here.
It is exciting to see how the top athletes of today compare to the legends like Royler Gracie and Mark Kerr, who have dominated in the past. Well done Gracie Mag!

What surprised me of course was how high Jeff Monson is on the list. He is higher on the list than many others, even higher than Roger Gracie, but I guess not for long since Roger will certainly return in ADCC 2011 as strong as ever.

Mark Kerr of course took the top position, closely followed by Mario Sperry and Marcelo Garcia. Marcelo Garcia however is set to take the top spot as he will undoubtedly take gold in his division this year as well. It is also exciting to see so many faces that have not competed for years come and participate like Ricardo Arona and Saulo Ribeiro. Both should do well but can they pull off winning their divisions, I don't know especially if Saulo competes in the +99kg.

Jacare vs Drysdale will be an exciting highlight but I am betting Xande will be in the absolute final and will probably take the most prestigious gold in the competition.

Anyway, I will be there, so look forward to seeing pictures and if you can't wait then watch the event live or on video on demand. Please click here if you are interested.

Final List for Women's ADCC

ADCC has now announced the complete list of competitors in the women's divisions. Never really followed women's grappling although no doubt it will be exciting this year as the level of competitors continues to improve. Kyra Gracie is perhaps the most recognizable name on the list together with Cristiane Cyborg, the current Strikeforce Champion. Actually I thought Cyborg was only a bjj purple belt but perhaps she has other grappling experience and certainly her mixed martial arts experience gives her the right credentials to be able to compete.

Females +60kg

1. Hannette Staack. USA
2. Penny Thomas. USA
3. Hitomi Hiraiwa. Japan
4. Rosângela Conceição. Brazil
5. Ida Hansson. Sweden
6. Shanti Abelha. Denmark
7. Lana Stephanac. USA
8. Cristiane Cyborg. USA

Females -60kg

1. Kyra Gracie. Brazill
2. Sayaka Shioda. Japan
3. Megumi Fujii. Japan
4. Michelle Tavares. Brazil
5. Laurence Cousin. France
6. Ina Steffensen. Denmark
7. Hillary Williams. USA
8. Luanna Alzuguir. Brazil


After a disappointing Mundials performance from Kyra Gracie, it is interesting to see how she will perform in this no-gi event. No doubt the competition will be very strong and from the number of countries represented, a very international event. Women's grappling, like women's mixed martial arts, has a long road to go yet before it can reach any decent level of popularity compared to the men's events. Perhaps women's Judo is quite close to men's Judo. Carano vs Cyborg headline fight was the first step in MMA.

For me I think that women's grappling may be even more exciting than bjj gi championships for example. Gi fights are of course much slower and the men's fights really show more varied technique and speed. Too many women's fights that I have seen were about passing the guard for more than half of the match with little success. Whether it is stalling, lower level of technique or muscle strength, I really don't know but I envision that from a spectator point of view, no-gi matches may become a more exciting event.

ADCC Consolidated Competitor List

For all those eager to see the competitors so far confirmed for ADCC 2009, please see below the mens table. These are the guys that we saw were 100% confirmed. I did not include Fedor Emelianenko and Gegard Mousasi as there has not been any information about this so far.

As soon as there is some announcement in terms of which categories they compete, I will add them but so far I have not seen much confirmation for these guys and with so much going on in their MMA careers I would not be surprised if they don't compete.




Superfight
Roger Gracie (Brasil) vs Robert Drysdale (Brasil)

-65.9kg
- Rani Yahya (Brasil)
- Kouhei Yasumi (Japão)
- Rafael Mendes (Brasil)
- Nicolas Renier (França)
- Timo-Juhani Hirvikangas (Finlândia)
- Ryan Hall (EUA)
- David Marinakis (Austrália)
- Jayson Patino (EUA)
- Leozinho Viera (Brasil)
- Baret Yoshida. USA
- Rubens "Cobrinha" Charles (Brasil)
- Jeff Glover (USA)
- Hiroshi Nakamuro (Japan)
- Justin Rader
- Jeff Curran (USA)


-76.9kg
- Marcelo Garcia (Brasil)
- K-taro Nakamura (Japão)
- Murilo Santana (Brasil)
- Marcelo Azevedo (Itália)
- Toni Linden (Finlândia)
- Don Ortega (EUA)
- Rodney Ellis (Austrália)
- Enrico Cocco (EUA)
- Georges St Pierre (Canada)
- Pablo Popovich (USA)
- Kron Gracie (Brasil)
- Yoshiyuki "Zenko" Yoshida (Japan)
- Bill Cooper (USA)
- Milton Vieira
- Ben Askren (USA)

-87.9kg
- Demian Maia (Brasil)
- Kazuhiro Nakamura (Japão)
- André Galvão (Brasil)
- Kassim Annan (França)
- Trond Saksenvik (França)
- Jason Selva (EUA)
- Igor Praporshchikov (Austrália)
- Chris Weidman (EUA)
- Nate Marquardt (USA)
- Rafael Lovato (Brasil)
- Daniel Tabera (Spain)
- Rousimar Palhares "Toquinho"
- Gunnar Nelson (Iceland)

-98.9kg
- Xande Ribeiro (Brasil)
- Ukiya Nato (Japão)
- Glover Teixeira (Brasil)
- Radek Turek (Polônia)
- Andreas Olsen (Noruega)
- Rafael Davies (EUA)
- Anthony Perosh (Austrália)
- Gerardi Rinaldi (EUA)
- Dean Lister (USA)
- Ricardo Arona (Brasil)
- Mike Van Arsdale (USA)
- Vinny Magalhaes "Pezao"
- Vesa Vuor
- Marcio "Pe de Pano" Cruz
- Renato "Babalu" Sobral

+99kg
- Fabrício Werdum (Brasil)
- Kouji Kanechika (Japão)
- Antoine Jaoude (Brasil)
- Tomasz Janiszewski (Polônia)
- Janne-Pekka (Finlândia)
- Asa Fuller (EUA)
- Dennis Roberts (Austrália)
- Tom DeBlass (EUA)
- Saulo Ribeiro (Brasil)
- Rogent Lorent (Spain)
- Gabriel Gonzaga (Brazil)
- Jon Olav Einemo (Norway)
- Tom Erickson
- Jeff Monson, USA

With so many great names on this list, this is the biggest event perhaps to ever to take place. Keep reading to find out more.

ADCC Barcelona 2009 - the Event of the Year Plus Update

The Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling Championships is the most prestigious submission wrestling event in the world, period. The winners of this tournament are regarded to be the world's elite grapplers and the list of competitors alone reads like a who's who in the sport.

Fighters from many disciplines including jiu jitsu, judo, sambo and wrestling compete once in every two years in this elite invitation-only tournament created and sponsored by Sheik Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nayan, the son of the former United Arab Emirates president Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nayan, together with his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor Nelson Monteiro.

The event was first held back in 1998 and has since then seen many great champions and representatives of different martial arts participate. Although the majority of practitioners today represent brazilian jiu jitsu, there have already been notable exceptions including Sanae Kikuta and of course Mark Kerr, the free-style wrestler that defeated everyone in 2000, both in his category (over 99kg) and in the absolute division.

Many champions have shown their skills in this competition but perhaps the brightest has been Marcelo Garcia, the Alliance black belt considered by many to be the best no-gi pound-for-pound fighter.

This year the event is expected to be unlike any that we have seen yet. The competitor list that has already been announced is so strong and so decorated that we are sure to witness one of the greatest grappling events in the history.

Not only has the fight included every elite jiu jitsu competitor including the likes of Roger Gracie (current Absolute Champion), Robert Drysdale (2007 ADCC Champion), Xande Ribeiro, Marcelo Garcia, Rubens Charles "Cobrinha", Leo Viera and many others, but two of the pound-for-pound mixed martial arts legends have been confirmed.

So why is ADCC 2009 special?

Today, there are three names that are undisputedly considered the pound-for-pound best in the world. These are the legends of the sport, Georges St-Pierre the UFC Welterweight Champion, Anderson Silva the UFC Middleweight Champion and Fedor Emelianenko the WAMMA Heavyweight Champion. All of these guys are legends in the sport and have proven time and time again why they are the best.

Now the grappling fans have a chance to witness something that has never been seen before. Two of them, Fedor Emeliananko and Georges St-Pierre (GSP) are scheduled participate. Both are extremely well-rounded fighters with a good background in grappling.

GSP is a brazilian jiu jitsu blackbelt while Fedor Emelianenko is a national Judo Champion and a multiple World Combat Sambo Champion. Now they will test their skills against the monsters of the grappling arts. The mere prospect of seeing GSP fighting Marcelo Garcia is an incredible sight.

There were some rumors that Fedor may not be competing but if we do see this MMA king battle in the open weight division, this will be for sure a memorable occasion. I know I will be there to see it.

----

ADCC 2009 will be held in Barcelona on 26-27 September. Tickets are already available on Ticketmaster.com.

----

The ADCC Committee has released even more names today. They are - 65.9 kg Hiroshi Nakamura (judo champion), +99kg Garbriel Gonzaga (UFC Fighter and Mundials Champion in 2006) and +99kg Jon Olav Einemo (the only human to defeat Roger Gracie in ADCC).

Check this link for updated list of competitors

ADCC 2009 Tickets Now Available On TicketMaster

Tickets can now be bought via Ticketmaster.com. Get them soon! Just follow this link

You can buy them:

* Online
* By Phone
* In a Ticketmaster Centre
* At the door

The best way is to buy them online and collect them an hour before the show starts on Saturday. You can buy a pass for both days for 80 Euros or 50 Eur for either day, if you can't go to both.

On how to get there and practical information around Barcelona click here. ADCC Barcelona website gives you a ton of info about the event actually and I particularly like their fighter profiles section.

The only thing I note is there seem to be some profiles missing like Leo Vieira for example. Not sure but there is actually not much information available on the Internet about him so maybe this is the reason why they havent added his profile.

ADCC more invitees announced

Some more names are now being announced for the ADCC 2009.

We have got

-65.9kg: Baret Yoshida. USA

-76.9kg: Pablo Popovich. USA

-87.9kg: Daniel Tabera. Spain


All are very experienced fighters and have competed in the ADCC in the past.

I think I'm going to have to make a table for the invitees so we can see everyone on one page broken down by category plus the superfight Robert Drysdale vs Roger Gracie which is going to be extremely awesome. More to come I gather.

I heard some rumor that Fedor Emelianenko might not be participating. Nothing on the ADCC official website about this however but with so much going on with Affliction and his career, who knows what is going to happen in the next month or two. Just have to hope for the best.

I have heard of the first two, Yoshida and Popovitch but not Tabera since he is less acomplished than the other two. Daniel Tabera of course has additional pressure among these guys since he will be representing Spain. Good luck to him.

Saulo Ribeiro, Ricardo Arona and Rafael Lovato in ADCC 2009

Ok guys, this announcement has been out for a few days now but is still some very exciting news.

This year we are going to see Saulo Ribeiro the 6x BJJ World Champion and 2x ADCC Champion fight in the 99kg+ category which far above his natural weight division. in '99 he fought in the division narrowly losing to Jeff Monson in a very close match. This time will be his next fight competing with the giants.

Ricardo Arona was already widely expected to compete, so this was the final official announcement. The guy has never been defeated in ADCC and only fighter to have achieved this while managing to win both the 92kg and the open weight.

Rafael Lovato is also an impressive fighter coming in strong from success at the Mundials.

I expect to see great matches when I come over in September.

Keep reading, more to come!

ADCC invited list update

A few other names have been added to the ADCC list. I have to say, the list of fighters this year is incredible.

-65.9kg
Leo Viera - 2003 and 2005 ADCC Champion in under 66kg and world-renowned brazilian jiu jitsu practitioner


-76.9kg
Georges St Pierre - Current Welterweight UFC Champion and ranked out of the best pound-for-pound MMA fighters in the world by many sources.


-87.9kg
Nate Marquardt - seven-time middleweight King of Pancrase Champion


-98.9kg
Dean Lister - former King of the Cage Champion and 2003 ADCC Absolute Champion. 2x national US Sambo Champion, 4x Machado National US BJJ Champion, National US Gracie BJJ Champion.


+99kg
Jon Olav Einemo - 2003 ADCC Champion in the 88-98kg weight class and the only fighter to ever defeat Roger Gracie in ADCC

Please see source here

Tickets will be available on the Internet soon for those hoping to attend. They are going to announce where you can buy them on the ADCC website and since I am also planning to attend, I will post the information as soon as it become available!

ADCC Update

CONFIRMED FIGHTERS

Guys, with less than three months to the ADCC 2009 event (held 26-27 Sep) I'm going to give a short update on the people that look like they are confirmed so far according to many sources:

Invited so far by the organizers:

Ricardo Arona - ADCC Champion

Gegard Mousasi - Dream Middleweight Champion and former Cage Warriors Middleweight Champion

Gabriel Gonzaga - CBJJ Mundials 2006 winner in black-belt division

Fedor Emelianenko - WAMMA Heavyweight Champion and former Pride Heavyweight Champion

Dean Lister - ADCC Absolute Champion 2003

Below are athletes who managed to earn places through the various qualifiers around the world, as well as the winners of previous editions of the event.

Superfight
Roger Gracie (Brasil) vs Robert Drysdale (Brasil)

Men
Under 65.9kg
- Rani Yahya (Brasil)
- Kouhei Yasumi (Japão)
- Rafael Mendes (Brasil)
- Nicolas Renier (França)
- Timo-Juhani Hirvikangas (Finlândia)
- Ryan Hall (EUA)
- David Marinakis (Austrália)
- Jayson Patino (EUA)

Under 76.9kg
- Marcelo Garcia (Brasil)
- K-taro Nakamura (Japão)
- Murilo Santana (Brasil)
- Marcelo Azevedo (Itália)
- Toni Linden (Finlândia)
- Don Ortega (EUA)
- Rodney Ellis (Austrália)
- Enrico Cocco (EUA)

Under 87.9kg
- Demian Maia (Brasil)
- Kazuhiro Nakamura (Japão)
- André Galvão (Brasil)
- Kassim Annan (França)
- Trond Saksenvik (França)
- Jason Selva (EUA)
- Igor Praporshchikov (Austrália)
- Chris Weidman (EUA)

Under 98.9kg:
- Xande Ribeiro (Brasil)
- Ukiya Nato (Japão)
- Glover Teixeira (Brasil)
- Radek Turek (Polônia)
- Andreas Olsen (Noruega)
- Rafael Davies (EUA)
- Anthony Perosh (Austrália)
- Gerardi Rinaldi (EUA)

Over 99kg:
- Fabrício Werdum (Brasil)
- Kouji Kanechika (Japão)
- Antoine Jaoude (Brasil)
- Tomasz Janiszewski (Polônia)
- Janne-Pekka (Finlândia)
- Asa Fuller (EUA)
- Dennis Roberts (Austrália)
- Tom DeBlass (EUA)

Women
Under 60kg:
- Kyra Gracie (Brasil)
- Sayaka Shioda (Japão)
- Megumi Fuji (Japão)
- Michelle Tavares (Brasil)
- Laurence Cousin (França)
- Ina Steffensen (Dinamarca)
- Hillary Willams (EUA)

Over 60kg:
- Hannette Quadros (Brasil)
- Penny Thomas (EUA)
- Hitomi Hiraiwa (Japão)
- Rosângela Conceição (Brasil)
- Ida Hansson (Suécia)
- Shanti Abelha (Dinamarca)
- Lana Stefanac (EUA)

ADCC TO ADD DIVISIONS FOR 2011

The ADCC committee has made the decision to include new weight divisions. The new weight divisions will be the following:

Male: 60 kg, 65 kg, 70 kg, 76 kg, 83 kg, 91 kg, 100 kg, +100 kg
Female: 55 kg, 60 kg, + 60 kg

Also of course for more information about the ADCC event please have a look at my previous post about the tournament here

ADCC 2009!!!

Ok quickly, for those that don't know ADCC (Abu Dhabi Combat Club) Submission Wrestling World Championship is a competition for professional athletes who have been successful at the highest levels of Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, Judo, Sambo, Shooto and Mixed Martial Arts. The rules disallow strikes while promoting grappling and submissions.

This is one of the most prestigious and exciting events combining different styles of grappling and minimizing restrictions. The competition was created by Sheik Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the son of the former United Arab Emirates president Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, together with his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor Nelson Monteiro. The first competition took place on March 20, 21 & 22, 1998 in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. (Source: Wikipedia)

In the past many stars have competed in this tournament including Royler & Renzo Gracie as well as top-players of today including Xande Ribeiro, Roger Gracie and Jacare. (in fact almost all top stars have competed here since this is the biggest no-gi tournament around)

Now here is the link to the 2009 tournament link

I am telling you it is going to be amazing. This year it will be held in Barcelona, Spain at the end of September. This is going to be a tournament that even a remote fan is going to want to see. They havent announced the full list of competitors yet but......... just think, it is official, Fedor Emelianenko will be participating. The greatest MMA fighter ever. Everyone is going to want to be there, watch, fight it doesnt matter.

I think it is going to be very interesting. Yes jiu jitsu is very different to Sambo, but a guy with so much experience, training and ability, it will be very interesting to see how the fight goes. Of course I would also love to see Xande, Roger, Jacare and Monson there together with the other heavyweights.

Lets keep our eyes open for this one. This is going to be a sensation for the martial arts world.