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!

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!

Saulo Ribeiro Jiu Jitsu University Book - My Review

I have bought this book a few weeks ago and I have to say firstly that it blows me away. Saulo Ribeiro and Kevin Howell together with all the other guys that have helped to make this book I think have done a tremendous job.

If you liked Saulo's Jiu Jitsu Revolution Instructional DVD series, you are going to love the book. As in the DVD collection, Saulo is brilliant, teaching the fine technical details that you really need to understand to improve your game.

Firstly it is an enjoyable read and a very nice book, beautiful illustrations! Loads of pictures that show every detail and common mistakes made.

Saulo's reveals his philosophy in this book focusing on survival, escapes and positional play. This is not your average book of submission techniques. Submissions are left for the black belts who already know every aspect and are the last chapter of the book.

The real goal is to escape submissions, survive against more experienced opponents and gain a superior position. This book really focuses on the fine details which are normally omitted by beginners and intermediate students who learn brazilian jiu jitsu and tend to concentrate too much on submissions and power.

Transitions are shown well and also common mistakes which I think are great to fine tune your jiu jitsu

Of course the other thing to mention is that the sport aspect is what is covered here. Take-downs and self-defense aspects are not and I don't believe are needed here. Saulo aims to cover the foundations of the sport at a very technical level.

10 out of 10 , this book is an invaluable gift to any brazilian jiu jitsu practitioner, no matter what level.