ADCC 2009

This is going to be SICK. Check out the competitor list so far. There are going to be dozens of insane matchups! I can't even decide which division is the toughest...they are all STACKED.


MALE COMPETITORS

-65.9kg

1. Rani Yahya. Brazil (ADCC World Champion)

2. Kouhei Yasumi. Japan (Asian Trials winner)

3. Rafael Mendes. Brazil (South American Trials winner)

4. Nicolas Renier. France (European Trials winner)

5. Timo-Juhani Hirvikangas. Finland (European Champion)

6. Ryan Hall. USA (North American east coast Trials winner)

7. David Marinakis. Australia (Pacific Trials winner)

8. Jayson Patino. USA (North American west coast Trials winner)

9. Rubens “Cobrinha” Chales. USA

10. Leo Vieira. Brazil

11. Baret Yoshida. USA

12. Jeff Glover. USA

13.Hiroshi “Iron” Nakamura.Japan

-76.9kg

1. Marcelo Garcia. Brazil (ADCC World Champion)

2. K-taro Nakamura. Japan (Asian Trials winner)

3. Murilo Santana. Brazil (South American Trials winner)

4. Marcelo Azevedo. Italy (European Trials winner)

5. Toni Linden. Finland (European Champion)

6. Don Ortega. USA (North American east coast Trials winner)

7. Rodney Ellis. Australia (Pacific Trials winner)

8. Enrico Cocco. USA (North American west coast Trials winner)

9. Georges St. Pierre. Canada

10. Kron Gracie. USA

11. Pablo Popovich. USA

12. Yoshiyuki “Zenko” Yoshida. Japan

13. Milton Vieira. Brazil

-87.9kg

1. Damian Maia. Brazil (ADCC World Champion)

2. Kazuhiro Nakamura. Japan (Asian Trials winner)

3. André Galvão. Brazil (South American Trials winner)

4. Kassim Annan. France (European Trials winner)

5. Trond Saksenvik. Norway (European Champion)

6. Jason Selva. USA (North American east coast Trials winner)

7. Igor Praporshchikov. Australia (Pacific Trials winner)

8. Chris Weidman. USA (North American west coast Trials winner)

9. Nate Mardquadt. USA

10. Rafael Lovato jr. Usa

11. Daniel Tabera. Spain

12. Braulio Estima. Brazil

13. Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares. Brazil

-98.9kg

1. Xande Ribeiro. Brazil (ADCC World Champion)

2. Yukiya Naito. Japan (Asian Trials winner)

3. Glover Teixeira. Brazil (South American Trials winner)

4. Radek Turek. Poland (European Trials winner)

5. Andreas Olsen. Norway (European Champion)

6. Rafael Davies. USA (North American east coast Trials winner)

7. Anthony Perosh. Australia (Pacific Trials winner)

8. Gerardi Rinaldi. USA (North American west coast Trials winner)

9. Dean Lister. USA

10. Ricardo Arona. Brazil

11. Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu. Brasil

12.Vinny Magalhães. Brazil

+99kg

1. Fabricio Werdum. Brazil (ADCC World Champion)

2. Kouji Kanechika. Japan (Asian Trials winner)

3. Antoine Jaoude. Brazil (South American Trials winner)

4. Tomasz Janiszewski. Poland (European Trials winner)

5. Janne-Pekka Pietiläinen. Finland (European Champion)

6. Asa Fuller. USA (North American east coast Trials winner)

7. Denis Roberts. Australia (Pacific Trials winner)

8. Tom DeBlass. USA (North American west coast Trials winner)

9. John Olav Einemo. Norway

10. Saulo Ribeiro. Brazil

11. Rogent Lloret. Spain

SUPERFIGHT

Roger Gracie. Brazil vs Robert Drysdale. USA

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FEMALE COMPETITORS

-60kg

1. Kyra Gracie. Brazil (ADCC World Champion)

2. Sayaka Shioda. Japan (ADCC World Champion)

3. Megumi Fujii. Japan (Asian & Pacific Trials winner)

4. Michelle Tavares. Brazil (South American Trials winner)

5. Laurence Cousin. France (European Trials winner)

6. Ina Steffensen. Denmark (European Champion)

7. Hillary Williams. USA (North American Trials winner)

+60kg

1. Hannette Staack. USA (ADCC World Champion)

2. Penny Thomas. USA (ADCC World Champion)

3. Hitomi Hiraiwa. Japan (Asian & Pacific Trials winner)

4. Rosângela Conceição. Brazil (South American Trials winner)

5. Ida Hansson. Sweden (European Trials winner)

6. Shanti Abelha. Denmark (European Champion)

7. Lana Stephanac. USA (North American Trials winner)

guard pass defense: brabo choke

Tourney Breakdown

This past Saturday I went to West Chester, OH (5.5 hour drive!) to the first ever Team Jorge Gurgel association tournament. It was a fabulous weekend, It was the most fun I've ever had in BJJ I think. Here are my matches with commentary to come later.

Tourney Time!

Tomorrow is the long awaited Jorge Gurgel team association tournament in Cincinnati, OH. I am making the 5 hour trip with a couple people, and we are leaving in about 2 hours. I woke up a few ounces overweight at 190.4, which should be good. I had 1.5 cups of coffee with a little sugar and 2 eggs. I hoping the small bit of caffeine, sugar, and protein (the 3 food groups...right?) will give me enough lifeforce to make it until the 7pm night before weigh in. I'm going to weigh myself right before I go and plan on being about 191.5 after my breakfast. Not eating for the rest of the day should get me under the 190lb limit by the slimmest of margins.

We should have about 15 guys (and girls) going down, and it should be a lot of fun. This should be slightly more intense then your average tournament, as it will definitely set bragging rights within our association for years to come. That being said, at GRBJJ we train to be the best; and we have been hitting it hard. We are ready to bring it, so I hope my brothers at the other schools are ready!

We haven't been doing much technique at practice the past week or so. Just a lot of situational drilling, and basics. Last night (2 days before tournament), we did drills at half speed for the first half of class and then 5 minutes periods of live rolling, followed by 5 minute rest going to simulate a tournament environment. We were instructed to go slow speed, not to injure ourselves and to get our bodies rested properly for the tournament.

As always, I am bringing my video camera and will post my matches with commentary here. I find this is a good exercise for me, as it helps analyze my strengths and weaknesses and helps me realize what I need to work on in upcoming months.

Thanks everyone for your support of me and the Dutch Assassin blog. Wish me luck tomorrow and have a nice big lunch while thinking about your poor old boy starving!

Peace,
Dutch Assassin

Nino Schembri vs Margarida

Check out the ridiculous rolling oma plata at the beginning. And the gwuard pass attempt starting at 2:50 which is one we learned for Jorge Gurgel when he was here the other weeek.

Crazy but Awesome

Jorge Gurgel came and left our school, and it was one exciting long weekend. A week removed from his presence we now have just 7 days to prepare for our team's association tournament in Cincinnati, OH next Saturday.

Here is a summary of what I got to work on with Jorge-
Thurs:
Jorge just dropped into class and worked out with us, doing all the drills, sprints, etc that we were doing.

Fri:
Jorge showed us proper technique for re-guarding a standing guard pass. Turn away from the man to a fetal position, and roll across your shoulders with your butt in the air coming back towards your opponent. You want to reach for his ankle asap in the roll.

He then showed a sweep series from sitting up guard. We went through a leg sweep and a underhook/rollover as well as seeing a glance of a couple fancier moves. We finished up with a neat half guard pass from the post sweep position you end up in.

After class a bunch of us went to Big Dawg and Momma Crabs house. They had a bonfire going and we got to learn Jorge's views on a lot of subjects and watch teammates dress up in pageant attire.

Sat:
This was a smaller, but awesome class. We worked on "technical mount" which is a small variation on "s" mount. You have your far foot block his hip instead of under the enemy's armpit. We drilled getting into the position until everyone had it down, and then learned a chain of submissions off of this sweet position.

After class we went to Van Andel Arena downtown to watch Big Dawgs daughter win the NATIONAL CHEER CHAMPIONSHIP! This girl has talent! We had a bunch of BJJ guys getting rowdy in the stands! It was a fun time.

Sun:
First I got a 3 man semi-private lesson with two of my teammates. We went over passing half guard. It was stuff I had seen before from Big Dawg, but it was a great refresh and I picked up a couple new details I didn't remember. You first figure four your legs around the guys knee and push your hips in to lock him down. You then use your far side underhook to pull his far shoulder towards you. You then change your leg position and move your top leg to the outside. Move his chin with your hands/elbows. Replace hands/elbows with the top of your head. Make him look away from you and brutalize. If done correctly he wants you to pass the gwuard.

After my private we went right into the regular class. We drilled some of the movements we learned on the previous days, then went into the "6-point" open guard. This is where you have both sleeves and play open gwuard, placing your feet in two of six positions (hooked behind both knees, on both hips, and in both biceps). We drilled moving throughout the different positions and then learned two sweeps and two submissions out of the dozens available from the positions. We did a lot of drilling, which was a theme I noticed of Jorges. There was really no playing around time, which was good. We drilled each move he showed dozens of times which really helped get it down.

Finally on Sunday it was promotion time. I was honored to watch 4 of my teammates get belt upgrades. Ninja Bunny was awarded a well deserved purple belt, and the trio of MVT, Crazy Eyes, and Bukowski got their well earned blue belts. Jorge also gave out a bunch of stripes on non-white belts. I was fortunate enough to earn one from him on my blue belt. Stripes don't really mean much in the scheme of things, but it is nice to be recognized for your skill and progress. It's a long journey to purple, and I'm excited I get to follow my path every day with my awesome team.

It was back to reality the rest of the week, as we gear up for the tournament next Saturday. Classes are getting more intense and we are focusing on drilling and rolling, rather then learning new stuff.

My hand still hurts like crazy, and I have been wrapping it during class. It is definitely a hindrance, and I don't think it's gonna heal for a while. We will see how it goes.