The 7th AZ International Open of BJJ will take place on March 3rd & 4th at the Phoenix College (North Gym) located at 1202 W. Thomas Rd., Phoenix, AZ 8013.

The 7th AZ International Open of BJJ will take place on March 3rd & 4th at the Phoenix College (North Gym) located at 1202 W. Thomas Rd., Phoenix, AZ 8013.

BLACK OPEN CLASS DIVISION is back! There will be a Black Belt Open class division paying $3000 in Prizes! First place winner will receive $2500, while the 2nd place will receive $500. BJJ Fans will enjoy a weekend of competition and watch high caliber black belt matches with some of the best competitors in the world. Last year,  Roberto “Tussa” Alencar(NM/Gracie Barra) defeated Bruno Bastos (TX/Nova Uniao)  in the final match of the 16 Men Bracket.

Registration will be available in January.

Source: www.graciemag.com

Last October 23 and 24, Phoenix, Arizona, hosted the 3rd Southwest Classic, a Jiu-Jitsu tournament that this year paid out trips to the 2012 European Open Championship to the winners of the two black belt divisions. Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes and Marcel Fortuna won light and heavyweight absolutes, respectively.

In the team contest, Gustavo Dantas Jiu-Jitsu (GDJJ) took the first-place trophy, with BJJ Revolution winning the one for second, John Crouch JJ for third, Lopez JJ for fourth, and Gracie Humaita bringing in fifth.

And UFC lightweight contender Ben Henderson was also there to put in an appearance in the gi, winning double gold as a brown belt.

For complete results, click here.

Check out the highlights from the Jiu-Jitsu fest:

Black Belt winners Augusto Mendes and Marcel Fortuna with Gustavo Dantas

Source: www.graciemag.com

Nova União’s Gustavo Dantas wears a lot of hats – and wears them all to perfection. He’s the vice president of the AZSBJJF, he’s the professor and mentor to hist students at Gustavo Dantas Jiu-Jitsu (GDJJ) academy, and he is also the owner of GDJJ events, which puts on four major Jiu-Jitsu tournaments a year. Last weekend was his 3rd Southwest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament.

Gustavo at the 3rd SW Classic with his student John Owning / photos: Deb Blyth

This year the turnout was unusually low. Last year there were 620 competitors, and this year there were 570, but he chalks it up to the fact that there are so many tournaments around these days. This doesn’t bother him, though, because he gears his tournaments towards the Jiu-Jitsu folks in Arizona. “About 90% of the competitors are from Arizona,” he says, “We got a big group from New Mexico this year, though. They said there was a tournament in Albuquerque, but they came to my tournament instead, so that was good to hear.”

Gustavo says he thinks about Jiu-Jitsu “24/7.” He’s a big fan of the IBJJF and always has been, so when he first got into the tournament business, he used them as a mirror. “I wanted to get my students ready for the big events and so I wanted to run mine in the same format as the IBJJF’s,” he says, “I think if my tournaments are at this level today, it’s because of what they’ve been doing over the years. People don’t realize the IBJJF came here in ’95 and threw a Pan for 150 people in Irvine. Today, they have over 2,000 competitors. Someone had to plant the seed, and they did. I’m trying to grow with them and learn from them.”

One thing about Gustavo’s tournaments that mirrors the IBJJF’s is the fact that they are organized and on time. He says it’s because his “team” makes it happen. “My fiancé, Kristina (Barlaan), and I… that’s my team,” he smiles, “I’m a perfectionist. When I first started this venture, I made a list of everything I liked when I went to a tournament and then tried to create that in mine. I like a nice shirt, I like it to be on time, I like to get a nice medal, have fair refs, I like an organized event… not a zoo trying to walk around… everything you like, I try to provide. Is it perfect? No, but I strive for perfection.”

Gustavo knows that mistakes are going to happen, but he wants to minimize them as much as he can. “Over the years I’ve compiled a high level of referees,” he says, “(Gracie Fighter black belt) Samir Chantre is the director of refereeing. He knows what’s going on. I need to have 12 refs, two for each area. There’s not enough qualified refs in Arizona, and I make sure all my refs are IBJJF certified, so I fly them in. I gotta do it. I want to have a legitimate tournament. Mistakes are always gonna happen, but having more experienced refs minimizes those mistakes.”

To add to his already highly respected tournaments, Gustavo started paying money rewards to the winners in his black belt pro division in 2006. This year the theme of the 3rd Southwest Classic Black Belt pro division was “take us to Portugal,” and he gave out two plane tickets to Portugal so the winning black belts could attend the Europeans on him. He divided the classes into a lightweight and heavyweight open so a couple of different black belts had the opportunity to win. This year, Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes of Soul Fighters won the lightweight absolute and Marcel Fortuna of Ralph Gracie won the heavyweight division.

“It’s always fairly small,” he says of the group of black belts who come to his events, “Last spring we had 16 black belts, but this time we only had five. I was a little disappointed, but I’m always learning with every event.”

Gustavo says, ultimately the most important thing to him is getting the local community to participate in his tournaments. “They always support my events and they keep coming,” he says, “The tournaments keep growing. People get excited to compete and those who don’t compete come to support their teammates and friends.”

Many people involved in Jiu-Jitsu have families, and they can’t travel all the time, so Gustavo likes providing them with family-friendly, quality events. “Having good quality tournaments in Arizona means they only have to travel if they want to,” Gustavo says, “They don’t have to travel anymore. It’s perfect. They can get a good experience here, at home in Arizona.”

Gustavo thinks competing is important because it provides a learning experience and a challenge for people. It’s really easy for people to deal with a win, but the bigger challenge is to deal with a loss, to deal with failure. “Competing allows you to prove to yourself that you can get it done. You can go back, train more and try again. You test yourself, your limits and your character. You learn not to quit in tough moments. It’s a horrible feeling to lose. You feel like you could have done better and some people don’t ever want to feel that way again, so they decide never to compete again. Others think, ‘I know I can do better, so I want to try again.’ When people say ‘you learn the most when you lose,’ they are absolutely right.”

As for kids competing, Gustavo thinks along the same lines but with a little bit of a twist. “I think competing shows them that life isn’t perfect and that it’s not always going to be wonderful and go your way. You’re going to have some difficulties. You’re gonna lose sometimes, but if you just try your best and it doesn’t work out this time, it will work another time. And it’s ok to lose, too. I always tell my son stories about how I lost and messed up so he knows we all have good and bad times. I say, ‘Daddy lost, too. It’s fine.’”

Gustavo wants to eventually organize an in-house Nova União tournament, but most importantly, he just wants to have the most respected tournaments in the world. “I want to make sure people are happy with them,” he says, “I want them to know that there’s gonna be tough competition at my events and that we’re going to keep growing. Very often people are surprised at the high level of competition they can get here. Many people think there’s no Jiu-Jitsu in Arizona, but they are sadly mistaken. They think they’re going to run over everybody here, but they can’t.”

The competitor's t-shirt designed by AGGRO Fight Gear

SCHEDULE

We will be running 6 mats, so the tournament will go a lot faster! Be there on time!

PARKING INFO

The North Parking lot (Thomas and 11th ave.) is closer to the North Gym.

Saturday October 22nd

Spectator Fee: $10

• 9:00 am – Doors Open
• 10:00 am – White Belts, Kindergarten, Pre- Teen (Rooster to Feather)
• 10:20 am – White Belts, Pre-Teen (Light & up)Jr. Teen (Rooster to Light)
• 10:50 am – White Belts, Jr. Teen (Middle & up) and Teen.
• 11:20 am – Grey & Yellow Belts, Kindergarten, Pre-Teen and Jr. Teen
• 12:00 pm – Grey & Yellow Belts, Teen and All Orange and Green belts.

• 1:30 pm – Adult Male Blue Belts (Rooster to Middle)
• 2:15 pm – Adult Blue Belt (Medium Heavy to Ultra Heavy), All Master Blue Belt
• 2:45 pm – Juvenile (Blue Belt), Women (Blue Belt)
• 3:00 pm – Senior Blue Belt & All Open Classes.

Sunday October 23rd

Spectator Fee: $10

• 9:00 am – Doors Open
• 10:00 am – All brown belts & All Purple Belts
• 10:30 am – Female Purple Belt, Juvenile White Belt, Female White Belt
• 10:50 am – Masters White Belt
• 11:15 am – Adult White Belt (Rooster to Feather) and Seniors White Belt
• 11:45 am – Adult White Belt (Light to Ultra Heavy)
• 12:30 pm – Black Belts and all Purple and Brown Belts Open Classes

Registrations for the Blue (Juvenile, Adult, Master, and Senior), Purple and Brown Belt Open Divisions will take place at the end of each division. Only 2 competitors per school allowed! For the blue/adult/open, the same IBJJF System will be used, only the top 4 of each division can compete in the open class. NO OPEN CLASS FOR THE WHITE BELT DIVISION. 

Brackets available at the registration website NO CHANGES WILL BE MADE!!!

The 3rd Southwest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Classic will take place on October 22nd and 23rd at the Phoenix College (North Gym) located at 1202 W. Thomas Rd., Phoenix, AZ 8013. Two tickets to the 2012 European Jiu-Jitsu Championship in Lisbon, Portugal, are on the line for the Adult Black Belt Division Open Light Weight (Under 167.5 lbs) and over Open Heavy Weight (Over 167.5 lbs).

The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition will offer kids, juveniles, Adult (Male and Female), Masters and Senior Divisions.

Full info available at http://www.strongvon.com/southwestbjj3/

Check out the Pictures from the 2011 AZ State Championship at http://www.andrewkphotos.com

Photo by Andrew Koeller

Source: www.graciemag.com

Tempe, Arizona, saw its fair share of action last weekend, when Gustavo Dantas’s Arizona Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu State Championship rolled into town. Three thousand dollars was up for grabs between the winners of the two black belt divisions, further upping the already scalding hot temperature in the region.

Among the big standouts was 2011 Pan-American champion Caio Terra (Gracie Fighter), who took the decision over Osvaldo Augusto “Queixinho” (Soul Fighters) in the light absolute decider. Now number one in the heavy absolute was Marcel Fortuna (Ralph Gracie), who overcame Brazilian champion Daniel Garcia (Nova União) in the grand finale.

But there was a host of other gentle art aces putting on shows. At brown belt, Daniel Madrid (Gracie Fighting Systems) took the medium heavyweight division and the absolute.

At purple, Gustavo Dantas disciples Issa Able and Christian Broadnax did well in their respective weight classes and then closed out the absolute.

At blue, Alex Centner (Lopez Jiu-Jitsu) took top spot on the Ultra heavyweight and absolute podiums for the double gold.

Full results at http://strongvon.com/azstate2011

Liam Thrun won the Nintendo Wii

April 23rd marked the 3rd installment of the Arizona BJJ Kids Cup. Gathering 260 competitors from all over Arizona, California, and Las Vegas in Mesa, AZ, it was a fun and competition filled day. The division drawing the most competition was the Male, White belt, Pre Teen, Rooter division with a staggering 15 competitors. Nathaniel Rae of Primero BJJ and Blake Mavity of Bambusa MMA both fought 3 matches before meeting in the finals, a task that would be challenging to even an adult competitor, with Nathaniel being the victor of the stacked division. 2 lucky kids had a chance to win either Nintendo Wii or Sony PS3 and Liam Thrun (GD Jiu-Jitsu) and Daylen Blau (Lopez Jiu-Jitsu) were excited to hear their numbers being called in the raffle. Liam , who won the Wii, had a great day as he also won gold in the 2nd largest division of the day, the Male, White belt, Kindergarten, Feather division with a total of 8 competitors, winning all his 3 matches by submission. Daylen won the PS3 and also did a great job in competition as he placed 3rd in the always tough Male, Orange belt, Teen, Middle division. It was tough competition between the teams in attendance, but after a back and forth battle between MMA Lab and GD Jiu-Jitsu, the Lab was able to pull away to secure the #1 spot on the podium with GD Jiu-Jitsu taking 2nd. The fight for 3rd and 4th was also very close with Siege MMA/Lotus Club coming up on top of Gracie Humaita. 5th place was secured by a new team as East West MMA made it to the Top 5 for the very first time with only 11 competitors.

Click here for the full results

Check out the 2011 School Rankings for the Adult and Kids Division for this season. So far the Ranking  includes results from the 6th AZ International Open. Team names CAN NOT be changed during the season. IE.: Instructor starting a program in a different school, and using a different Team name. The points WILL NOT be transfered.

In the kids division, Team GD Jiu-Jitsu jumped from the 8th place of the 2010 Final Ranking , to so far the 1st in 2011.  Followed by MMA Lab and Lion’s Den respectively 2nd and 3rd place. Yuma BJJ/Fabio Santos also jumped a few spots comparing to 2010, From 9th place to 4th, followed by Megaton’s, Gracie Humaita in fifth. A few points behind of the top 5 are Primero BJJ and Ruffhouse.

In the Adult Division, not too many changes from 2010. GD Jiu-Jitsu in first, MMA Lab in 2nd place. BJJ Revolution jumped from the 2010 7th place to a 3rd place, followed Ruffhouse and Gracie Humaita, with 4th and 5th. Rey Diogo/De Brazil and Lopez Jiu-Jitsu are on the run also a few points behind the top 5.

With the 3rd Kids Cup coming up, we should have a few changes in the ranking after the tournament.

Check out the full ranking here