ADCC

Wow, what a weekend. The ADCC submission world championships in Nottingham. Absolutely bloody amazing. From the very first match all the way through to the Absolute Finals. Loved it.

André Galvao came away as the big winner this year winning both his weight category at under 88KG in a massive and dramatic battle against one of the competitions big stars, Rousimar Palhares, and coming away as the eventual winner of the Absolute category also. Galvao was brilliant all the way through the competition and thoroughly deserved both titles.

André's Absolute title gives him the honour of fighting in the Superfight at the 2013 ADCC against Braulio Estima who was the winner of this years Superfight over "Jacare" Ronaldo Souza in a very closely fought points decision. Braulio was very VERY well supported due to the locality of his own club just 40 miles away. The Braulio Superfight was definitely the loudest match in terms of crowd noise and atmosphere. And Braulio seemed to love it, he really shone all weekend as a true Jiu Jitsu superstar.

Best throw of the weekend definitely goes to my man, Leo Vieira for an immense Ippon Seoinage against Enricco Coco in his first bout. It seemed like the guy almost bounced off the mat, the whole arena erupted. Leo was my favourite for winning his under 77Kg category but, after getting to the finals, he bowed out to the phenomenal Marcelo Garcia via triangle choke. Garcia was brilliant through the entire competition, watching his Jiu Jitsu is an absolute pleasure and I had wished he would've competed in the Absolute. It is no wonder he is known as the "Jiu Jitsu Genius".

The most exciting competitor in my opinion (and that of my friends) was definitely Rousimar Palhares. Tapping out all three of his opponents on the way to the finals of the under 88Kg by heel hook, only losing to eventual big winner Andre Galvao on points. Palhares' fights were all exciting affairs with the crowd always on the edge of their seats. He threw his opponents around with what I can only describe as scary strength and even tapped one guy out twice (so it seemed to everyone near me at least). He also supplied some much needed comedy with his over zealous back slapping of defeated opponents.

Hands down though, the best moment for me was getting to meet THE MAN. That's right, Rickson Gracie was in attendance doing an amazing job for the fans, signing stuff, having his picture taken and generally just being a monolithic Jiu Jitsu presence. At times you felt that people were ignoring the fighting and just watching him to see what he did next. Awesome guy. I felt truly blessed to just be in his presence (and I'm quite sure it's probably improved my BJJ game no end :o) ), Rickson, you are a legend!

Note, the Acai berry stuff that was being served at a concession stand at the front of the arena looked hideous (kind of like it had been pre-chewed) and was ridiculously expensive at £6 a bowl. Yes that's right, £6!!! for that little bowl Rickson has in his hand. Although I doubt Rickson paid for any of the 7 plus bowls I saw him eating over the entire weekend (too stalkery?) but for mere mortals that's quite a hefty price tag for something that looks like it's already been eaten and doesn't come with a guarentee of massive Jiu Jitsu improvements with each bowl. Guy next to me said it tasted good though.

Other stars I managed to Pap this weekend were;

Jean Jacques Machado

Renzo Gracie

and

Fabricio Werdum

I also had a strange moment in the loos with Jeff "The Snowman" Monson.

As I said, an absolutely great weekend for a BJJ Geek fan boy.

Til next time \m/