When Sean Robert’s left San Francisco, California last week, he knew very little about the structure of the competition he was about to compete in. “All I know at this point is that I was invited, along with some of the top brown belts from around the world, to compete in a week long submission-only […]
It’s a Wednesday, the day before my division at the Rio Open. It also happens to be my birthday today. I’m blessed to be in Rio, but the celebrations will have to wait until post-competition. I’m lounging on the beach in Ipanema, watching four carioca women play beach volleyball. All are donning string-clad bikinis. […]
From a cafe in Ipanema…. I left you last week as I just began my final week of training at Gordo JiuJitsu in Rio de Janeiro before the Rio Open JiuJitsu Championships. Ït is winter here, and although it can be very warm and sunny, last week was cold and rainy through Wednesday. Therefore, Monday through Wednesday consisted of eating, […]
Most people will tell you that they don’t think it’s a good idea for a young lady to travel to Rio de Janeiro alone—especially when they hear you are going to train & fight in a martial art. I hear the usual things from friends and family, but also from people in the jiujitsu community. […]
Rooster: Bruno Malfacine (Alliance) takes gold with ref dec win over Caio Terra (Gracie Fighter) Fight Breakdown: See video! See CAIO X MALFACINE match here! Light Feather: Guilherme Mendes (Atos Jiu-Jitsu) edges Laercio Fernandes (Lotus Club) after a score of 2-2pts, win via ref decision Fight breakdown: Guilherme pulls to open de la riva, then […]
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Rafael Lovato Jr. is hungry and he’s on a mission to set a new World record in Jiu-Jitsu. The Lucky Gi and OTM Fight Shop sponsored fighter wants to become the first American to win two black belt divisional titles at the Jiu-Jitsu World Championships. BJ Penn was the first American […]
Today marked the start of the black belt male divisions at the IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu World Championships. Early morning saw the preliminaries of the black belt adult male and female absolute divisions and was never lacking in action. In the quarterfinals of the male open class, Rodolfo Vieira (GF Team) and Marcus Almeida "Buchecha" (Checkmat) faced […]
Kurt “the Rhino” Osiander charges to Gold at PanAms – Black Belt Adult Finals Results Long time OTM friend and athlete Kurt Osiander took home two new medals to his San Francisco Ralph Gracie academy after snatching up gold at weight and bronze in the absolute of the black belt senior 3 division. The “Move […]
This weekend, the OTM crew is in attendance for one of jiujitsu’s most coveted tournaments—the Pan American JiuJitsu Championships, held at UC Irvine. Saturday was day three of the event and brought with it epic battles among the adult black belt open weight divisions. On Sunday, the final day of competition, the brown and black […]
The San Francisco Bay Area has been an emerging meca for jiu-jitsu in the United States, renowned for it’s high level of instruction and for the number of top rated black belts who call the area home. Some of the art’s most well known black belts, including Ralph Gracie, Cesar Gracie and Claudio França, as […]
