Fabio Gurgel, the leader of Alliance in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

This weekend the 2010 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Tournament is underway in Irvine, California. The Pan, formerly referred to as the Pan-Ams, is widely regarded as one of the most important Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions held anywhere in the world. As of this writing, none of the champions have been decided yet but yesterday was full of very high-end talent. We will reflect on some of the action with Alliance Jiu-Jitsu’s Fabio “The General” Gurgel, the Sao Paulo-based instructor who is responsible for some of the most dominant jiu-jitsu competitors today.

The majority of our show today is a conversation with Antonio Antonioli, a brown belt in jiu-jitsu from Porto Alegre, Brazil. Most of us have an idea of what we think Brazilian jiu-jitsu is, and we know what our personal experience in jiu-jitsu is like, but not many of us have experienced jiu-jitsu from Brazil itself. Antonioli will give us a glimpse into the everyday way jiu-jitsu is felt by the multitudes back in the nest of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (recommended)
[mp3] Download the show

Antonio Antonioli (left) demonstrates a half guard position with Alex Brandao.

Rodrigo Cavaca (Check Mat) has his hand raised after defeating Andre de Freitas (Gracie Fighter) at Grapplers Quest in 2009. Both will be competing at this weekend’s 2010 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

To limit the influence of super large jiu-jitsu teams overwhelming a certain bracket to ensure points for earning a medal, each team can only enter two competitors in a single division.

Here’s what I mean. Let’s imagine that you manage a large team of Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitors and have a dozen black belts that can compete at medium. While having a dozen competitors in a single division on one’s team does not absolutely ensure a medal for any of them, it would make the work of a team with far less competitors much harder, reducing the chances that they make it to the podium at the end of the day. Because the tournaments are supposed to represent who the best individual fighters are and not whose team is the largest, the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation prohibits you from entering all twelve of those athletes under your flag in the event. Your team’s leadership can only pick two of them.

Here are a couple of examples coming from this weekend’s 2010 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship. Take these competitors in the notoriously competitive lightweight division:

Alliance Lucas Lepri
Alliance Michael Langhi
Alliance Atlanta William Cooper

Gracie Barra Bruno Amorim
Gracie Barra Sergio Rodrigo de Oliveira
Gracie Barra America Joao Sobrinho
Gracie Barra America Rodrigo Freitas
Gracie Barra Long Island Joe Scarola

You’ll notice that there are only two names listed next to Alliance, and two names listed next to Gracie Barra. This means that if Lucas Lepri or Michael Langhi earn a medal, only their points would go to the Alliance team points. (A gold medal earns 9 points, a silver medal earns 3 points, and a bronze medal earns one point.) If Bill “The Grill” Cooper wins a medal, his points would be accumulated with everyone else’s who was registered under the team named Alliance Atlanta.

The same thing goes for Bruno Amorim and Sergio Rodrigo de Oliveira. They bear the responsibility for bringing home the points for Gracie Barra’s main team.

Of course, should Cooper, Sobrinho, Freitas, or Scarola do well and bring home a medal, we in the public will still associate them with their parent organization (Alliance or Gracie Barra). But in terms of how their points are counted this weekend, only two athletes will be under that pressure. They are their organization’s “A Team”.

Antonio Braga Neto (Gordo Jiu-Jitsu) defeats Romulo Barral (Gracie Barra) on his way to to the gold medal in the black belt absolute division at the 2009 BJJ Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Pan-Ams is run by the United States Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (a subsidiary of the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation) and is easily the second most important annual gathering of BJJ talent in North America. This week on the show we showcase the preparations made by two of the teams that have historically had the most success at the Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship: Gracie Barra and Alliance. In 2006, 2007, and 2009 Gracie Barra won first place, and in 2008 Alliance took home the gold.

From Alliance we hear from Romero “Jacare” Cavalcanti, the founder of the team who has made Atlanta, Georgia his home for over a decade. Jacare brings us up to speed on his team’s training camp and who we can expect to see at the Pan-Ams, all the while keeping in mind his desire to win the “Grand Slam”: 1rst place in the Europeans, Pan-Ams, Mundials, and Brasileiros.

Gracie Barra’s preparations are delivered by two big names from the organization, Marcio Feitosa and Flavio Almeida. Both now run GB schools in southern California and they will share details of Gracie Barra’s efforts in the near term with the Pan-Ams as well as their long term investment in competition success with the Gracie Barra Competition Network.

Of course cohost Dan and I will go over some correspondence from the Mighty 600,000, and review the good news about the finals of the Pan-Am being streamed live online on April 11.

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (recommended)
[mp3] Download the show

GPCGB President Lee Marshall has commented on the recent alliance that has been formed between Great Britain's GPC and WPC affiliates, the GPCGB and BPC.

In a victory for unity, Dave Beattie has announced that Great Britain's affiliates to the WPC and GPC, the BPC and GPCGB, have formed an alliance. Beattie, who helped broker the alliance, says that the federations will run unified qualifiers as well as a unified British Championship.