Here we go! 2500 athletes (including me) are heading to California to compete in the IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu Championship. It’s like the 30 minutes before a skydiving jump where the plane climbs to 15,000 feet. You can look down and see the ground getting farther and farther away. And suddenly you realize that you are going to have to return back down but without the help of a plane. And when it’s time… You stand up, walk towards the open hatch, and suddenly there is no more ground to walk on and you’re off…
That’s pretty much how I feel. I have the technique to win. I have the cardio to win. I have the game plan to win. The rest is just heart. I’m going to give it everything I got, one match at a time. I have 126 guys in my division (see below), but I only have to beat 7 of them to win gold.
Thank you to everyone who has supported me financially. I’ll send out a couple cool videos to you guys (after I get back) and to anyone that still might chip in a few bucks. I didn’t quite reach my goal to cover the full trip cost but it definitely made my journey a lot easier.
I’m very fortunate to have been a part of the judo and jiu jitsu communities in these last few years. I’ve only been doing jiu jitsu two and a half years, but I feel like it has already changed my life.
- Absoluto BJJ Horatiu Balint
- Absoluto BJJ ion pinzaru
- Academia Atitude/Gracie Humaita Ricardo Vargas
- Akxe BJJ Tony Torrisi
- Aldo Batista’s Club BJJ greg west
- Alliance Raphael de Castro Vieira
- Alliance Rehan Muttalib
- Alliance Atlanta Kaice Reilly
- Alliance Atlanta William Edmondson
- Alliance Ecuador James Robert Saa Marin
- Alliance Ecuador luis alfredo Arboleda Subia
- Alliance International Gert-Jan Vergauwen
- Alliance International Lucas Jose Alves de Oliveira
- Alliance JiuJitsu San Francisco Toby Marroquin
- Alliance JJ James Blake Hansen
- Alliance JJ Shane Adam Sorensen
- Alliance Los Angeles Samuel Christian Rice
- Alliance Marcelo Garcia Taylor Wayne Bright
- Alliance RJ Ryan Shackleton
- Alliance SP Ramzi Farzad Abdulwahab Ahmed
- Alliance USA Richard Pinto
- Alliance USA Wanderson Cardoso
- Atos Jiu-Jitsu Fabio Rodrigo Bortolon dos Santos
- Atos Jiu-Jitsu Julio Cesar Figueiredo Ferraz
- Barbosa JJ Alef Felipe da Silva
- Barbosa JJ Ygor de Arruda F. Y. de Souza
- BJJ Revolution Team Dominique Hoskins
- Brasa Warrior International Jim Barrett
- Carlson Gracie Canada Joele Cuenca
- Carlson Gracie Las Vegas Ricardo Cavalcanti JR
- Cesar Pereira Brazilian Jiu Jitsu – CTMMA Sean Quigley
- Charles Gracie Academy Steven White
- CheckMat Andrew Detwiler
- CheckMat Michael Anthony Torres
- CheckMat International Murat Yesildal
- CheckMat International Ryan Bustamante
- CheckMat USA Luis Morales
- CheckMat USA Omi Iwasaki
- Clockwork Jiu-Jitsu Josh Macin
- Clube de Jiu-Jitsu Pit Bull – San Diego ryan reed
- Cobra Kai Jiu Jitsu Vincent Inoncillo
- Combat Sports Boston Jonathan Leung
- Drysdale BJJ Dio Alfonze Buan
- Easton BJJ John Combs
- Easton BJJ Juan J Segnini
- Fight Club Jonathan Greek
- Fight Sports Hunter Xavier Kainalu Ewald
- Frontline Academy Joachim Sveinson
- GF Team Lucas Laet Mattos Moutinho
- GF Team Renan De Amorim
- GF Team Sergipe Richard Hopper
- Gracie Barra Luiz Gustavo Rocha Fernandes Neto
- Gracie Barra Marverk Vinicius da Silva Santos
- Gracie Barra America Antonio Santiago
- Gracie Barra America Ben Dowling
- Gracie Barra Brasil huerre
- Gracie Barra California Carlos Mena
- Gracie Barra California erick a leon garcia
- Gracie Barra International Anatoliy Aksanov
- Gracie Barra International jeffrey milton
- Gracie Barra Irvine Ali Magomedov
- Gracie Barra Irvine Maxen Antenor
- Gracie Barra JJ Oleg Ryaboy
- Gracie Barra JJ Sergio Daza Suarez
- Gracie Barra Orlando Johnatas Da Silva
- Gracie Barra Rio de Janeiro Josh Ramirez
- Gracie Barra Rio de Janeiro patrick ryan
- Gracie Barra USA Lionel Gomez
- Gracie Elite Team Joel Hadden
- Gracie Elite Team Pedro L Migliano
- Gracie Elite Team America Vasili Nikolaev
- Gracie Fighter Justin Nero
- Gracie Morumbi Kai Ellison
- Gracie Morumbi Steve Barahona
- Heroes Martial Arts Michael Greco
- Hilti BJJ Jyvaskyla Tommi Pohjola
- Icon Jiu-Jitsu Team Gabriel Salles Muniz Almeida
- Kron Gracie Jiu Jitsu Ryan Barber
- Lloyd Irvin Martial Arts Joseph Formica
- Lotus Club Jiu-Jitsu Clifford Anderson-Bergman
- Lovato Jiu-Jitsu Devin Roan
- Marcelo Alonso Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Doohyun “D.H.” Im
- Nova União Cooper Cardinale
- Nova União Thiago Bracks Oliveira
- Nova União USA Jordan Shepler
- NYMAG Jiu-Jitsu USA Julian Hermosillo
- Paragon BJJ Academy gregorio santiago
- Peter de Been JJ Grant Cooper
- Ralph Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Berkeley BOLDERDENE ODSUREN
- Renzo Gracie LA Robert Lewis Grober
- Rey Diogo/Carlson KEVIN MARQUINA
- Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu Aaron Jerel Eberhart
- Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu Justin Jones
- Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu International Kenny Steeve Haunui Otcenasek
- Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu International Patrick Davis
- Roberto Traven BJJ Alexander McIntyre
- Roberto Traven BJJ tom pennington
- Rodrigo Vaghi BJJ Drew Dober
- Ryan Gracie Team Rafael Rosa
- SBG International (SBGI) david walker
- Serao Mixed Martial Arts Benjamin Silva IV
- Serao Mixed Martial Arts Lucas Fernandes Oliveira
- Socal Fight Factory Alex Jose Alfaro
- Soul Fighters BJJ Igor Matosinho de Paiva
- South Valley Jiu Jitsu matt buren owens
- SPMA Aydin Mrouki
- Team Lloyd Irvin Joseph Ruggiero
- Team Lloyd Irvin Matt Rihani
- Texas Punishment Crew Kevin Johnson
- The Avengers Jason Kaoud
- The Avengers Jordan Meister
- Toronto BJJ Pema Dorji
- Training Ground Jiu-Jitsu and MMA Tim Park
- Tribe Jiu-Jitsu Roma Luigi Di Francia
- Undisputed Daniel Carlson
- Unit Maf Ludwig Michael Muller Vizcaino
- University of Jiu-Jitsu Laurenz Pakter
- Urban Jungle Self-Defense john saldana
- Victory BJJ Nam Huy Dinh
- West Coast BJJ Brendan Kiley
- West Coast BJJ David Kennedy
- WinnerJJ Anderson Costa da Silva
- Yemaso Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Richard Bothun
- Z1 Angola Helder Alves Cardoso
- Z1 Angola Walter Faustino
Good luck, man. I havd been reading your blogs for the last few months and i like the way you think about BJJ, its very similar to me.
Good luck out there,and remeber don’t listen to that little voice.
Thanks Dominique! I remember watching a documentary on Renzo Gracie and during big fights he would deal with that little voice by making fun of it in his head. It’s good to know that athletes at all levels and just people in general have to deal with it.
Best of luck fella,
I am from a judo background and have recently started my journey into the world of BJJ.
I too am hoping to compete at the “Big” tournaments in the future, and reading your blog is inspiring me in my journey.
Give it your very best man,
Enjoy
Awesome. I still have my feet in both worlds and hope to keep it that way. I feel like I can do BJJ into my 70′s while I’ll probably have to slow down on judo in my 60′s
You should definitely try out the big tournaments as soon as you feel crazy enough to do it. It’s always a great experience.