ADCC Submission Wrestling Championships 2009 Review

If you study jiu jitsu, judo, wrestling or just a casual mixed martial arts fan, you will be aware of one of the most prestigious events held every two years called ADCC where the strongest grapplers from different styles come to test their skills against the very best in the world.

This year in Barcelona it was certainly no different and having the pleasure of personally visit I can safely say this was one of the most exciting sport events I have ever been two. The level of skill displayed was truly phenomenal and despite a very strong showing of representatives from Brazil, there were great fighters of different styles from all over the world including Iceland, Australia, Spain, USA, Finland, Japan and many other countries.

Plenty of surprises were of course taking place throughout the tournament. Early on, Marcelo Garcia carried out a series of quick (and easy) victories submitting his early opponents and overcoming Kron Gracie (the student and son of Rickson Gracie).

Saulo Ribeiro, one of the greatest competitors in the sport was also present, competing to everyone's surprise in the +99kg division against the likes of Fabricio Werdum (who took gold in +99kg), Jeff Monson and others.

Saulo displayed great skill early on, overcoming Romulo Barral the 2009 BJJ World Champion, only to be stopped in the Semi-Final by the much bigger and very charismatic Fabricio Werdum. After losing to Jeff Monson for the bronze and wearing his kimono during that fight, Saulo announced his retirement from the sport. We of course look forward to Saulo competing in other competitions and it is sad to hear this from one of the greatest ever.

Saulo Ribeiro's book Jiu Jitsu University which came out recently will almost certainly be soon a required reading for any jiu jitsu practitioner and his instructional DVDs are perhaps the best ever made and certainly my favorite.

Later we saw some impressive performances from Pablo Popovitch, who in the finals defeated Marcelo Garcia taking gold after some controversial allegations that Pablo was grabbing Marcelo's shorts.

Xande Ribeiro looked the strongest on the mats taking gold in his division and easily defeating all of his opponents and then fighting in the absolute division only to lose via shoulder injury to the very strong Braulio Estima.

Gunnar Nelson displayed incredible cardio and abilities coming close to submitting the much bigger and more experienced Jeff Monson.

The atmosphere of the event and the organization was excellent. Submission Wrestling is really a growing sport boosted by growth in popularity of mixed martial arts and Brazilian jiu jitsu. I understand that the International Wrestling Federation is pushing grappling to become an Olympic sport and it very much deserves to be, alongside BJJ and Judo.

Please see this link for pictures