AUGUST 24, Las Vegas – Nevada was once again the home for the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) Grand Prix, an event that has been a tradition of the federation when celebrating one of its main tournaments, the Masters World Championship, that happens on the same week every year.
The Grand Prix is one of the best-paid events on the professional jiu-jitsu circuit (USD 40k) and has gathered the interest of the sport’s main stars over the past few editions. This year, however, the tournament suffered from its close timeline proximity with the ADCC, arguably the most prestigious event of the year. This aforementioned schedule closeness between the two competitions was likely the cause for quite a few last-minute changes to the GP’s original roster, as many of the chosen GP athletes who had committed to the tournament opted to snub the competition, likely in fear of possible injuries.
Two of the super-stars that were scheduled to compete here were Marcus Almeida and Gordon Ryan, which had the fans salivating for a potential super-match-up between the two. The one all wanted to see. Unfortunately, both athletes had to pull out, in fact, from of the original line-up of 8 men, only 3 of the original GP names showed up for the main show today: João Gabriel Rocha, Patrick Gaudio, and Lucas Barbosa.
Luckily for us, the fans, there is no shortage of heavyweight talent, currently on the IBJJF circuit. As such, the event was still talent dense. That being said, the tournament did lack a bit of excitement, with most matches dragging in (slow-cooked) wrestling clashes, with few exceptions. Full results of the matches below.
QUARTER-FINALS
– João Gabriel Rocha def. Patrick Gaudio via split decision
– Vinicius Ferreira def. Luiz Panza via unanimous decision
– Lucas Barbosa def. Tim Spriggs via 12×0
– Roberto Cyborg def. Victor Hugo via 4 advantages
SEMI-FINALS
– João Gabriel Rocha def. Vinicius Ferreira via 5 advantages
– Roberto Cyborg def. Lucas Barbosa via 2 penalties
FINAL
– Roberto Cyborg def. João Gabriel Rocha via unanimous decision
