I’ve competed in almost every ADCC trial since 2016, so many, in fact, that I’ve lost count of the exact number.
I remember watching Eddie Cummings, Enrico Coco, Rousimar Palhares, and so many other forgotten names of our sport lay it on the line for next to nothing. A few of my teammates and coaches have even won there. And they all did it mostly for pride.
It was a time before the grappling world we enjoy now, before the UFC and ONE FC handed out contracts, and athletes like Gordon Ryan held household names, popping up on the Joe Rogan Podcast. Everyone just wanted to be Marcello Garcia back then.
Recently, Mo Jassim took the ADCC to the mainstream, and we all went along for the ride. The last four Trails were enormous high-production affairs in ballrooms with smoke machines and light shows. But before then, events were held in high school gyms with empty bleachers in New Jersey and Indiana, with 30 or 40 competitors in each division. This year’s ADCC East Coast Trials reflected a return to that more modest past.
The event was still held in a massive convention center the day after the Orlando Open. However, the pool of athletes was noticeably smaller, though the action on the mats proved the two-day event still packed enough drama to live up to everyone’s expectations of what many die-hard grappling fans consider to be the most electrifying tournament in our sport.
Veteran competitor and former Trials winner John Combs moved up two weight classes to make it to the semi-finals, losing to the eventual winner, Achilles Rocha, who later went on to win his division, securing the Vagner bloodline as grappling’s new 1st family. For the record, daughter Jasime is a former trials winner, and Vanger is already a BJJ legend.
10th planet OG Jon “Thor” Blank returned as a crowd favorite to become a two-time winner, too. Boogie and Geo Martinez led their team with PJ Barch to three more podium spots, including a disappointed Keith Kirkorian finishing 3rd.
Pedigo Submission Fighting System, which had a stellar showing with two winners, Jacob Bonerman and Bradon Reed, kept the always dangerous Daisy Fresh squad in the mix. Congrats to head coach Heath Pedigo. I’ve always admired him greatly on a personal level for the remarkable coaching job he’s done creating his team.
Last but not least, the ever-present aura of Gordon Ryan and his new Kingsway team took two championships home, putting Dorian Olivarez and Ana Mayordomo on top of their respective podiums as he apparently took the reins from the noticeably absent New Wave shaman John Danaher.
A few other stories dominated the news feeds. Morgan “Mo” Black and Maia Matalon proved that small gyms can still compete on the big stages, and thirteen-year-old phenom Joslyn Molina impressively battled her way to third place.
But the standard Jiu-Jitsu star, and one-half of the dynamic Corbi brothers, Gavin, was this event’s Cinderella story. He lost a tough match to powerhouse Dorian Olivarez and finished 2nd proving that Greg Sauders and his ecological approach to training are not a fad but a force to be acknowledged.
It appears that Jiu-Jitsu’s massive, spectacular events may be coming to an end, and this year’s East Coast Trials was a reflection of this. The UFC BJJ events are not living up to the hype, and I still can’t sit through a PGF event without pinching myself to stay awake. All this makes me sad, too. I’ve always dreamt of the big time for our sport. Unfortunately, as we have historically done, I’m afraid we couldn’t get it right.
But there was something special about this event that reminded me why I love this sport. Sitting on the mats watching the finals with a hundred people brought me back to the old days. During the semi-finals, Mo Jassim walked by me and said, “At my core, I’m just a jits nerd and I love this stuff,” and the look of sincere joy on his face tells me we are right where we’ve always been, and that’s a great place to be.
Last Sunday, we were all transformed back to the early days before the IBJJF ruled the game, and surf bums from the Copacabana beach left their boards and threw on gis to fight with their neighborhood rival gyms for supremacy of the South Zone of Rio.
This is where we come from, and in this modern world of social media stars selling instructionals, feuding clans, and massive competitor mils stealing talent from their original coaches, it was refreshing to see the community I love get together just for the love of grappling.
If this piece reminded you why we all fell in love with Jiu-Jitsu in the first place, do me a favor and share it with a teammate who still trains for the love of the art.
If you want more of the mindset, technique, and long-form storytelling I don’t put anywhere else, join me inside the Gracie Trinity Skool community — it’s where I break things down in detail and help people grow on and off the mats.
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