The Pyramid played host to the World Jiu Jitsu Championships this weekend.  Although the event brings in the best competitors from locations all over the world, it still remains little known outside of the hardcore Brazilian Jiu Jitsu community.  In fact I spoke with practitioners of the martial art who live in Long Beach earlier this week who had no idea the event was coming.

Despite being the sport’s premiere event and featuring many of the best competitors in the world, it is also an open tournament and features competition in all five of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu’s belt classes.  As a result the event took four days to complete.  The first three days essentially appear to be pure chaos to the uninitiated.  The event has eight mats arranged at the center of the arena and often features competition on all of them at once.  In addition the majority of the spectators are either other competitors or are there as part of a competition team.  As a result the event has a very participatory feel.

At every one of the competition mats there is a collection of coaches and teammates shouting advice as often in Portuguese as English and often in a combination of both.  The remainder of the crowd is often trying to split its attention between all eight competitions.  It is not an uncommon occurrence to hear a large roar go up among a segment of the crowd and never be able to tell why, as the sweep, or takedown, or escape has already happened by the time your eyes connect to the mat that drew the attention.

Witnessing the competitors provided the entire range of human emotion.  There was the ecstatic, such as “Cobrinha” doing a victory celebration that included vaulting over a barrier and two photographers only to vault a second barrier so that he could celebrate winning his division with his teammates.  Then there was the quiet calm of Roger Gracie, who almost looked bored even when he was competing.  The look of utterly defeated exhaustion was so omnipresent among those who lost that picking an example would be arbitrary.

The most distressing look of all was that of a competitor who felt that the referee had taken the match out of his hands.  Such certainly appeared to be the case with David Heck.  After placing at the Pan American Championships in Carson earlier this year David decided to try his luck at the World Championships.  With the help of his team and his sponsors he flew all the way out from Atlanta to compete.  Unfortunately his tournament was cut short in a match that he could only describe as “incredibly suspect.”  He was penalized repeatedly for what seemed to be routine circling away from takedown attempts, and the rest of the scoring did not seem to be much better.

Unfortunately, as is often the case in any sport that does not have full time professional referees the officiating is wildly inconsistent.  Although the World Championships are in their 13th year the growing pains are still obvious.  Most of the internal aspects (such as running the tournament on schedule) work fairly smoothly, but the public relations and marketing of the event could be accurately described as a nightmare.

The fourth day of the tournament is a completely different experience.  The eight mats become two, and since all of the competitors are black belts, the people in the stands cease to be coaches and become spectators.  The majority of the finalists are from a handful of Brazilian teams who all have large groups of fans present.  Gracie Barra was especially loud, constantly engaging in Portuguese chants by themselves, until they managed to draw Alliance, Brasa, and Gracie Humaita into rivalries at various points in the evening.

The weight class finals featured the stone-faced Roger Gracie showing his first emotion of the weekend as he let a smile slip after winning the Ultra-Heavyweight class that was reminiscent of the equally calm and fundamentally sound Tim Duncan.  Kyra Gracie also repeated her dominance of the female lightweight class in a hotly contested bout.

The event that everyone had been waiting for, however, was the absolute class finals.  The bout was between Ultra-Heavyweight Champion Roger Gracie and Heavyweight Champion Xande Ribero.  Although all of the black belt final matches featured a three referee system to avoid mistakes the scoring of the bout left much to be desired.  Ribero was originally credited for a somewhat questionable takedown.  Then the points were taken away as the two judges sitting at the corners disagreed.  Then they were apparently given back.  After Xande scored another takedown, giving him a 4-0 lead Roger managed to hit a sweep to bring the match back to 4-2.  After a restart on the feet with little time left Roger immediately pulled guard and worked for an armbar that appeared extremely close to submitting Xande as time expired.

As a result Roger was unable to repeat as Absolute Champion and had to settle for his third second place finish in the event in the last four years.  Roger clearly left it all on the mat, as he looked utterly physically and emotionally exhausted after the bout was stopped.  The new champion, on the other hand, was obviously elated with the win and immediately went to celebrate with his team.

On the whole the event was everything that could be hoped for as a spectator.  The bouts themselves provided an adequate mix of razor close competitions, dominant performances, and controversy.  Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the event however was the temporary immersion in a totally different culture, which is truly a rare opportunity.

Photo and others below by Russell Conroy