2011 Ramadan Games round-up

29th August 2010, ABU DHABI: Emiri Guards emerged champions of the Jiu-Jitsu championship in the 14th AFOC Open Sports Festival at the AFOC premises on Friday night.

The 14th AFOC Open Sports Festival is being held under the patronage of Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Presidential Affairs. The Sports Festival comes to an end on Monday.The UAE Youth Team finished second, while the Tunisian National team were third. Lt. General (Rtd) Mohammed Hilal Surour Al Ka’abi, AFOC Board Chairman and Chairman of the Higher Organizing Committee and Mohammed bin Thaloub Al-Dar’e, Chairman of the UAE Wrestling, Judo and Jiu-Jitsu Association, attended the final day of the championship in which 133 contestants from 27 countries of the world, including 64 UAE contestants, took part.

The UAE lads put up a good show in the championship. Faisal Al Kitbi succeeded in defending his title in the open weight class, winning the gold and the championship trophy following his triumph over Tunisian expatriate Hassan Musa. Two Brazilians Adinelson and Pablo finished third and fourth respectively to take home the bronze.Tariq Matar of Egypt won the above 92kgs weight class, defeasting Ryan White of the USA. Faisal Al Kitbi of the UAE and compatriot, Mohammed Al Minhali, took the bronze.

The gold in the 92kgs weight class went to Ammar Mutee Al Ahmed of the UAE, leaving the silver to Brazil’s Pablo Leet. The bronze went to Safyan Haish of Tunisia and Zaid Lafi of Jordan.Dimitri of Greece won the gold in the 83kgs weight class. Wisam Mutee Al Ahmed won the silver, while the bronze went to UAE’s Abdul Aziz Al Jabri and Tunisia’s Hassan Barhami.

In the 74kgs class, UAE’s Hassan Al Rumaithi won the gold, leaving the silver to compatriot Mohammed Nasser Al Qubaisi. Talib Al Karbi and Jaber Hamad Al Dar’e took the bronze, to make it a clean sweep for the UAE.UAE made a clean sweep in the 65kgs class as well as Ali Salim Al Dar’e, Omar Al Dar’e, Tariq Saeed Al Kitbi and Yasser Al-Qubaisi emerged first, second, third and fourth respectively.

Scot Mc Gregory of Britain won the gold in the 63kgs class, while UAE’s Ibrahim Al Hammadi took the silver. The bronze went to Mohammed Waleed Al Mar’e of Syria and Marwan Dawood of Lebanon.In the below 63kgs class, Basim Al Amiri of Tunisia won the gold, while UAE’s Ahmed Ghareeb Al Shamsi won the silver. The bronze went to Ahmed Ja’afar of Bahrain and Mohammed Fat-hi of Tunisia.

Alliance BJJ arrives in the Middle East

Wednesday 1st September, 2010: Alliance BJJ, one of the most successful and competitive organizations on the current Brazilian Jiu Jitsu scene, have established themselves in the Middle East region after completing a partnership deal with Reza’s Martial Art Center. Using the Bahrain based academy as their regional headquarters, Alliance plan to use the school as a center point for international competitions currently found in Abu Dhabi, such as the World Professional Jiu Jitsu Cup and Asia Super Cup.

The relationship between RMAC and Alliance began several years ago when Marcello Garcia paid a visit to the school to give a seminar. Head coach and Founder Reza Monfaradi expressed an interest in developing the relationship further and set the wheels in motion to become the very first Alliance Affiliated school in the Middle East.

Recently, top Alliance black belt Alex Monsalve made the lengthy trip from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to the Arab Emirate to officially formalize the partnership. During his stay, Alex also gave a week long seminar covering some of the latest techniques and developments seen on the Brazilian competition scene. His trip was followed by a visit from Alliance boss Fabio Gurgel who also gave a six ay seminar, as well as an in-depth instructor training course.

The affiliation is a vital indication to the level of growth of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu seen in the Middle East region. As the sport grows in popularity and the technical ability of competitors continues to evolve, the region will experience an increase in the amount of top level organizations and competitors.

I’ve known Reza for some years. Sent Marcelo Garcia to Bahrain in 2004 to spend a week with him and Reza showed interest in joining our team. At the time, though, we were unable to assume all the necessary commitments. But the academy grew. Our black belt Alex Monsalve went there to teach a seminar, liked it and will stay with Reza over there. Now we have made official the partnership,” said Gurgel.

“Reza does serious work in Bahrain, has a big team and Jiu-Jitsu has been there for many years. The black belts who go to compete at the Abu Dhabi Pro, in 2010, can perhaps adapt there for the week preceding the championship. So Bahrain is an important point for us to have that kind of flexibility. It would be like what we do before competing at the Jiu-Jitsu Worlds in the USA, we stop off in Atlanta and stay there a week,” explained Fabio.

Reza’s Martial Art Center (Alliance Bahrain) has already established itself as one of the dominant Brazilian Jiu Jitus schools in the Middle East region. Under the leadership of head coach Reza Monfaradi, the academy has grown from humble origins since its establishment in 1999 to one of the main driving forces behind regional BJJ. The school caters for all levels of ability and has a wide range of practitioners, as well as catering for other disciplines such as Muay Thai boxing and Capoeria. The competition team has travelled all around the world to attend some of the largest tournaments on the international Jiu Jitsu stage, and have a very high success rate. With the addition of the Alliance affiliation, RMAC will have regular visits and seminars by some of the top competitors in the sport.

For more information on Reza’s Martial Art Center please visit:
http://www.rezamartialart.com/

For more information on Alliance’s Bahrain visit please visit:
http://www.graciemag.com/en/2009/12/alliance-heads-to-the-middle-east/

2010 Thailand Open set for October

Monday 30th August, 2010: While the 2010 Thailand Open is obviously taking place in South East Asia, it presents a great opportunity for those in the Middle East to experience a very high level of competition. South East Asia has an amazing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu community and has grown to become a real hot spot for competitions in both gi and no gi.

Their website is not up and running yet, but you can get the latest information on the tournament by visiting http://www.bjj-asia.com/. Brown and black belts will be able to compete for free and will also be hosted for free at the Golden Palace Hotel. The competition will take place on the 23rd and 24th of October. For more information you can contact the tournament organizers at thailandbjj@gmail.com

BJJ Middle East

This blog was inspired by the rapidly growing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu scene found in the Middle East region. With so many schools continuously appearing and a large selection of competitions on both a regional and international level taking place in the GCC, it was obvious that there is a need for an integration of all the relevant information. Hopefully, with the help of the BJJ Middle East community, we can create an interactive and helpful website which will be useful for newcomers and seasoned veterans alike.

Until recently I was not aware as to the extent that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu had spread in the region. Already there are multiple schools, associations and organizations across the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and numerous other places. All of these schools have information which, in many cases, is hard to find and inaccessible to all but the most determined of BJJ practitioners. This blog aims to make all this information, both old and new, much easier to find and thus provide an accurate and up-to-date resource for everyone to use.

'Magical' Ray Elbe MMA Seminar in Mubai, India

Friday 27th August 2010: Tiger Muay Thai’s head MMA trainer and a Juliano Prado Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt Ray Elbe will be providing a unique opportunity for Asia’s Mixed Martial Art fans to pick up some of the latest techniques and most effective moves seen in today’s ever growing combat sport scene.

Organized by Total Combat Fitness (TCF) from their headquarters located in Mumbai, India, the three day seminar will showcase the effectiveness of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, grappling and submission wrestling applied to Mixed Martial Arts and aims to satisfy the flourishing combat sports scene rapidly growing in India. The seminar will take place over the 1st October, 2nd October and 3rd October at the Sports Authority of India, with Ray Elbe focusing on a wide variety of technical demonstrations and training strategies, as well as giving a unique insight into India’s growing MMA scene and how enthusiasts can turn their passion into a career. The first day and second day will begin at 7am, while the final day will commence at 12pm.

Coming off a dominant win over India’s number one MMA fighter Alan Fenandes at the ESPN featured Martial Combat 6 tournament, Ray Elbe added yet another title to his impressive MMA record by claiming the Superfight Championship belt. The head MMA trainer for the renowned Tiger Muay Thai camp is well known for his ability to aid veteran fighters in incorporating both Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai boxing into their arsenal in preparation for international competitions. With a host of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) athletes, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu legends and some of Muay Thai’s finest all travelling to Phuket, Ray Elbe has created one of the most passionate and knowledgeable MMA learning environments to be found throughout Asia. Well known for his clear and concise teaching methods complimented by a wealth of experience, those looking to attend will be exposed to the very latest techniques and strategies used at an elite level of fighting.

For more information please visit www.totalcombatfitness.com (the site will be available from the 30th August 2010.