Photos: BJJ Freaks
Written By Guillaume Huni, BJJ black belt and head instructor of Kimura Academy in Serbia.
I had the honour of competing last weekend at the UAEJJF‘s Russia National Pro in Moscow. It had always been a dream of mine to visit Russia and this was the perfect occasion.
Background on BJJ in Russia
BJJ is growing very fast in Russia. Last year, Moscow hosted ab international Kids bjj tournament – GYMNASIUM CUP which had close to 600 participants from 4 to 17 y.o. This year, they want to bring more than 800 kids and juveniles competing on 8 mats. More info here.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu formally arrived relatively late in Russia in comparisson to other Eastern European countries such as Serbia and Poland (2000). Leonid Gatovskiy, Russia’s first BJJ black belt started formally training BJJ from 2004.
In 2014, the first IBJJF events ever were held in Moscow: The IBJJF Moscow International Open and the No Gi Open. They were a smashing success.
2015 and 2016 had massive BJJ invitationals BERKUT in Grozny and Moscow which hosted stars such as Andre Galvao, Romulo Barral, Rafael Mendes etc…
There are many new BJJ academies spreading around Russia and the overall level is growing fast.
The real success can be seen in the number of children training BJJ. This kids competition is a good indicator that BJJ in Russia is headed in the right direction.
One of the main people responsible for this success is the leader of Ludus Team Russia, Brazilian BJJ black belt Alexander ‘Deda’ Faria, a very important person in the Russian BJJ scene. He was the man responsible for the IBJJF Moscow International Open in 2914 and now the UAEJJF Russia National Pro .
I have myself co-organised the Serbia National Pro in late 2014, and have competed in the 2016 Croatia National Pro 2 months ago. This Russia event was the best organised event of all. The venue was great, and for the first time had a lounge area with a DJ, music, with coffee and sandwiches being sold. All Russian BJJ academies were allowed to have a boot for free, and the guys of Russian BJJ community BJJ Freaks had their own boot as well. During the half an hour lunch break on Sunday, they organised a Braziian show with Capoeira and Samba which was awesome.
The first day was a Kids competition and the second day was for adults.
Complete results of the two days of the tournament can be viewed at the link on the organizers’ website: https://uaejjf.smoothcomp.com/event/104 .
There were 400 competitors for two days. The stands were full of spectators and many there were many Russian VIP guests and influential people present.
Photo: BJJ Freaks
I competed in the brown/black belt division which featured some top competitors such as Abdulrahman Bilarov (he defeated ADCC and world champion Calasans and submitted Jackson Souza), Abdulbari Guseinov, Daniel Riou from Portugal and Evgeny Chmutov who submitted two black belts on his way to the Gold. I ended up taking bronze at weight and bronze in absolute after some tough matches.
Absolute brown/belt final:
The event was very well organised, had a positive atmosphere and gathered all members of the Russian BJJ community. We look forward to more events in 2017.
Here is a 3 part VLOG that I did showing my trip:
