Medals and trophies are the icing on the cake for competitors. It is always nice to receive a good looking medal as a memento of the hard training, and battles that you had to endure to achieve your goal: winning a grappling tournament. Of course, cash prizes are also rewarding but that is a different story.

Some BJJ/grappling organizations have put extra effort in producing original medals, trophies or prizes: Championship belts, samurai swords, a hammer…

The Knjazevac International BJJ Open, is a long running BJJ tournament that is held in Knjazevac, Serbia and they decided to offer something different for the winners.

Each division winners were awarded a roasted pig! All posed proudly with their trophy and then enjoyed eating the delicious delicacy.

Roasted piglet or pečenje (pech-EH-nyeh) in Serbian and Balkan is a national meal. Despite the common translation of “roasted piglet”, other varieties of pečenje include sheep (lamb, mutton), beef, veal, goat and chicken, and unlike roasts in many other cultures, Serbian pečenje is often eaten cold.

After the carcass is washed, cleaned and seasoned liberally with salt, it is roasted whole, either on a spit over an open fire or coals, or in a big stone oven (“furuna” or “peć” in Serbian). The finished roast is then cut into small, often square pieces, except for the head, which is served either whole or halved. Other sections are portioned with the skin and fat from that area of the animal. Internal organs such as kidneys or heart are sometimes found on the roast, but are sometimes consumed by the roaster prior to the roast being presented to the diners…

Last month, Thiago Gaia, a BJJ black belt and MMA fighter from Barbosa Jiu-Jitsu and Chute Boxe won the Basileiro No Gi Open last weekend. When Thiago received his medal on the podium, he lifted a poster with the phrase: “#Fighters don’t eat medals”, well Thiago, in Serbia they do!!!

Here is a list of cool and original medals from BJJ tournaments