ADCC DiveBombs

The 2007 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Championships were held this year in Trenton, New Jersey.

Although the fighters who participated are world class in their specific disciplines, The ADCC Championship continues to be as unspectacular as possible.

I watched the fight this year on the Proelite.com video feed and am super glad I did. I think if I would have spent flight money and hotel money to watch this tournament in New Jersey, I might have been really disappointed.

Proelite did a great job with the video feed for the fights but promotion wise the stands were still sectioned with huge gaps of empty rows of unused seats.
This year ADCC upped their prices to $350, $200, $150 respectively for seating. But why sell a $350 seat if theres no demand for it?

The promoters of ADCC have perfected their scoring system, but not their attendance record. People get excited when they know their going to a packed sports event. The original Pankration events were like that but thats a far cry from today.

After Robert Drysdale tapped Marcelo Garcia I was unable to see Drysdale interviewed regarding his astounding victory against Marcelo the Magician. Perhaps if I were attending the event I would have seen that but I dont even know what Drysdales gameplan was against Garcia.

I still havent seen any documentaries of people training for this event. That also might generate interest. We always want to see what happens to a competitor after getting to know him/her personally.

The promoters get grapplers from all over the world to participate but fail to see that the larger spectator support they have the greater the event attendance. World class fighters fought yesterday in what might be called a sparsely attended travelling carnival.

There wasnt a magazine published in 2005 of the list of spectators and their brief biographies. Too expensive to publish? I thought $350 seats were pretty expensive. Supply and demand baby.

While the promoters were busy scheduling ADCC competitions throughout the world to find the best competitors for their final destination in Trenton New Jersey, potential spectators were ignored.
What if the day after the Absolute Champion and Division Champions gave a seminar to all the participants who came to Trenton, New Jersey? Do you think that might have brought in a larger crowd.

Maybe ADCC could just stick with ONE location for a few years because it may create a sense of home to an event that has never had a home. Instead, ADCC seems to adopt the hobo perspective, which is holding an event in Brazil, Saudi Arabia, United States and who knows where it will be next? Who cares. I'll probably just buy the video and laugh at the people who waste their money traveling to the event to buy $150-$300 tickets that are in NO demand.

The promoters, who are they again? I have no idea and they certainly don't know me. They need to start focusing on drawing a crowd and creating an intense interest in their tournament or else nothing will change. Just like they way its been for the last 9 years.

Thus, another ADCC and another day. Few people will see a young Mike Fowler dethrone a multiple times world champion, Saulo Ribeiro. And only a sparse crowd will only see the Magician Marcelo work men twice his size to say UNCLE in one way or another.

And finally, no one will appreciate the enormous efforts and thousands of hours many of these athletes prepare for these events.
I remember at the 2005 ADCC watching Baret Yoshida lose in the first round. This year he did remarkably better. What has Baret been doing the past two years to prepare for this ADCC? He isnt an Abu Dhabi champion YET, but I would love to know his story and learn more about this relentless warrior.
I watched Rani Yahya defeat his arch nemesis Leo Vieira with a solid Rear Naked Choke! Rani came in with a different gameplan as did Mike Fowler. Let not let these incredible matches diminish with time. Some attempt at documenting this world class event needs to be done.

How come Grappling Magazine or Tapout hasnt devoted an entire issue to this? Cant be done you say? I bet it could if someone really made the effort.

And finally, dont have ADCC in some other country in two years! If its to be successful, pick a place and stick with it a few years to draw popularity. If I see that they are planning ADCC in Japan or Europe in the next two years, you can bet I wont be there buying $350 tickets and sitting 10 feet away from the next closest spectator.

I don't know about perfecting their scoring the judges table often looked loss on if they should award points or not. Javi Vasquez lost in a match no one including his opponent could understand how he lost. Coaches often had to scream to the judges for minutes on end for points to be awarded for passes, or mounts etc that judges just didn't bother to award. I can't remember which match it was I believe it was with Rolles that the crowd and the team of Rolles were screaming for points to be awarded that should have been.

bjjprim8, i did hear about javi getting ripped off.
what really sucks is that he couldnt petition or change the outcome. ADCC is going to get a bad rap with things like that. sure their all over the world having all kinds of tournaments but who really knows about it. Again their like the travelling carnival that goes from town to town with little effect on the masses.

whoever is promoting this event, needs to be fired.
adcc sucks because world class competitors get little if any attention for their efforts and their purses are small.

perhaps one day it will be different...

I agree.

"I think if I would have spent flight money and hotel money to watch this tournament in New Jersey, I might have been really disappointed."

Actually, I don't think you would have been disappointed. I attended in person, and am glad that I did. The competation was spectacular, and there's no way that the remote Internet feed (which could show only one match at at time) could possibly have compared to the experience of watching this event in person.

Having said that, however, I do agree that the choice of venue this time around was poor...

I don't know where people get these ticket prices? I paid 40 bucks for each day and got some of the best seats in the house (just the general admission tickets), they allowed people who had the general admission tickets to go to the front rows as well (after first letting the people w/ tickets to those sections to settle down), but I didn't even want to go there because just the normal general admission seats were so good.

$40 for 5-8 hours of seeing fights by some of the worlds best sw/bjj/mma fighters and just being there was definetely worth it. The event was ran really well, things were on schedule and there wasn't unnecessary breaks.

Well worth the money, even though I had to get a hotel and travel wasn't free either.

brthtkr, when ADCC was in Long Beach, i paid $150 for my ticket. when i got there, i realized i should have paid for the cheapest one but again i thought i would have some great seats.

If the place was packed, which it never will be cause ADCC sucks at marketing and promoting, then your $40 seats might not seem as good.

ADCC advertises all these highpriced tickets but they never sell out. The events are still poorly attended.

The next event will be in Europe i understand, you're right tho, Trenton is a very random location - Japan would be a golden location, i would have thought spectators and sponsorship would be a lot easier there.

Really enjoyed the event, then again it cost me next to nothing, flight was on airmiles and i had a coach and press pass (will link up my pics shortly).

"Javi Vasquez lost in a match no one including his opponent could understand how he lost."



He jumped to guard, so he lost -1. It was clear along time and was even showed on the scoreboard, for everyone to see. So neither Javi or his fans should complain about that. I would for sure have loved to see him advance in the competition, but he made a mistake, that´s all.

Fudo,

You are the only person I have seen that understood it so clear cut. The guy Javi faced couldn't understand how he won and neither could anyone near where I was sitting.

yeah i was there and didn't really see how Javi lost.

I had a great time though.  It was incredible.  So much action.  It was definitely my favorite ADCC

well, I know what I saw. Javier jumped to guard after the 5 min mark. He also looked at the scorecards, so he should have known that he was under on points and stand up to make another one of those beatiful takedowns he made before the 5 min mark. I´m equally confused why Javier was so passive, laying in his guard when he could see, and should have known he was losing.



Anyway, when the DVD/tapes comes out you´ll see that the scoring was correct.



And if I remeber what I saw wrong, then I´ll come back here and admit it, I promise. :)

So you are saying because it had poor attendance, you are glad you didnt attend?

It could be in the ghetto with one other person in the stands, and I would be happy to fly in and watch it.

"The high ticket prices were the originally advertised prices, IIRC. It's what kept me away. I would have spent money to get there and for a hotel room, but for tickets costing $150 min, forget it."

I bought my tickets the first day they started the official online sale a couple of months ago (March 2nd by looking at the purchase information). I think the cheapest option was something like $35 for one day. I think they had those $35-40 tickets available from the start even before the online sales (when you had to pre-mail order the tickets).

I agree that there were some problems with the location, marketing etc and for the sport it would have been great if there would have been more people.

I just don't like it when people try to make it sound like the ticket prices were crazy or something, as I think they were perfectly reasonable, even cheap.

Watching the video feed and seeing the venue practically empty for what is essentially the pinnacle of grappling tournaments was really sad. I wonder what impression is given by ADCC and how the competitors felt when they are invited to one of the most prestigious grappling tournaments to lay it on the line after training for so long and seeing that no one is there to watch. I know there is interest because of the ADCC activity on the forums during the tournament. So what could be the problem? Personally, I have a few feelings on this and this is my opinion so just take it with a grain of salt.

Marketing/promotion sucked. I don't spend all day on the forums or grappling sites but I like to think that I keep myself well informed about the scene. I did know ADCC was in May but didn't know when exactly until a few weeks before...actually I thought it was during the Memorial Day holiday. That essentially screwed any possible plans because I wouldn't have had time to make 'affordable' travel arrangements. I had to go out of my way to find out when and where the event was held and then some more googling to find out how to get tickets.

Trenton, NJ? I'm sure it's nice, although to tell you the truth I haven't heard good things about NJ in general but I'm sure there could have been better places to hold the event. Most people who go to ADCC are coming from out of town and many try to schedule a mini vacation around it. You should have it somewhere were you could entice people to come...and also make it easier for us to sell it to the wife and kids. I mean if I'm going to take a few days off work and drop some bucks to fly across the country I'd like to go somewhere were I could enjoy myself with a wide variety of options and if the family comes they can too. The event was over by 6pm at the latest every day and didn't really start until 11am anyways. That leaves a whole evening to enjoy and early morning for those who like to party. Wouldn't you agree that it would be a lot more appealing if say the tournament was in say Vegas, Orlando, Miami, Vancouver or San Francisco? Not to mention that these places probably have a better infrastructure in place for tourism already.

Ticket prices are not in line with reality. Demand obviously was not there to sell tickets for anything close to $300 bucks. I think the reason is partly because of the other two previous points I have made along with others.

I say for the next ADCC promote it much earlier and better. Tell us when and where ahead of time. Make it an appealing location.

Announce the next tournament date and location during the ADCC tournament kind of like the Olympics do. Sell tickets much cheaper even if you have to take a hit, cuz you're taking a hit anyways by not selling many. At least you can pack the venue and entice sponsors, vendors and build a following/momentum.

That's just my thought. I'd like to hear what others have to say. Also, I was at the last ADCC in CA and I felt they did a great job with promoting it and building some interest. I truly thought ADDC was about to take off but in my opinion they took a big step back in this year as far as brining people in. It's sad because the actual competition gets better every time.

Oh yeah, sorry for the long post.

Ok:

I hear everyone have comments in regards of the points and how they are given. Well, I will tell you as much as I can without compromising the system.

Everyone now knows about the 2 periods in ADCC rule, the first no points, the second negatives and positive points. Every possition MUST BE CONTROLED FOR AT LEAST 3 SECONDS before a participan can be awarded or deducted points for the move. Also the critirea of who iniciated the movement into what position. The scoring system is NOT like BJJ. We all know that. Also the judges have to agree in order to get the points awarded, a perfect example in the case of the Javi match: THERE ARE NO ADVANTAGE POINTS FOR SUBMISSIONS!!! Again the points for positions are awarded after the first half!!!!

If anyone has a specific question I will try to get to it the best of my abilities.

ADCC is a marketing nightmare.

ADCC promoters (aka Team Mickey Mouse) will continue to have dismal attendance year after year because they arent serious about promoting the attendance of ADCC.

Sure, they have world class grapplers but thats it.
If ADCC would have kept the venue in Long Beach, I believe they would have had a almost double the increase for the 2007 Championship.

the other problem is guys who read these threads and say like kying418 did:
It could be in the ghetto with one other person in the stands, and I would be happy to fly in and watch it.

Well guess what kying418, you were in the GHETTO!
Each of my friends who lived in NJ said NOT to stay in Trenton cause it was a dive. So i hope you enjoyed your Ghetto-Grappling tournament.

"Well, I will tell you as much as I can without compromising the system."

Why would explaining rules compromise the system?

Toward the end of Galvao and Cacaracao's match where Galvao stands up from guard and eventually hit a clean double (or maybe it was a single?) leg takedown and the judges didn't give him points immediately.

It actually took the whole arena say "POINTS POINTS POINTS" and boo before they gave him points.

Whats retarded is they all looked at each other as if this was the first grappling tournament they had ever been to.

Everyone now knows about the 2 periods in ADCC rule, the first no points, the second negatives and positive points. Every possition MUST BE CONTROLED FOR AT LEAST 3 SECONDS before a participan can be awarded or deducted points for the move. Also the critirea of who iniciated the movement into what position. The scoring system is NOT like BJJ. We all know that. Also the judges have to agree in order to get the points awarded, a perfect example in the case of the Javi match: THERE ARE NO ADVANTAGE POINTS FOR SUBMISSIONS!!! Again the points for positions are awarded after the first half!!!!

I think it was a good tournament (marketing/ticket sales aside), the reffing and matches were of a high calibre in general,  but the rules should probably change, it should be acknowledged that the no points period generally hasn't been successful in stimulating activity.

Perhaps points should be awarded for strong submission attempts (i.e. those that would score an advantage under CBJJ rules) - some tournaments in Europe such as the Urban Gorillaz circuit do this already.