NEW FOR THE 2004 ARNOLD CLASSIC
Black Belt Invitational
We will create a Black Belt competition based on the largest number of entries from a particular weight class, for example, if 20 light weight black blacks register before our posted closing date and only 2 heavy, then we will run a light weight competition. We want to represent the group with the most entries. The prize money for the winner $1000.00 and $500.00 for the runner-up!
If you are interested in competing, all you have to do is email us the following information:
Name of School/Team, Weight, Belt Rank (Must be Black Belt in Jiu-Jitsu or Judo)
This information must be submitted by January 15th, 2004 to:
gracieworlds@aol.com or you can call 800-765-6999 in the U.S. 614-238-3662 outside of U.S.
Competitors invited to compete will receive confirmation by the tournament director!
Please go to www.gracieworlds.com on December 8th for more details on both competitions
this is a great chance to put the my style is better than your style debate behind us and compete as one grappling community. Hopefully there will be a huge turnout for a possible $1000 payday.
this happens all the time..
what will the rules be? ill bet you ten to one the rules will be in favor of bjj and not evenly split between the two.. as is typical in these cross-style matches. armlocks, chokes, leglocks can win but pins and throws can only score points...
not to mention, the arnold classic isnt even really on the judo map. at best you will get a decent turn-out of regional or local players there facing off against guys who consider it to be a major competition.
3rd issue. its an olympic year. even with $1000 in prize money possible, whats that gonna help if you win and get hurt only a few months before the deadline to qualify for the olympic trials?
-resnick
Josh, rumor has it USJA will be holding there senior nationals at the Arnold this year anyway. They had a relitively small showing last year (about 200 comp) and it was just a regular shiai. Also heard $100 cash for first place as well. I would expect more Judoka to be interested in USJA's senior natioanals than a hybird graplling event.
Chzog,
not really. the JA nationals give you no points, so going there to fight in them is not going to be a priority for ranked athletes-- unless that person is using it as a warm-up event for something else.
im not saying it isnt a good tournament and that there are not some talented people who will be playing, becuase that simply isnt true. the competition there will be good and it will be a fun event to watch im sure.
-resnick
Chzog I don't think they had 200. I do know they had 90 some matches that took god forever with that 3 hour break for the demo's and Arnold to come out. There were a few good players there. I feel bad for Roger Mazzella and Adler they came a long way for a local/regional tourney. Oh yeah I just remembered they ran all matches on ONE mat. So if Mr. Bregman and the JA's from Ohio don't get that tournament organized a little better this year. You can almost count the 3rd year out. We've had guys from our club go and compete in the jujitsu tourney. Bad thing is they only let them play the blue belt division. So some judo people had fun with the blue belts. The Arnold Classic is definately a good time. Play judo and spend some time seeing alot of other martial arts and of course the FREAKS in the bodybuilding show.
JudoJordan yip I was there, one of my brown belts was warming up...and he was on deck right before the break. And was the 1st or 2nd match(can't remember) after the break, it sucked. I talked to Gary Monto(the guy running last years tourney @ the arnold) there were alot of screw ups, but on the Arnold people (they actually had jigsaw mats orginally set up for judo...lmao). Judo is slated to have its own room and at least 2 comp areas if not 3. Judo was supposed to have two last year but The Arnold screwed up.
I don't think it would shut down regardless. The organizers of the Arnold were estatic to have Judo there. As far as moneies go...the arnold controled the whole thing. Judo will be at the arnold as long as they have martial arts events in the show.
Chris
GoldMedal you are the man...
gold,
i do see your point and you are correct across the board. still, the last they could do is allow for a scoring system that more or less says "getting slammed for ippon 2 or 3 times = a submision and butt-flopping is illegal" and that pins count as a submission if they last for more than 30 seconds.
i have no problem with playing a sport where leglocks and submissions are legal, and even the desired form of winning, so long as there are also admissions for other auspects of grappling.
truth be told that the main focus of these types of events is to see who could defend oneself best. thus, something like throwing somebody repeatedly (for what would be a waza-ari or ippon) should be viewed as equal to a submission. it shows clear dominance in the same manner than a juji-gatame does.
-resnick