De La Riva will have his farewell match against Jean Jacques Machado (right). Publicity photo.
As the stage, the classic and cozy Maracanãzinho gymnasium. As the draw, Gi Jiu-Jitsu supermatches between monsters of the past and present. As the spectacle, tournaments paying out a total of over 200,000 reais to Jiu-Jitsu athletes. These are the ingredients in the brand new Jiu-Jitsu Grand Slam event, a championship set to go down November 12 and 13 in Rio de Janeiro.
As the icing on the maiden event’s cake, Ricardo De La Riva takes on Jean Jacques Machado in one of the supermatches to unfold in the Maracanãzinho. The star of the Machado family traveled all the way to Rio for a 22-hour stay just to sign the contract, go through some formalities, and to meet with the organizers, then taking off this very Friday back to the United States, where he’s lived since the 1990s.
And the event won’t focus solely on the veteran Carlson Gracie student. There will also be five GPs paying out thousands of Brazilian reais each for male black belts in the under-67kg, -77kg, -87kg, -97kg, and over-97kg weight divisions.
If the maiden event turns out to be a success, next year’s will offer up female Jiu-Jitsu divisions. For further information, visit www.grandslamjiujitsu.com.br and stay tuned to GRACIEMAG.com.
