Samuel Braga versus Laercio Fernandes at 2012 World Championships / Photo by John Cooper
Tomorrow at 3pm PST marks the beginning of the first IBJJ Pro League ever. Offering athletes a chance to fight for $5,000 is one thing, combining weight classes is another. Although many of the athletes in their categories have gone against each other many times before, there are still chances for some new or rare match-ups.
As an update, Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles Maciel has dropped out of the competition due to injury and Oliver Geddes, Roger Gracie black belt and the only European competitor invited, will be taking his place.
The story of Oliver Geddes’ invitation lands itself in an email spam folder. Oliver Geddes had already been invited, but the window of opportunity was small given that he had about one day to confirm his attendance. The important email just so happened to land in his spam/junk folder of his email server and the opportunity passed him by without him realizing until it was too late.
Oliver Geddes at 2012 World Championships / Photo by John Cooper
For the driven competitor who resides in London, England, Oliver was ready to jump on a plane last minute for the chance to compete in a division stacked with high level competitors so despite his situation, he pushed to make sure the IBJJF knew he was ready to go. He finally confirmed a spot late Wednesday night, leaving him 3 days to arrive in Long Beach, CA. Oliver is currently on his way to the states despite nine hour long delays, but will be ready to compete come 3pm Saturday.
Another change has been made in regards to the 2012 IBJJF Long Beach Fall Open in the black belt light feather weight category. Samuel Braga is signed up to compete and the competitor sheet listed Samir Chantre as his opponent however Samir is already confirmed in the IBJJ Pro League in the weight category up to 167.5 pounds. The rules state that if you win your weight division in the Fall Open that same day, you enter into the appropriate Pro League division. With the light feather division confirming a spot in the weight division up to 141 pounds, it would leave Samir in two categories for the Pro League, which is not allowed. So, with Samir out of the Fall Open and Samuel winning his light feather division by default, he will now be confirmed in the Pro League along side the names of Laercio Fernandes, Caio Terra, Rafael Freitas and more– athletes he knows quite well.
Come down to the Long Beach Walter Pyramid and enjoy a full day of high-level BJJ or watch the live stream for free at www.ibjjftv.com
