Fernando Soluço atop the No-Gi Pan heavyweight podium / IBJJF photo
The first ever Master & Senior Worlds will go down this weekend at the Long Beach, California Pyramid, and Jiu-Jitsu’s burliest veterans will be there to show the competitive flame still flickers within.
Among those to grace the mats with their presence are Vitor Shaolin, Robson Moura, Rodrigo Comprido, Givanildo Santana, Ricardo Bastos, Fernando Soluço, Marcelo Pereira, Daniel Beleza, Carlos Holanda, Marcos Torregrosa, Aldo Caveirinha, Rodrigo Munduruca and Bruno Bastos, among other masters-aged aces.
Now in the senior division, there’s Saulo Ribeiro, Erick Wanderlei, Cassio Werneck, Alexandre Paiva, Bernardo Pitel, Gustavo Dantas, Luciano Nucci, Cleber Luciano, Paulo Guilhobel, Fredson Alves, Régis Lebre, Marcelo Vilhena, Renato Verissimo, Marcelo Pache and Renato Tavares. Can you imagine what the absolute’s going to be like?
To Fernando Soluço, catching up with old friends is an important part of the tournament: “It’s an important event. The generation that competed at the first Worlds, in 1996, will be there. They’re guys who wrote the sport’s history. I hope to have a good championship, see Jiu-Jitsu’s old guard in action again and catch up with the guys as well,” said the Jiu-Jitsu professor at Alliance Ecuador. “I’m confident. I’ve been training hard, won the heavyweight division at the No-Gi Pan, will be doing this Worlds, and I even have an MMA fight coming up on October 17.”
Check out Fernando Soluço teaching a half-guard pass in the video below. And click here to find out who all is in the Master & Senior Worlds.
Who’ve you got shining brightest at the inaugural Master & Senior Worlds? Let us know in the comments field below.
