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Rickson Gracie (pronounced Hickson, born November 20, 1958) is a Brazilian martial artist and professional mixed martial artist who holds a 7th degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Rickson is kind of a living “myth” in the BJJ community. There are a lot of statements floating around like:

“Paulo Filho, former PRIDE middleweight fighter and current 185 lb World Extreme Cagefighting champion, states that Rickson’s skills at Jiu-Jitsu are unparalleled. In Gracie Magazine, Filho says “I have trained with the toughest guys formed by Carlson Gracie. They were all great and I for sure don’t want to diminish anybody, but I have to say that no one ever did to me what Rickson Gracie has done during training these last days” -GracieMag.com

Here is Rickson in the famous “Choke” documentary:

Here is Rickson footage from “The Hulk”:

Where to begin…well the Worlds 2008 had some great stories. Here are some to name a few:

• Kron Gracie was submitted to end his winning streak and the myth that was starting to develop.
• Andre Galvao…
• Xande becomes 2 Time Absolute Champion

Kron Gracie

Kron Gracie’s black belt debut didn’t go as planned. Rickson’s son was submitted by Sergio Moraes, of Alliance, in the first match of the middleweight division. Sergio was in the lead with two takedowns , but Kron fought strong until his guard was passed and mounted. In an effort to escape Kron gave his back and Sergio was able to sink in the choke . The gymnasium shook with excitement, as is always the case when a raved-about favorite is defeated.

A Dissapointed Kron Gracie.

Fight over, Kron remained a few seconds longer in the fight area. His father jumped to receive him on the sidelines of the mat and the embrace was a long one, father and son left the fenced off area where the fights take place and went beneath the bandstands of the Long Beach Pyramid. “You lost to his experience. Forget everything you’ve done till now, at black belt it’s all different. But only those who have lost can win. You insisted a lot on getting the neck, you should have gone for his foot, tried other things,” the father consoled and commented. “I tapped,” lamented the son. Renzo Gracie, his uncle, gave support to his nephew : “You fought well, It was a good fight. The guy was slick. Nobody knows him, but he has a lot of experience,” said Renzo. The next to show support was Rolando Jacare “It happens, Don’t worry about it,” Jacare said soothingly. (from GracieMag.com)

Kron Gracie’s match at the 2008 mundial

Andre Galvao

Galvao looked on point, but the one thing that probably everyone will remember is not the great competitors he submitted, but instead he will be remebered in 2008 by his first match at the 2008 World Jiu-Jitsu Championships, the one match in which he started to break dance on top of one of his opponents back. The competitor tried to heel hook Galvao (an illegal move in Gi competition) and Galvao retaliated by making an spectacle of the match by showing he had being paired up against someone who clearly wasn’t in his league. It was an unforgettably ridiculous display of grappling domination, in which Galvao turned the Mundials into his own personal And 1 Mixtape of jiu-jitsu. At the 1:09-1:17 and 1:42-1:56 marks he’s basically break dancing on his opponent’s backs, This was topped off by a somersault guard-pass that Galvao pulls off at 1:35.

Galvao’s balancing act at the 2008 World Championships.

Below I was also able to find a video of his preparation for The World Championships.

Andre Galvao World Championships 2008 Preparation

The 2008 Pan-American absolute champion added one more gold to his heap. His victim in the final was Braulio Estima. The outcome of the medium heavyweights was determined when the Brasa representative choked the Gracie Barra athlete out from the back
Over all he had a great run at this years event and the list of top caliber competitors he was defeating is also very impressive:

• Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu - toehold
• Braulio Estima - lapel choke from the back
• Lovato Jr. - lapel choke from the back
• Gordinho - cross choke from the mount

In the Absolute Division he lost to the much larger Roger Gracie:

Roger Gracie vs. Andre Galvao

Xande Ribeiro

Xande Ribeiro was the big name of the event, conquering the absolute after defeating Roger Gracie by 4 to 2, points earned by two takedowns, while Roger scored with a sweep.Thus Ribeiro became blackbelt open class champion for the second time, since winning it in 2006 and adding his name to an esteemed list of 2x Absolute champs

It was an amazing match. All weekend people were raving about Roger’s improved judo and he was throwing a lot of people to confirm it. There have been rumors of Roger training with Olympians a. Roger came out trying to beat Xande standing, since that was how Xande had beaten him two years before, but Xande’s training with Saulo and Sensei Iizumi (7th degree Kodokan black belt) really made a big difference as he was able to prevent all of Roger’s takedowns and score two of his own, despite the significant, visible size disadvantage.

Xande and his 2 Gold Medals!

Amazing performance by Xande, and a very well deserved victory. Xande and Pe De Pano are now the only two to ever win their weight and the absolute in twice. Pe De Pano did it in 2000 (Super-Pesado/Absolute) & 2002 (Pesadissimo/Absolute)

Until next year-World Championships 2009!

For more information please visit :

Congratulations to Brooke and Ingrid who did the Naples Yearly Triathlon this past Sunday (June 1^st, 2008).  It was a blast to see the whole event.

Moments before the Big EVENT!

The day began with Ingrid and Brooke leaving the competition in the dust. Roberto personally told them to take it easy that this was a fun event, but NO WAY, they wanted to win. The picture below is good proof of their determination.

And Off They GO!

The Bicycling section of the Triathlon was all Ingrid  in her aero-dynamic bike she got custom design by Lance Armstrong, clearly an unfair advantage.

Ingrid with her Super Bike Pro Style 200056!

Brook Impressing The Crowd!

The swim was a breeze as the two of them kept distancing themselves from the competition. The gentleman behind them looking to the right (towards the sea) was winning the entire race until Brooke and Ingrid took over in the swimming section. Look how sad he is to get a second place finish. Meanwhile the champions split the gold medal!

Congratulations!

In all seriousness it was really fun and the Triathlon was very intensive. These girls worked really hard during the entire race. It was very impressive and congratulations to everyone that participated in this event.