The tournament begins Saturday, Aug 7^th in sunny Las Vegas at the Las Vegas High School. Base pricing for USAJJ members is $40 for one division, and $60 for both divisions. For Non-members, base pricing is $80 for one division and $100 for both.

However if you pre-register online, you can subtract $10 from your total price, meaning members can compete for as low as $30! That’s unheard of. If you wait until after pre-registration ends on August 1^st, you’ll be paying an additional $15. So members will pay $55 for one event and $75 for both. What this means is, pre-register now for the awesome prices!

Weigh-ins are Friday, Aug 6^th from 4 to 9 PM and Saturday Aug 7^th from 6 to 7:30 AM in the Las Vegas High School Gymnasium Lobby.

And as a special bonus, there will be a seminar with GM Joao Alberto, the most senior red belt in the world! It’s being held Friday night before the tournament at the Las Vegas High School Wrestling Room. And the best part is it’s free to all competitors!

This is going to be a huge day in the history of USAJJ and Jiu Jitsu in general. We’re bringing another international caliber competitive event to the country, and we couldn’t be more proud! So register now for your chance to win the first USAJJ National Amateur Championship!

USA Jiu Jitsu National Tournament Director, Chris Stolzman, has had a busy month doing a lot of really cool things for Jiu Jitsu.

In the beginning of March, Chris flew out to Los Angeles. There he worked alongside Johnny Ramirez, owner of New Breed Acadamy, rolling out a new series of staff development seminars for four of Johnny’s gyms. Staff from Portland, Chicago and, of course, the L.A. branch were in attendance. While Chris was there, Johnny also officially chartered his school.

While on the west coast, Chris also visited Kazeka Muniz, who has been Chris’s primary coach for the past several years, as well as his good friend.   Chris also made Kazeka an official member of the Black Belt Council. And while Chris was there, Kazeka also officially chartered his school. Kazeka Muniz is also flying to England this week in order to run the training camp at the Wolf’s Lair for Rampage, who will be fighting Rashad Evans in an upcoming UFC match.

After Chris finished on the west coast, it was back to D.C. to spend a week organizing the  National Tournament. He is trying to arrange airline and hotel sponsors, as well as finalize the venue location. USAJJ is very excited to bring another international level of competition to the U.S.

And while he was here was when we had our visit from Master Behring. Chris was honored to assist Master Behring with the seminar at Fort Meyer for the Level 2 Combatives.  Also, Papa John and Matt Larsen are initiating a program to certify all the Level 4 Combatives graduates as Blue belts in Jiu Jitsu, recognition they certainly deserve.

Mark Selbee, Laura Hart, Master Murgel, and Chris Stolzman

From D.C., Chris headed to Atlanta. There he was able to practice with Master Ricardo Murgel at KnuckleUp. Chris was very impressed with the direction Master Murgel has taken the Jiu Jitsu program. Master Murgel’s team has recently won the NAGA Nationals. Master Murgel is also a member of the Black Belt Council and we are excited to have him help drive the future of Jiu Jitsu in America. Master Murgel also agreed to hold a seminar at the NTC in the beginning of May and we are looking forward to that.

Then it was up to Cincinnati to meet with Jorge Gurgel who just opened a new academy in Westchester. They talked about the future of USAJJ and holding the Mid-West regionals in  Cincinnati. Now Chris is back in D.C. to finalize the National Tournament.

And with all of this going on, our Director, Chris Stolzman, STILL managed to train at least 3 days a week.

Donnie Tinsley and Students

We recently welcomed Donnie Tinsley to our Jiu Jitsu organization and he just sent us an announcement concerning a tournament coming up. Coastal Combat Circuit is hosting Mission Submission 1.5 in Elizabeth City, NC.

If you live in North Eastern North Carolina, you know that tournaqments are few and far between in the area, but Donnie is hard at work to change that. Mission Submission 1.5 is the highly anticipated follow up to the the successful Mission Submission tournament.

This event is a Nationally Ranked No-gi Jiu Jitsu tournament and is being held Saturday April 3^rd.  The tournament will be located at 300 E. Elizabeth St. in Elizabeth City on the corner of Elizabeth and Road St.  Don’t forget that a percentage of ALL profits go to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

If you live in the area, go check it out. There will be plenty of action and teams from all over. Plus you’ll be helping a great cause. For more info, go to the Coastal Combat Circuit homepage.

And don’t forget, if you have an event coming up, let us know!



Commissioner Papa John Gorman, Tournament Director Chris Stolzman, and NTC GM John Eidman have all been working long and hard to get this off the ground and in action. And while many of the details are still being ironed out, we are urging people to start pre-registering now. Many schools and teams have already committed, including New Breed Academy, Behring Jiu Jitsu, and KnuckleUp.

The location for the tournament in Las Vegas has been narrowed down to two venues, and once one is decided on, we’ll be sure to post it immediately.  Once we have a better idea of the number of people who will attend, we can work out all the rest of the details.

Also at the tournament, we will be posthumously presenting an award to founder Helio Gracie for his dedication and perserverance in making Jiu Jitsu what it is today.

Sorry for the scant details, but we wanted people to know this is finally happening. So mark your calendars for August 7th, and start training now. The first USA Jiu Jitsu tournament is now official!