SAN ANTONIO, TX, March 12, 2012 – It was another great day of Texas BJJ and submission grappling this past Saturday as competitors braved the rain to make it out to North San Antonio for the latest edition of the Gracie Grappling Cup. It was the fourth event overall for organizers Michael Campos and Joshua Lauber. As always, their emphasis was on competitor safety and adhering to the traditionalist format originally created by Hélio Gracie. That meant this tournament was far from an IBJJF-style competition, with wrestling-style takedowns counting only as an advantage and stalling penalized after 30 seconds amongst other variances in tournament rules. “This is Hélio’s rules and I don’t change them for anybody,” said Relson Gracie, present to oversee the event. “What’s important is that we put on a good display of what jiu-jitsu is supposed to be, stay active, and stay safe.”
As for the action on the mats, there were definitely some good displays. Highlighting the event were three black belt matches featuring three of San Antonio’s finest in Josh Lauber, Marcio Antonio Oliviera, and Daniel Pinheiro along with some other great out of town talent, including Alex Martins and Relson’s own son, Rhalan Gracie.
Many other solid competitors showed up at all ranks to compete also. We’ll post complete results as soon as we get them in. For now, here are a ton of photos from the event courtesy of TXMMA on Facebook.
► “Best of” Gracie Grappling Cup
Here are the black belt matches of the day. For more, check out the Texas Grappling Channel on YouTube. Check out the entire playlist on the channel after watching these matches below for more select matches we caught from this tournament.
