6th American Cup: last day to register, Claudio França interview

American Cup this weekend, April 20-21

Today is the last day to regsiter for the 6th American Cup, to be held next weekend, in San Jose, California,.

Promoter Claudio França is preparing some great novelties for the participants.

You scan still enroll until 11:59PM (PDT) and the cost is $94 for kids divisions and $109 for juveniles, adults and master & Seniors.

The event will feature over 25 black belts, including the recent WPJJC champion, Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes. He will also act as a referee.

IBJJF director Alvaro Mansor will also be in San Jose, first teaching a rules seminar od April 19 and then directing the refs at the event.

In the following exclusive interview, França talks about the welcome athletes and spectators will have once they arrive in San Jose. 

Don’t miss out and register for the event and the rules seminar now at americancupbjj.com

GracieMag: What are the new features for this next American Cup?

Claudio França: The big news for this sixth edition of the American Cup will be the Anerican Cup TV, which will be a live broadcast over the internet , on our website www.americancupbjj.com. There , you will find the link to watch the live broadcast . On the American Cup broadcast TV you will be able to watch fights , the tournament’s finals , the main black belt fights , and also interviews , clips , comments etc.. It’s not pay-per-view , it’s a live broadcast online for free . It will be on Saturday, and Sunday  April 20 & 21  , from 9am to 6pm and you can be anywhere in the world , that you can access the internet , and watch the American Cup live online broadscast for free! Other news about the American Cup is that , now , to give an even better experience for the public , we will have two televisions , one towards the mat and another one towards the public. So everybody will be able to follow the punctuation , the time  , the advantages and etc.

How many competitors the 6th American Cup has so far?

Last year we had over 1000 subscribers. This year we are growing . So far, we already surpassed the numbers from last year. I think that we have now around 1100/1200 competitors in our tournament. And from those 1200 competitors, around 400 are kids. So specially for kids, who do not have too many opportunities to compete in tournaments with an international level, this is a great opportunity . Our tournament will be one of the only opportunities in the year for kids to compete in a high level tournament .  There are kids coming from Russia, Europe, Brazil . We like to call the American Cup tournament  “Fun and fair” because it’s fun, but also fair, the kids compete in the same weight, the same age, the same belt. For parents and others,  as I said  before, it is probably one of the last opportunities of the year for the children, to compete in a  high level tournament , with a high level arbitration.

And how is the black belt division ?

The Black belt division is going very well. We have over 25 black belts competing , and I believe that there are more  coming. Among the best known black belt , we have Tanquinho, Nathan Mendelsohn,  Oswaldo Queixinho , Marcel Fortuna, Diego Herzog ,Yuri Simões, Tanner Rice, among others.

Where the event will be held?

The event will be held at Independence High which is a great gymnasium , and it is also ten minutes from San Jose’s airport. So for people who come from outside it’s a great opportunity to compete , since you’ll be ten minutes from the Tournament after arriving at San Jose’s airport. San Jose is one of the largest cities in the United States , you will find everything in San Jose , restaurants, hotels, malls, concerts … It is thirty minutes from the beach , you can come to Santa Cruz , which is one of the most beautiful coasts in the world. In San Jose , you will already be able to enjoy the California weather, this time of year the nights are comfortable.

Watch the American Cup teaser video.

6th American Cup Brazilian Jiu Jitsu from Daniel Carettoni on Vimeo.