Mundials Motivation #1: Watch and learn from the best

Xande Ribeiro taking the back. Photo: Ivan Trindade

This year the annual World Championship is holding its 18th event. The first year of the championship was held in 1996, a year after the first Pan American Championship. The location was set at the famous Tijuca Tênis Clube gymnasium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where it resided until moving to California in 2007. This year the event will be held at the same location, the Long Beach Pyramid from  May 29 to June 2.

In honor of the 18th year, we’ve gathered 18 reasons for you to join us whether you’re a competitor yourself, a non-competing practitioner, a big fan of the sport, a supportive family member or a complete newbie. Every day we will post a new reason.

To kick it off, we give you the first:

See and learn from the best all in one place!

The most obvious motivation for following the Mundials is so you can learn from the best in the business. The black belts prepare for this tournament every year by going back to training right after it ends in order to focus on the next one. All year-round athletes, even at lower belts, dedicate their lives to training, preparing and competition with the largest goal in mind– the world champion title. By watching the matches you can see some of the most basic to the most advanced or most unique or most common moves and their application.

Check out this article for examples of moves we’ve pointed out in recent matches around the world.

When we watch Jiu-Jitsu we can recognize positions we’ve learned and see them used in ways we may not have seen before. The fact that you already understand a position can allow you to learn slight details or transitional opportunities without having to be taught the technique. By being present at the World Championships it will allow you to see how champions handle themselves, how they warm-up, how they choose their moves wisely and even mistakes that you can learn not to make.

See a choke from the back that Xande Ribeiro successfully used in competition. Then watch the next video to see it taught inside of his GMA academy.

Now that you are motivated, hurry and register to compete in the 2013 World Championship and click here.