Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu legends at China for AOW

By Marcelo Alonso

Photos Marcelo Alonso

 

Royce Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Rickson Gracie, Ricardo Libório, Fabrício Werdum, Demian Maia, Thales Leites, Vitor Shaolin, Fábio Leopoldo, Rolls Gracie.This real Dream Team of the Jiu-Jitsu is in Beijing to watch from the first row the 12th Edition of Art of War, which will happen this Saturday in the Olympic Sports Center. The Brazilians head the list of nearly 200 celebrities from the world of MMA and Jiu-Jitsu, brought by theUnited Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who has just organized the first professional world cup of the sport and now pretends to officially announce his entry in the MMA world.

 

"Neither in Pride times we could see so many celebrities together and in a so friendly climate", commented, today, at breakfast, the American journalist Stephen Quadros, who divided the table with Rickson Gracie, Ricardo Libório and Fabrício Werdum, minutes before the arrival of Tim Sylvia, Demian Maia and Thales Leites. "We brought almost 200 invited among journalists and fighters from around the world, not forgetting the plane with the delegation from Abu Dhabi, which arrived today in Beijing with more than 300 people”, revealed first-hand the organizer of the event Konrad Pi, beside his brother and partner Andy Pi, who, for security reasons, didn’t want to reveal if the Sheik will be at the event. "We brought the greatest judge of the Pride, the greatest judge of the UFC, the first champions of Pride (Rickson) and UFC (Royce) and the main journalists of the MMA world. All I can say is that we’ll make an excellent show, and later we’ll have five more in 2009", Andy told us.

 

At the meeting of rules, realized this Thursday just after lunch, the 24 fighters of the event were told that the fights will be disputed in a round of 10 minutes plus a five minutes round, mixing rules of the Pride (stomps and soccer kicks) with the ones from the UFC (elbows will be allowed without restrictions). The only Brazilian in the card will be Rolles Gracie, son of the legendary Rolls, who will face the Russian Baga Agaev. Today, Rolles, showing excellent shape, met his  cousin Rickson, who had just arrived from almost 20 hours of travel. Stay tuned on TATAME.com for more news about the event.