Mixed Martial Arts in DC News Blog

Copa Nova BJJ Winter Championships

The Copa Nova Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Winter Championships will be held on January 8, 2011 at Briar Woods High School in Ashburn, Va. The tournament provides a local venue for BJJ and submission wrestling competitors in the D.C. area to compete and be at home without traveling late into the night.

The local tournament has had many notable grapplers who have successfully competed at major BJJ tournaments such as the World Championships. Some of the competitors include D.J. Jackson (2010 No-Gi purple belt world champion), Ryan Beauregard (2008 brown belt world champion), and Adrienne Adams (2009 blue belt world champion). MMA fighters such as Operation Octagon Champion Mike Pope (Vanguard Gym) have also competed in the tournament. Danny Chacon, a Copa Nova competitor and amateur MMA fighter under BJJ Black Belt, Nakapan Phungephorn, stated that “Doing grappling tournaments is a must if you want to get your foot in the door for MMA.”

The tournament series was the brain child of Dan Wallen, a four stripe brown belt in the Relson Gracie Association and owner of FightWorks Academy in Sterling, Va. In 2007, a friend of his (Scott Howard) told him that he was going to have an MMA event in the evening and asked Wallen to have a jiu-jitsu tournament during the day. Wallen pursued the opportunity and then saw a need for providing high quality Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournaments for competitors in the D.C. area. Additional motivation was provided by some unfavorable tournaments experienced by Wallen himself. For example, he recalls a particular tournament that took him seven hours to travel to. After having his division called to the mat, he waited four hours to start his first match. “The number one thing that I wanted to improve upon was just making the tournament run efficiently,” he said.

Putting on a BJJ tournament is a huge task, but is something that he is committed to. He states that by far, his largest expense is bringing in the talent pool of referees. The costs incurred include expenses such as paying for travel and lodging for referees, a lot of which he states are from New York. He has an emphasis on making sure most of his referees are black belts, have tournament experience, and possess advanced knowledge of the game. “It is not uncommon to see our referees at the Copa Nova refereeing a match at the Abu Dhabi’s or the Abu Dhabi Trials,” he said. Through his partnership with BJJ black belt Andrew Correa, Wallen finds referee’s he believes are most qualified for his event.

When asked about the future of the tournament, Wallen stated that “…later this year, we are probably going to start having some prize money for some of the absolute divisions, especially in the purples.” He went on to say that “The Copa is just a local event that…it is just something that I started with some friends to give the D.C. area competitors a place to compete and not have to make the trip. I want it to be as good as any other tournament out there, but it just happens to be in their back yard.”

* Photo graphics used with the permission of Copa Nova
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