No Holds Barred: Tom DeBlass on 2016 ADCC North American Championships and World Trials

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Tom DeBlass about the 2016 ADCC North American Championships and World Trials.

This event will feature two days of competition, both at the Central Regional High School in Bayville, New Jersey. The Pro Trials will take place Saturday, November 19, followed by an amateur event on Sunday, November 20. The Pro Trials will be webcast on FloGrappling.

The Pro Trials is a qualifying event for the 2017 ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship, which will take place September 22-24, 2017, in the Espoo Metro Areena in Espoo, Finland.

At the Pro Trials, there will be grappling competition under ADCC rules in five men's weight classes: -65.9kg, -76.9kg, -87.9kg, -98.9kg, and +99kg.

We spoke with Tom DeBlass, who is the owner of Ocean County Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the organizer of this event, by phone Thursday.

The ADCC World Championship "100 percent, hands down has the highest level of competition," he said.

"It is the most prestigious no-gi grappling tournament in the world. And there are qualifiers: there are eight qualifiers from around the world, and there are eight invitees. The one way to secure your spot is to compete in one of the qualifiers and win the qualifier. When you win the qualifier, you get a fully-expense paid trip to the finals in Finland, which will be 2017, which is a pretty incredible trip."

We discussed how this event has open registration which closes November 12, how this shapes up to be the biggest ADCC North American Trials ever, some of the well-known competitors and former ADCC Trials champions who have already registered, the ADCC rules and how they encourage action, how he will also be competing in the Pro Trials, the potential for professional grappling as a spectator sport, the likelihood of a second North American Trials in the spring of 2017, the important differences between competing in MMA and grappling, and much more.

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Thanks, Eddie Goldman
EddieGoldman.com