It’s that time again. The ground breaking tournament that established EBI rules as we know them today is back for its ninth installment. This year, Eddie Bravo – the tournament’s president – is searching for the first champion at light heavyweight, and he is organizing a sixteen-man line-up to do it.
Following in the same tradition as previous tournaments, the EBI 9 card has a broad range of seasoned fighters, footlock specialists, and some less famous competitors from local areas, all of whom want to grab their chance at stardom.
Present middleweight and absolute EBI Champion Gordon Ryan will attempt to claim his third title in the event that made his name. Ryan, along with Vinny Magalhaes (the ADCC champion in 2011), is expected to triumph in the 205 division.
Another big name on the card will be brown belt Jimmy Friedrich, who trains under Andre Galvao. During the past twelve months, Friedrich won the Pan American bronze with the gi and silver at the No Gi World Championships. Friedrich made history as the first ever purple belt ADCC competitor, and the first ever purple belt winner of a Metamoris event.
