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- 🥋 CJI 2024: A Post-Mortem
🥋 CJI 2024: A Post-Mortem
... the hits, the misses and everything in-between
Welcome back to Tap Nap & Snap - the newsletter that is seriously deprived of Vitamin D after days of watching CJI, thinking about CJI and now writing about CJI. Time to hit send on this, open the blinds and feel the burn 🌞
We take a break from our regular programming this week to do A CJI Deep Dive - recapping and reliving the good, the bad and the ugly from grappling’s biggest event ever #allegedly 😏
Rightio - what have we got?:
All of the Hits, Misses and Straight Strange Stuff from the CJI 🔥
The Big Question: Who Did It Better? 🤷♂️
Meeeeeeemes ✅
Before We Hit The Mats … 🤼
We’ve got some friends that will help you … help us … help you? Seriously though - we love putting out this newsletter, but it is honestly a lot of work.
Simply by checking them out and seeing what’s on offer - you’ll be helping us keep this show on the road - and most likely landing some epic finds for yourself too 😎🙏 ⬇️
What happens when a martial arts-loving Dad meets an Exercise Scientist on the mats? - Fight Care Kit. 💪
An often unspoken elephant in the room when it comes to grappling is that if you do it long enough, you’ll probably get injured. From sprains and strains to cuts and fingernail scratches 🤢 - they are all a possibly probability at some point - so having a Fight Care Kit on hand is a bright idea 💡✅
WHATS HAPPENING?
CJI 2024: Let’s Have A Little Look Shall We? 🧐
If you’re reading this newsletter, then it’s probably a given that you know what the CJI is - if you don’t know, well, welcome to the circus! 🤡
Below, we will take you through the highlights, lowlights, and straight-up strange stuff so you can relive the top moments and catch anything you may have missed.
Lesssgo! 🔥
The Hits & Highlights:
This will far and away be the biggest section to fill as, in our opinion, the event was, as they say, ‘off the damn chain’⛓️.
Levi Is On The Map
Let’s start with Levi Jones-Leary. I’m gonna say it, if you think what he did at CJI was ‘not in the spirit of BJJ’, I think you’re very wrong. Sport Jiu-Jitsu consists of many technical areas - one of which is an effective game from the bottom.
His style was so effective that not only did he stop every single opponent from passing - but he also posed a serious submission threat the whole time.
Let’s not forget he scored a vicious heel hook, a beautiful back take and countless entanglements that opponents were forced to scramble out of. ✅
Andrew Tackett Is Wild
To prove we’re not biased, we are just as happy to play top - and Andrew Tackett put on a top players clinic this last weekend! 🤯
He literally made Nicky Ryan look like a blue belt and gave Eoghan Flanagan the similar treatment - dominating two world-class guard players who just couldn’t keep up.
Not to mention his semi-final scrap with Kade might go down as the most exciting BJJ match of all time.
Nicky Rod Is The Murder Monk
Calm, composed and here to crush necks - Nicky Rod took his newly found zen mentality, applied some extra dad strength and submitted his way to 1 million big ones 💰. He looked unbeatable.
Felipe Andrew had a great run and was definitely the other best guy in the bracket - but Nicky Rod left no doubt about who’s dollars were in that briefcase.
Ffion Is A Freaking Weapon
I thought we were on for a tight match here - but Ffion led the dance and was completely dominant from the drop. She landed a great submission, and the sequence to get there was BJJ magic…
Based on some of the amazing women’s matches that played out at ADCC this year, I hope Ffion’s dream of a CJI women’s division comes true next year 🔥
The Misses & Lowlights:
As epic as it was - it wasn’t all killer no filler. There were a couple of moments that didn’t quite hit the mark…
A Million Dollar Error
Now, don't get us wrong - I’m a big fan of both Kade & Levi, but I think Levi won the million dollars *braces for the barrage of angry replies* 😬.
Again, he played his game to perfection, had the most dangerous submission attempts and initiated the most significant action - which was the stated judging criteria.
Either way, Kade is great for BJJ, so I am stoked for him - but definitely disappointed for Levi.
A Little Underwhelming
While there were some outstanding athletes and incredible performances, there were also some unmet expectations 😬
As we’ve already touched on, the BJJ world had high hopes for Nicky Ryan in this tournament, and he was comprehensively dismantled.
Luke Rockhold was also tipped to do good things - but got smothered by ‘The Lizard King’ Pat Downey early on and seemed to just kinda … stop trying? 🤷♂️
The Big & Bizzare Stuff:
These are really still ‘hits and highlights’ - just on the stranger side of things that arguably gave it all that distinctive CJI flavour…
The Love Affair Has Climaxed
Nothing is bigger or more bizarre than Craig Jones vs Gabi Garcia. After 3 years of teasing and tension - it finally found its way to the mats for everyone to see 👀.
It kinda felt weird and dirty to watch… it was a little too quiet and a little too personal. But it happened; it seems a lot of good came from it, and Gabi is a certified legend for playing her part so well.
We can now put it all behind us 😮💨 #saynototheonlyfanscollab
Uncle Renatch Is Hectic
Renato Laranja, or Uncle Renatch as he’s become fondly known - had himself a wild old time at CJI and definitely cranked the event’s weird-ometer right up to 11.
He had some great interview moments in the months building up to the event, but seemingly went hard on the pre-workout Acai just before the big show and could not be contained!
Some found his antics funny, others thought it was tiresome - but there’s no doubt Uncle Renatch played his part in making it the strangest and most fantastic grappling extravaganza we’ve seen.
The Quick Hitters ⚾️
QUESTION TIME
What Keeps You Up At 2 am?
The dust has settled, and the rivalries have all played out … for now. ADCC got their show done, and the CJI is well and truly off and running.
We’ve seen athletes achieve their dreams of gold and glory, and others line their pockets like never before.
So the only question left after the biggest grappling weekend in the history of our sport has to be: 👇
This week’s big question ⬇️
Who Did It Better: CJI or ADCC? |
The last poll’s results:
Last time we asked you - “Do You Want To See BJJ In The Olympics?”
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ✅ Hell yes! It's the goddamn Olympics!
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🚫 No way! It'll ruin us!
It was a pretty close call, but it looks like the ‘Pro Olympics’ team just got it over the line ✅
One of our no voters gave a good reason why they think we should be wary of the ‘Olympic effect’ on our sport…
We also had no-one pick all of the CJI winners correctly this time round, and we don’t give out 2nd place medals here🥈, so the 6 months of BJJ Mental Models Premium will be kept in the pocket for our next giveaway.
WHAT’S SO FUNNY?
The Meme Open Mat:
What’s an edition of Tap Nap & Snap without a few memes to round things out 👇…
You like memes huh!? (of course you do). Well, we have bucketloads 🪣 of premium, high-grade OG memes for you to share with your BJJ crew…
YOU WIN, WE WIN!
Sharing Is Caring 🫵
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All we ask for is that you share our newsletter with some of the other BJJ savages in your circle - we will even give you heaps of cool stuff to say thanks! ⬇️
…with more to come!
How'd We Go?Are we on the money? Or are we lacking some pizzazz? The rule is though - if you think we missed the mark, you've gotta write in and let us know why. It's only fair! |
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