Alliance Jiu-Jitsu Wins the IBJJF Chicago Spring International Open 2018

On March 25th 2018, Alliance Jiu-Jitsu, led in the Midwest by head coaches Jason Sullins, Mark Plavcan and Issac Riggs were victorious for the first time in the history of the Chicago Open. Chicago boasts two legends of the sport, Carlson Gracie Jr and Rodrigo Comprido Medeiros, who both call the Windy City home and headquarters to their storied teams: CGT and Brasa CTA respectively. As such, one of those two men has been on the top spot at the Chicago Open more times than not over the past half a decade.

With 111 competitors scoring 390 points at the tournament, Alliance Jiu-Jitsu is new in Chicagoland compared to the more established teams, but with over 3500 square feet of mats spread across two locations, Alliance has been quietly training and drilling to be the top team in the Midwest. Coming off of seminars with Fabio Gurgel, Lucas Lepri, Bernardo Faria, Demetrius Souza and Bruno Malfacine, the competitors of Alliance Jiu-Jitsu have been hard-focused on achieving the top spot at the Chicago Open. March 24th and 25th saw competitors primarily from Chicago and Wisconsin with guests from around the globe filling in a few divisions. Marcelo Garcia even sent Marcos Tinoco and Gianni Grippo to fill in spots in the black belt divisions.

With the 1st place win in the books, Alliance is back at work - looking forward to defending the title in August at the Chicago Summer International Open!

(Photo Credit: Natalie Wuckert Media. Pictured Left to Right: Carlson Gracie Jr, Jason Sullins, Mark Plavcan, Rodrigo Comprido Medeiros)