EUG To Host Stacked 8-Man Black Belt Invitational, And It's In the Gi

EUG Promotions will their debut on April 3 with a professional invite-only jiu-jitsu tournament with a $10,000 cash prize.

Mar 22, 2021 by Hywel Teague

EUG To Host Stacked 8-Man Black Belt Invitational, And It's In the Gi

EUG Promotions will their debut on April 3 with a professional invite-only jiu-jitsu tournament with a $10,000 cash prize.

“Evolve Ur Game” have stacked their first event with a roster of world champions, up-and-comers and dark horses. Gi enthusiasts will not want to miss the event, as the 160lb 8-man black belt tournament is the first big event of the year in the USA to feature the kimono.

The combined feather / lightweight bracket features some of the best talent on American soil.

Both Matheus Gabriel (Checkmat) and Shane Jamil Hill-Taylor (Team Lloyd Irvin) are IBJJF World champions in the featherweight division, with Gabriel winning in 2019 and Hill-Taylor taking gold the year prior.

They are far from the only credentialed athletes on the line-up: Gianni Grippo (Alliance-Marcelo Garcia) is a three-time IBJJF Pan champion and a two-time UAEJJF World Pro champion. Jonathan Alves (Art Of Jiu-Jitsu) took Pan gold in 2020, as did Thiago Macedo (Rodrigo Pinheiro). Marcio Andre (Nova Uniao) is also a World Pro champion and a three-time IBJJF European champion, while Isaque Doederlein (Alliance-Cobrinha) was the 2020 IBJJF European champion. Making up the eight is Andy Murasaki (Atos), who makes his highly-anticipated black belt debut.

The athletes will be competing for a $10,000 winner-takes-all grand prize, plus title of the EUG Lightweight champion.

The event will go down on April 3rd, in Las Vegas Nevada exclusively on FloGrappling and the event promoter, Hector Vasquez is already eying more divisions in the future with a 170lb Gi tournament already being planned for June 12th and many other weight divisions this year.

The first event will alsofeature additional superfights and prelim matches, including a Women’s EUG title match between Thamires Aquino (GF Team) vs Jessa Khan (Art Of Jiu-Jitsu) and a brown belt superfight between Julia Balmante (Alliance) and Jhenifer Aquino (Atos).

Watch EUG Promotions on April 3 only on FloGrappling