Cooler than a polar bear's toenails.
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Cooler than a polar bear's toenails.
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When one thinks of jiu jitsu hotspots around the world, Houston usually isn't the first that comes to mind. However, the city's grappling scene is seriously thriving, with events like Third Coast Grappling and Submission Hunter Pro hosting events all throughout the year. Hidden behind these big name promotions is the Combat Sports Coverage tournament... but it won't stay in the shadows for long. Founded by Thomas Galdenzi, a photographer and journalist passionate about martial arts, this tournament is looking to provide a stage where some of the best grapplers can shine in a truly unique, personal atmosphere. The gritty, bare bones tournament is held in a warehouse with only one huge mat and almost no rules. Fighters grapple with all eyes on them, hoping to secure the championship belt. I caught up with Galdenzi to find out more about this intriguing competition and the latest tournament, which will be taking place on October 3rd. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background in combat sports? Galdenzi: My name is Thomas Galdenzi, I used to be an amateur kickboxer/Muay Thai fighter back in like 2010-2014. I have like a 3-2 amateur record, both my losses were for state titles. I coached a little while for Champions MMA, UFC Gym, a bunch of others... I would just coach here and there. About a year ago is when I started Combat Sports Coverage, where I interview fighters, take pictures, cover MMA events. Now, we are starting to do grappling tournaments like the Combat Sports Coverage Grappling Invitational. This will be our third one, they're getting pretty big. Especially in the time of Covid, we're just trying to keep people busy and doing as much as we can. For the uninformed, how would you describe your tournaments? Galdenzi: Right now, we have a two part tournament. We have a white and blue belt tournament. For anyone under blue belt, you can come sign up for that just like you would do for a NAGA or anything like that. Ours are a lot smaller though. We try to get at least eight people in a bracket. If you get eight people in your bracket, you'll get a championship belt. If there are under eight, you'll only get medals. We have five weight classes for boys and three for girls currently. The reason we don't have many weight classes is to give people a lot of matches. It's double elimination, like a high school wrestling tournament. Our overtime is first to get a takedown... it's pretty cool. Our pro grappling tournaments are run a little different - they have money on the line. (The competitors) all pay $100 to enter our grappling tournaments. The winner will get the jackpot of $800 and the championship belt. I like to tell people that our tournaments are like a superfight. Even the white/blue belts undercard, we still treat them like they're in a superfight. We have one mat, all the lights, photography, everything! And, we keep the music going. We get a good amount of people. The last event, we had about 120 people and that was a smaller warehouse. This warehouse is three times that size - 6500 sq ft. and almost a thousand square feet of mats. I noticed that it's submission only and all subs (heel hooks included) are legal. Galdenzi: Well, my background is not in jiu jitsu, it's more kickboxing, Muay Thai, and wrestling. (I'm not refereeing these matches, a brown belt named Tony Fitz is). But that's why it's submission only, originally I didn't want to do all the points. I made long rounds, like ten minutes, so hopefully someone gets tapped out. Score points are too much extra work, I want to keep the action going. For the kids and the teens, no attacks above the waist. For the adults... anything goes! Some people like that, some people get scared, but I think that makes it exciting. You've had some really high level competitors in your events. Who can we expect to see on this card? Galdenzi: This time we have our former 170lb champion Noah Wyatt coming down to the 155lb division. We also have Fight to Win champion Andrew Tackett against a really tough guy, Jordan Plutin, in the first round. What's different about this time is that we have people flying in from all over Texas to compete. We have people from Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and even someone from Corpus Christi. We had a lot of guys drop out, but the ones we do have are very high level purple belts. Many of them have been on UFC Fight Pass, Submission Hunter Pro and other big stages. It's exciting to see how they compete - three matches in a day doesn't just test your skill, but also your cardio. Thomas Galdenzi with previous 170lb champion Noah Wyatt.
Personally, what are you excited to see at this tournament? Galdenzi: I'm just excited to see how it all goes. The first one I had, not that many people showed up, but I think I did a good job running it. The last event, way more people showed up than I planned. I was everywhere. I personally didn't like that - everyone still had a great time, but I was disappointed in myself. This time I have a lot of people helping me, it won't be a one man show. We have extra cameramen, extra refs, more security. But also, I just love watching these competitors. Especially the pro matches. Those guys are putting up their own money to compete, so when they fight, you can feel the intensity in the air. Where do you plan on taking this tournament in the future? Galdenzi: Man, hopefully we just keep growing and growing. Right now I just have one big warehouse that we do it out of, but Combat Sports Coverage has a lot of people in Florida. Maybe not the next event we do, but in 2021 I really want to do a Texas vs. Florida card and fly some of the best guys out to battle the Florida guys. I already have the venue, right on Daytona Beach in a prime location. I have the hotel covered already. Just like a wrestling dual meet, team vs. team. Finally, where do you see the sport of jiu jitsu in ten years? Galdenzi: Oh, man. I think jiu jitsu, even right now, is blooming. Everyone is putting on really big jiu jitsu shows. Like Submission Hunter Pro events, those are beautiful. If I was a competitor, shoot, I'd love to go compete on one of those. Eric (Garcia) puts on great shows. We're seeing all these smaller promotions start to do that too. People like me, we might not have the nicest show, but hey, the guys who win our tournaments are taking home money. I think the sport of jiu jitsu is going to be huge. Just like the UFC, hopefully people will be tuning in to watch jiu jitsu. Those interested in competing in the grappling tournament can sign up here. To watch the Combat Sports Coverage Grappling Invitational, you can buy a pay-per-view for only 99 cents on Facebook. Be sure to check out Combat Sports Coverage on Instagram and Facebook!
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