Among the judo highlights of the 2008 Beijing Olympics was USA’s Ronda Rousey winning an unexpected Bronze medal! She thrust herself into the elite international players in her weight class by winning the surprise medal. That Rousey did this as a 21-year-old and in a US program that is hardcore grassroots, absent any hype and corporate dollars, speaks volumes about her commitment to being the best for the simple sake of being the best at the sport she loves. Judo at the international level is a highly-competitive sport played by athletes who often are national heroes in their home countries, claiming the sort of notoriety that Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, or Alex Rodriguez enjoy in the U.S.

Having started in BJJ and NHB with the Gracies in 1988, and having been in it continuously since then, I've seen the rise (and often the fall) of most everyone now in the sport. One of the constants from the mid-90s on were Charles and Dan, aka the TapouT Crew. I've known the Crew from their earliest days in the sport since before they sold tee-shirts at the gas station outside Terry Trebilcock's KOTC at Soboba Casino. They used to be fixtures at all the small, grassroots BJJ and NHB shows, supporting the promoters, encouraging the fighters, and trying to get the sport noticed.

Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros Sweeps the Pro Jiu-Jitsu U.S. Qualifying Tournament

With the inaugural World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Cup just around the corner on May 1, 2009 in Abu Dhabi, the world qualifying tournaments are being held all over the globe. The U.S. qualifying tournament played host to some of North America’s most talented jiu-jitsu fighters. When the dust had settled on the Florida competition, Chicago-based Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros captured both his weight class and the Absolute to mark himself as the man to beat in the upcoming finals. Despite going into the tournament with several injuries, the seven-time world weight class and two-time world absolute champion proved himself to be the class of the field.

Gladiator Magazine

Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award

Eddie Goldman: The Conscience of Combat Sports

Not only has Eddie Goldman been covering combat sports since the early 1990s, he has done it with honesty and candor, calling it like it is and never sparing the truth. It’s one thing to write about mixed martial arts and the other combat sports, but it is quite another thing to be honest and yet fair at the same time, documenting your coverage and making sure that what you said was the truth, nothing more and nothing less. In a sport where a premium is placed on hype and objective opinions often are driven by a desire to curry favor with the powers that be, Eddie Goldman has been breath of fresh air for almost the past 20 years.