The road to the Sapateiro World Championship is about to begin, as the promotion has just announced the lineup for their first qualifier event in Florida on March 9th, 2024. This is the first of 8 invitational tournaments where 16 elite competitors will be fighting for their chance at the $100,000 prize available at the Sapateiro World Championship at the end of the year. There will also be a series of 8 open tournaments that give other grapplers the chance to qualify for the final event as well, and the final spot in the invitation tournament is available to the winner of an additional qualifying round the day before on March 8th.
There’s quite a few big names competing and two of the top contenders to earn that qualification spot are actually a pair of brothers; Gavin Corbe and Deandre Corbe. They have some really tough opposition waiting for them though, and Max Hanson in particular is going to be really difficult to beat. Dominic Mejia is another favorite in the division and seeing as he’s coming off an ADCC Trials silver medal performance recently, he’s going to be fired up to make a big impact here. There’s quite a few interesting prospects who have been invited to the tournament as well, with Michael Sainz coming from Alpha Miami Grappling and Reese LaFever representing New Wave Jiu-Jitsu.
There’s a lot of Sapateiro experience in the Sapateiro World Championship 2024 Florida Qualifier lineup too, with former champion Dylan Cameron competing alongside finalist David Cainas and semi-finalists Mauricio Gomez and Jason Valle. The tournament will be contested under ADCC rules but that hasn’t stopped IBJJF veterans Matheus Machado and Ben Zapata from being invited. Rounding out the tournament is Hank Henry, Ian Murray, and Mike Lugo; all of whom are exciting grapplers who are more than capable of causing an upset during their run through the bracket.
The full lineup for the Sapateiro World Championship 2024 Florida Qualifier was announced in a series of posts to the promotion’s official Instagram account, and the lineups for future qualifying tournaments will be announced in the same fashion:
