The IBJJF have just announced a new date and location for the World Masters Championships after the event was one of many that were delayed to the Coronavirus pandemic. The new date has been set for December 14th-20th, 2020 and the tournament will take place in Orlando, Florida, which makes a change from it’s usual spot in August in California. This marks the latest of the biggest IBJJF tournaments to be rearranged, with the World Masters Championships quickly following on from the upcoming no gi Pan-Ams.
This is only possible thanks to the early attempt at running the gi version of the Pan-Ams which went off without a hitch and hasn’t had any reported instances of Coronavirus surfacing from it as yet. The only criticisms that came surrounded the tournament were from athletes residing outside of the United States, as they were unable to compete due to travel restrictions in place at the time. Sadly, unless there are some huge changes in the landscape over the coming months, it seems likely that the same or a similar level of restrictions will be in place in December too.
Alongside this news, the IBJJF have also announced the same date of December 14th-20th for the adult World Championships, although this is still subject to change. They have confirmed that the final update on the whether the adult World Championships will take place on that date will be released by November 10th. This shows just how pushed for time the IBJJF really is when trying to make up lost ground and stack all of the major tournaments in the final months of the year. Since all events were indefinitely suspended in March, they have managed to run four tournaments already and have four set for the future including this latest announcement.
For those of you interested in competing at the IBJJF World Masters Championships, click here to register.