Australian BJJ legend Kit Dale will now be stepping in as a late replacement for the CJI 2 Team Misfits Australasia trials as he looks to earn a spot on the team. There are two invites available, as head coach Lachlan Giles looks to select both his under and over 99kg competitors in the same event. It will take place over two days, starting with a pre-qualifier tournament with sixteen elite grapplers vying for a single spot on the second day. From there, they will join five of the best competitors in the continent for a round-robin tournament where two of them will actually earn their invites.
Dale will be coming into the tournament on the first day and he replaces top brown belt Josh Allsopp on around two weeks’ notice. It’s a huge challenge of course, as Dale will have to beat four competitors in a row just to get the opportunity to move on to the second day. There’s some serious talent in the lineup for that opening tournament too and Dale will have some very tough matches ahead of him. The early favorite will likely be ADCC veteran Kenta Iwamoto but a pair of ADCC Trials medallists will also be top contenders; Anton Minenko and Tito Carle.
If Dale does make it through this gauntlet then the next day will be even more difficult, as he looks to finish at the top of a stacked group featuring Declan Moody, Alibi Orazbek, Roberto Frias, Belal Etaibari, and Kaya Rudolph. If anyone can make it through both tournaments on May 10th and 11th, 2025 and come out with a place on the team then Dale has just as good of a chance as anyone. He has shared the mats with many of the best competitors in the world and although he took some time away from the sport to focus on other ventures, he was successful in his return earlier this year.
Lachlan Giles announced the news that Kit Dale was stepping in as a late replacement for the CJI 2 Team Misfits Australasia trials in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
