Sapateiro have just announced that they will be hosting their very first world championship tournament and that it will have up to $100,000 in prize money available. The tournament will only be contested in the 160lb weight class but with such a huge prize available for the winner, it will undoubtedly attract some of the best competitors in that division from all around the world. Sapateiro have also announced that they will be using the ADCC ruleset for the tournament and they’ve even been able to book certified ADCC judges in order to produce the best results possible.
It’s a huge move by one of the oldest professional grappling promotions in North America, and they’re going to be building up to the event all throughout 2024. They have announced that there will be a total of 12 qualifying tournaments across America and Canada during the year and each one will allow a single competitor to book their place in the grand finale. 8 of them will be invitational tournaments that will be capped at 16 top grapplers and the other 4 tournaments are going to be open registration, available for anyone to compete in.
The first invitational tournament will be taking place in Tampa, Florida on March 9th, 2024 and it looks like it’s going to be a very busy period for the brains behind Sapateiro, because they will then have just 8 months to complete the other 9 qualifying tournaments. That will then culminate in the actual Sapateiro World Championship in December, where one competitor will be crowned the 160lbs champion and take home the $100,000 grand prize. It’s going to be a grueling schedule and the eventual winner will have to beat so many elite grapplers over the course of the year, but the end result will be a huge achievement for whoever emerges victorious.
Sapateiro announced the news that they would be hosting their first world championship over the course of 2024 in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
