Welcome to the BJJ Beat! On this recurring feature, we’ll tackle the biggest news from the professional grappling scene, and roll everything up in an easily digestible and familiar jiu-jitsu format.
Warm Ups
Ivanka Trump now a blue belt, learning samurai ‘spiritualism’ from BJJ?
More rich and powerful people are gravitating towards combat sports. While Donald Trump has been cozying up to the UFC for quite some time, the President’s daughter and her family have been training in jiu-jitsu recently. According to Ivanka Trump, she is now a BJJ blue belt and has fallen in love with the supposed “spiritualism” in the sport.
“I most recently got into jiu-jitsu, courtesy of my daughter, Arabella,” Ivanka Trump said in an interview with The Skinny Confidential (HT: JitsMagazine).
“I started driving her to these classes. She started asking me to join. I joined, then my two sons wanted to do what their older sister was doing, then my husband joined. It is good for everyone, and it’s like multiple things I like, so it meshes physical movement — it’s almost like a moving meditation because the movements are so micro, it’s like three-dimensional chess.”
“Now it’s funny, I’ll watch like uhm, ‘ultimate fighting,’ and you see some of these moves are so subtle, and they’ll like break out of a whole — it’s like fun to watch it,” she said. “I’m like a blue belt, so I’m not really knowing what’s going on.”
“There’s a real spiritualism to it, like the grounding in Samurai tradition, culture, and wisdom. As someone who’s always been drawn to philosophy, I love how it meshes movement with deeper principles.”
I’m not quite sure how learning how to shrimp imparts Samurai spiritualism, but as Trump shares, this isn’t your typical jiu-jitsu gym.
She primarily trains in a gym that focuses on self defense “jujutsu” instead of sport jiu-jitsu. In a separate interview, the US President’s daughter also noted how the coaches created a “code” that she likens to a “religion.”
“That was developed with some of the sort of Samurai principles in mind, and all my kids have memorized it,” Trump said about the 15 pillars of this gym’s code. “It’s an unbelievable thing. They’ll actually integrate it into conversations… It’s the mind, body and soul.
“The kids can only advance and get their stripes if they really internalize this. My kids will come home from school and they’ll tell me examples of how things happen that weren’t aligned with the 753 code. So it’s like a framework, much like religion is in our house, and it can be for others.”
Donald Trump’s grandkids from the other side of the family also train in jiu-jitsu. The kids recently received their gray belts on a different gym led by credentialed BJJ competitor Marcelo Cohen.
Drills
WNO vs Polaris double header: WNO 26 books more BJJ stars
There’s a big weekend coming up for BJJ, with two pretty stacked events happening back to back. WNO 26 happens on the evening of February 7, 2025, then Polaris 31 will happen the next day in the afternoon of February 8, 2025.
Coincidentally sticking to the theme for that weekend, WNO 26 will be headlined by a WNO champ vs. Polaris champ, with Diego “Pato” Oliveira defending his WNO lightweight title against Polaris featherweight champ Keith Krikorian.
Outside of the two other bouts we reported earlier, WNO 26 has also added a few more big names to its deep line up, including two-time BJJ world champ and recent IBJJF Euros winner Tainan Dalpra, ADCC silver medalist Jay Rodriguez, and no-gi world champ Roberto Jimenez in separate matches.
The full WNO 26 card is below.
Diego ‘Pato’ Oliveira vs. Keith Krikorian [WNO lightweight title]
Tainan Dalpra vs. Rene Sousa
Roberto Jimenez vs. Elder Cruz
Jay Rodriguez vs. Ronaldo Junior
Rafaela Guedes vs. Paige Ivette
Ryan Aitken vs. Luccas Lira
Daniel Sathler vs. Michael Sainz
WNO 26 can be streamed on FloGrappling, while Polaris 31 will be on UFC Fight Pass. More on that below.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
(Can’t) Move of the Day
Nicky Ryan injured, likely out of CJI 2
BJJ star Nicky Ryan has been apparently training and competing with a torn ACL for a while, which he says completely compromised his training camp for the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational. Nicky, will finally have surgery to address it soon, which means he will likely won’t be able to join CJI 2.
Even without Gordon Ryan’s younger brother, B-Team’s roster for that event won’t have a shortage of representatives at -77 kg, with Jozef Chen likely being their top option for CJI 2.
While Nicky Ryan most likely won’t be able to compete at CJI 2, he did invent a new move recently. They call it the “Nickotine,” which is like a modified darce choke almost.
Rolls
Polaris 31 features stacked Team North America vs. Team Europe event
On February 8, just a day after WNO 26, there’ll be another excellent BJJ card. For afternoon viewing in the US, Polaris Squads’ entertaining team grappling format will return at Polaris 31.
The two teams will feature several BJJ champs and notable stars. Team Europe will have Jozef Chen, Owen Jones, Eoghan O’Flanagan, Mateusz Szczecinski, Taylor Pearman and Santeri Lilius, while Team North America will consist of PJ Barch, Chris Wojcik, Kieran Kichuk, Devhonte Johnson, Mike Perez and Julian Espinosa.
The card will also have teenage BJJ prodigy and ADCC silver medalist Helena Crevar defending her Polaris title against IBJJF no gi world champ Anabel Lopez Beard.
With the size differences and winners of each match staying on to face the next opponent, team grappling pretty much guarantees entertainment, which is why even CJI shifted to this format.
With the stacked teams and a high level female title fight, this event will certainly be a fun afternoon. Polaris 31 will be streamed on UFC Fight Pass.
Cooldown
UFC FPI 10 adds another bout
UFC Fight Pass Invitational 10 (UFC FPI 10) is already looking pretty good, after they beat out BJJ orgs and managed to book what is arguably the best possible match up in the sport today.
Outside of that incredible Ffion Davies vs. Adele Fornarino headliner, and the three other female bouts we reported earlier, another UFC FPI staple has been added to the card.
Renato Canuto will look to remain unbeaten in the UFC FPI as he faces ADCC vet Oliver Taza. UFC FPI 10 happens on March 6, 2025.
Screengrab, YouTube/MartinsLicis
Review
To close things out, here are other interesting BJJ stories you might have missed:
- Hulk Smash! – Watch the World’s Strongest Man win an ADCC Open (and hammerlock a poor white belt).
- First step to an IBJJF Grand Slam? – Diego Pato, Tainan Dalpra and Diogo Reis were among the biggest stars to take gold at the first major gi event of 2025. It’s also worth noting how well rounded Pato is, because as we noted above, he’s going immediately back to no gi a week later at WNO 26.
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