http://www.mmaweekly.com/blog/2009/01/gsp-open-for-return-to-adcc.asp UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre, fresh off a successful title defense last Saturday and still nursing a groin injury, may compete in the Abu Dhabi Combat Club World Championship in September, held this year in Barcelona, Spain. If healthy, GSP would compete in the 77kgs (169-lbs.) division. St. Pierre competed in the ADCC-WC in 2005. He was submitted by Leo Santos. Since then GSP has earned his black belt and improved drastically as a grappler--but has he improved enough to make a strong showing in the tournament? Other UFC fighters expected to compete include Gabriel Gonzaga, Nate Marquardt, Dean Lister, and former ADCC champion Demian Maia. A superfight between 2007 Absolute Division Champion Robert Drysdale and 2005 Absolute Division Champion Roger Gracie is also expected to take place. Drysdale has recently been featured as a grappling coach on season eight of The Ultimate Fighter alongside Frank Mir. He attempted to become a contestant on season ten of TUF but a medical issue kept him out of the show. Gracie has competed in MMA in Japan with great success and was scheduled to make his US debut at Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg, but scheduling issues kept him off the show. The ADCC holds it's World Championships every two years. There are five weight classes for men (ranging between 145-lbs. and over 218-lbs.) and four for women (from 121-lbs. to 147-lbs.) Both the men's and women's tournaments also feature an "absolute" or open-weight division that finalists from all weight classes can compete in. Submission grappling is comprised of wrestling, judo, sambo, and jiu-jitsu. The tournament is by invitation only.
^ They have a problem with combat grappling, like what Fedor's sambo tournaments are (they involve striking); not so much with grappling. Grappling is less intensive than what most of these guys do in training every day.
