TRURO, N.S. – A martial arts pay-per-view event is heading to Truro to pit fighters head-to-head to honour veterans across the province.
Submission Series Promotions is holding their Freedom Roll pay-per-view jiu-jitsu tournament at the Best Western Glengarry on Saturday, Nov. 11, and will feature two eight-fighter cards competing for $1,000 grand prizes, as well as three special matches.
“We’ve been doing this quite awhile; this will be our 16th tournament,” said Derek Clarke of Submission Series Promotions.
“This particular event is going to have two eight-person brackets, so there is eight women and eight men competing. It’s going to be submission-only grapple wrestling, and there will be four Maritime athletes in each bracket and four from away.”
Also, in honour of Remembrance Day, Sub Series Pro is using the tournament to give back to the veterans who fought for Canada.
“The idea is to give back to these guys and girls who put their life on the line all the time,” said Clarke.
“I have PTSD myself, so I have some good days, but also a lot of terrible days as well, just like some of our veterans. So to give back, we are going to give 25 per cent of the proceeds from the day right to the veterans wing here in Pictou.”
The tournament will also be accepting non-perishable food items at the doors to donate to the Truro Food Bank.
The headlining pay-per-view event will run during the evening, but during the day the tournament will be open to any jiu-jitsu fighters interested in registering and will run more like a traditional tournament.
“This will be a smaller tournament than what we usually have, with about 150 athletes participating during the day,” said Clarke.
“We are going to have a normal tournament with kids brackets all the way up to 40- to 50-year-old men and women’s brackets, and we’ll have fighters coming from away participating as well as locals.”
The pay-per-view tournament, however, will run much more like a UFC event with only two athletes competing at a time, and will be a no-GI tournament, meaning fighters will not be wearing the traditional jiu-jitsu GI uniform, providing more exciting matches for both viewers and participants.
The PPV event kicks off at 6 p.m., and will be streamed live online at Sub Series Pro’s website, subseriespro.ca, for digital ticket buyers, which will cost $19.99 plus tax, while tickets to attend the event in person will be $25 at the door.
Since 2014 the company has been hosting jiu-jitsu tournaments like Freedom Roll across the province, with some gaining big name athletes such as UFC’s Diego Sanchez, who competed in their Chokes by the Ocean PPV in July.
“Jiu-jitsu is one of the fastest growing sports in the world and it’s crazy how big it’s become in Nova Scotia,” said Clarke.
“The best jiu-jitsu in Canada, no question, is right here in Nova Scotia. From promotion to tournaments and athletes, it is really quite a remarkable thing. Jake MacKenzie is one of the best right now, no one in Canada can touch him, and he is from here. It is amazing.”
If You Go
Freedom Roll Jiu-Jitsu tournament
Saturday, Nov. 11 – Best Western Glengarry - Truro
Open No-GI tournament – 9 a.m.
Pay-per-view tournament – 6 p.m. - $19.99 online streaming or $25 in person
Registration and ticket info available at subseriespro.ca
