High Rollerz BJJ’s rapid rise to prominence in the grappling industry wasn’t necessarily easy, but by bringing a subculture of the community to the forefront they have revolutionized how people look at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments.
High Rollerz is a combat sports promotion that stands out from the rest by showcasing a part of the grappling culture many people might be unaware of. That many BJJ practitioners are also passionate about marijuana. Yet, the formation of a promotion that blends the two may not have been a good fit for someone like co-founder Matt Staudt a decade ago. In terms of cannabis use, Staudt checked off that box as a man that admits he first started dabbling in marijuana when he was 15. However, up until seven years ago, Staudt was no fan of the ground game in an MMA fight.
“I was a UFC fan but I really hated it when it went to the ground. I didn’t understand what I was seeing,” Staudt told MixedMartialArts.com.
An original tale that includes Jean Claude Van Damme and Nick Diaz?
The lifelong marketing professional’s views on grappling would change however when he started working with action movie icon Jean Claude Van Damme. Through his connection with the “Muscles from Brussels” Staudt met, and eventually befriended, UFC star Nick Diaz. He set up seminars for the Stockton MMA icon and the former Strikeforce welterweight champ often pushed Staudt to learn BJJ. In time, the man who didn’t know the difference between gi and no-gi grappling became a lover of grappling and now considers it his favorite part of MMA scraps.
Being a part of this community would lead Staudt to discover that many of his contemporaries used cannabis products too, and it was an alternate lifestyle within BJJ circles for some time. And that influential figures in MMA and grappling like UFC commentator Joe Rogan, Diaz, and 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu founder Eddie Bravo had long been open about their marijuana use and advocated on its benefits for athletes.
However, the leap from a burgeoning BJJ practitioner who enjoys cannabis, to a combat sports promoter only happens with a fateful meeting with a like-minded individual. That’s where Lonn Howard comes in. He was the brains behind the concept that would become High Rollerz. He envisioned a BJJ tournament where competitors would all smoke weed before hitting the mats, and the winner would get a pound of marijuana at the end.
Howard had the concept, but Staudt was the part of the puzzle that could develop the promotional structure to make their idea a reality. It shockingly only took 60 days for High Rollerz to go from a simple conversation between two BJJ-loving potheads to an actual event, and that first show three years ago garnered a great deal of interest. So much so that popular news outlet Vice attended and documented the proceedings of High Rollerz 1.
High Rollerz 1 and hate from the current elders of the BJJ community
The inaugural event, originally expected to be a one-off, was a success because it tapped into something Staudt admits was always there. However, High Rollerz 1 was able to reach out to these eccentrics in grappling culture, and bring them together in a way word of mouth and a chat on the mats never could.
“There’s a huge synergy there and a long relationship between [BJJ and cannabis]. We definitely tapped into something that was existing and formalized it and created culture and community. We never take credit for creating it. This was here,” said Staudt.
“[High Rollerz 1] was a one-off back then. Getting through that, we had tremendous interest. I like to say, if you do jiu-jitsu, it defines you in a way — for most people. They’re doing it often, it’s their friend group. It’s how they define their lives in a sense,” he continued. “And the same is true of cannabis. So if you mix those two, you have like this super following of people who look at you as a definition of who they are. ‘I smoke weed and do jiu-jitsu all day, so High Rollerz, I’m f*cking with them.’”
Yet, not everyone was thrilled with the sort of content the promotion was offering. Just 24 hours before their first event, fire marshalls in California forced the organization to change the venue at the last minute after claiming they did not have a proper license to put on the show. The same thing happened before High Rollerz 2 as well. It led Staudt and the team to purchase their own facility and make follow-up events a private affair. “So no more public, no more selling tickets, no more renting venues,” he said.
Along with problems from local officials, High Rollerz also received blowback from within the grappling community. The old guard of BJJ did not take kindly to the idea of mixing gis, grappling mats, and weed. It even led to promotion friend Bravo — the creator of the EBI ruleset High Rollerz uses — to take some heat from the current elders of the sport.
“The red belts, the real high-end Gracies, and the guys who brought jiu-jitsu to the states, and really exploded it; total respect from our side, but they definitely didn’t understand it,” says Staudt. “Specifically, at the first event, when [competitors] smoked a joint before overtime. Eddie was our guest ref, and Eddie took a lot of sh*t on our behalf. He was just donating his time and helping us out, and we always feel bad about that. They definitely thought it was highly disrespectful that guys in a gi were smoking on the mats. In our defense, that was never our mission or goal, that just organically happened once.”
Choking out the stigma around cannabis
But High Rollerz is far more than just a bunch of BJJ talents smoking blunts and competing to win cannabis prizes. The promotion is looking to change the narrative on cannabis, give an opportunity to athletes who use it, and aid stigmatized companies that make the products. Breaking the stigma around cannabis continues to be a battle for product makers as the country slowly moves towards expanded legalization of the substance.
“Our thing is about de-stigmatizing cannabis as a whole, and providing a fun friendly event for like-minded athletes to meet and network with cannabis brands. And cannabis brands to find those athletes,” Staud said. “Our brand gives the athletes the chance to show their skills and the sponsors to activate their brands. It’s very limited in the cannabis world in the ways you can market. It’s like alcohol or tobacco. You can’t do Google ads or Facebook ads. This is organic responsible content we’re creating.”
With success and growth also come change. The promotion has stretched its reach by airing events on Pluto TV, and recently had a show air on Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship’s BKTV app. High Rollerz content has also drawn interest from executives at UFC Fight Pass. However, the brand’s cannabis-driven events have also kept certain networks and streaming services away. Making a fine line the promotion must walk going forward if it hopes to stay true to its tenets and reach its potential.
High Rollerz 10 streams Dec. 11 at 9 pm PT
It is part of why the traditional pound of marijuana prize for tournament winners has been scrapped in favor of US $1000 gift cards to cannabis dispensaries near the promotion’s home in Las Vegas. Firstly, giving away bags of weed was always problematic legally and for traveling athletes, but on an optics level, it does have drawbacks. “It was a hard thing to move away from because it was so defining into who we are. But it’s something we had to alter,” said Staudt.
Although the bags of grass for winners are out, big paydays are on the horizon for the promotion. At High Rollerz 10 on Dec. 11 (at 9 pm PT), the organization will be putting on a 16-man tournament with a $10,000 grand prize. The event will feature several talents from MMA, including Bellator featherweight champion AJ McKee and organization veteran Georgi Karakhanyan. A stream of it can be viewed in the embedded video above.
Although Staudt admits he doesn’t have any long-term goals in mind for the brand, they do plan on growing the diverse demographic of cannabis users and grappling fans that tune into their shows. And they will continue to do so by remaining different from their competitors in the industry.
“I think our thing is to stay creative enough to hit a wide birth of people. Our goal is to approach the new viewer. That’s why we have the comedic approach. We use creative themes, like Cops vs Stonerz,” he said.