MINOTAURO IN FOR BARRETO
Rodrigo "Minotauro" will replace his teammate Carlão Barreto in the Pro Am, the most anticipated submission event of the year, scheduled to take place in North Carolina on December 9 and 10. Carlão is just recovering from a bruise and is concentrating his training for RINGS B Bracket, that will take place in Tóquio on December 22. Minotauro, who after the excellent showing in the A Bracket of RINGS got the cover page of the November edition of the Brazilian publication Tatame – must face the likes of Ricco Rodriguez, Jeff Monsen and Rolles Gracie in the Pro Am tournament. "Facing these amazing fighters is going to be a very good opportunity to test my skills before going on to the great final of RINGS [King of Kings] in February," said the Top Team member.
ANTOINE GETS GOLD
The Ruas Vale-Tudo fighter and Heavyweight Cchampion of the Abu Dhabi Arabian league, Antoine Braga, just won the gold medal in the South American Free Style Wrestling Championship. The event took Place in Santiago, Chile and had the participation of 9 countries. Antoine defeated, his first two opponents (Jeferson Angulo of Equador and Gabriel Palermos of Argentina) by 10-0 defeating the favorite, Danny Mavarez from Venezuela in the final by touch, being considered the most technical fighter of the competition. Now Antoine is looking forward to get an opportunity to show his skills in NHB. "Marco Ruas is negotiating a good debut for me" the #1 wrestler from Brazil told us.
JIU-JITSU IN THE SCHOOL
Finally, after constantly being associated with trouble and police action in the Brazilian press, some good news is being reported about Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil. A large school (Alpha 100) in Jacarepagua, Rio de Janeiro decided to introduce Jiu-Jitsu among other disciplines of Physical Education (like soccer, volleyball and Judo) and is having a amazing results. The decision was taken by the director of the school, Fábio Augusto, student of Otávio Ratinho Couto (black belt under Jacaré – Alliance) "I knew that when Jiu-Jitsu is taught well, it can be an excellent way to teach discipline to children, that’s why I decided to invite Ratinho to make this experience in my school" explained Fábio. Ratinho, teaches full time in Alliance Barra so he put his top black belt, Brazilian champion Montenegro Jr. [pictured] to teach there. "At first I gave him two days a week, but the children loved him so much that after the second week we decided to put Jiu-Jitsu classes every day," explained the Director. "We are proving here that when taught by qualified professionals, Jiu-Jitsu can give excellent results," said Montenegro, who has a degree in physical education. The interesting thing about this is that some children started to talk about their Jiu-Jitsu classes and show some movements to their parents and the result was once again surprising. "Some fathers and friends of the students came to me asking to open the Jiu-Jitsu class to the public and I did it. Now we have parents training together with their kids," says Fábio, happy with his full Jiu-Jitsu classes.
MARGARIDA ON TOP TEAM
One week after leaving Godói and Macaco’s team, Jiu-Jitsu black belt Fernando "Margarida" Pontes is already on another team, the Brazilian Top Team. "I always admired them very much. They have the best Brazilian fighters with and without gi. They received me very well in here" said Margarida who is planning to train hard without the gi to fight in Vale-Tudo and submission events in the future. About the rumor that he was expelled by Godói, Margarida explained: "It’s not true, I decided to leave the team. Everything started because in the Brasileiro, I had a problem to putting the academy patch on my gi and I fought without it. After the competition, Macaco told me that I was not part of the team anymore. Some days latter we made a meeting where I explained what happened and they understood, but took my name out of the Friendship Cup (A Jiu-Jitsu challenge between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro’s best Jiu-Jitsu fighters that took place on November 30th) as a punishment. I told them that punishment is for children; I’m not a child, I’m a black belt who needs to fight to live. They didn’t change their point of view, so I decided to leave," explained the new phenomenon of Jiu-Jitsu. Margarida says that the 400 km. between Rio (where the Top Team trains) and São Paulo (where he leaves) is not a problem. "My girlfriend also lives in Rio. My life is little bit crazy now. I teach Jiu-Jitsu in São Paulo from Monday to Thursday and stay in Rio from Friday to Sunday" explains the new Top Team member.
JIU-JITSU TRAINING MUAY THAI
Now besides Jiu-Jitsu and Boxing, the respected Brazilian Top Team is also training in Muay Thai with the famous master Lu
posted by Full Contact Fighter @ 8:00 pm
