Cassão ajusta a pegada para passar aguarda-laçada. Foto: Reprodução

Professor da GB Fort Bend no Texas, a fera Cássio Francis costuma brilhar nos campeonatos da IBJJF graças a uma guarda arisca e muito flexível.

Mas claro, o faixa-preta Cassão guarda na manga um arsenal de passagens de guarda muito eficientes.

Na aula de hoje, nosso GMI mostra sua opção para superar o adversário que faz guarda-laçada e controla o passador. Para Cassão, porém, uma troca de posições é suficiente para superar o nó, ou laço.

Cassão então primeiro afunda a perna oposta da laçada, para em seguida girar a mão do laço e dar um passo para o lado, o que abre espaço para a passagem.

Para conferir a técnica em detalhes, clique no vídeo abaixo e estude a posição de Cássio Francis.

Professor Paulo Peposo é faixa-preta desde 2000. Foto: Reprodução

Ídolo dos entusiastas do Jiu-Jitsu raiz, Paulo “Peposo” Curi é professor e treinador de defesa pessoal para policiais em Minas Gerais.

Nosso GMI em Belo Horizonte, o faixa-preta costuma ensinar técnicas eficazes e sem firulas, que o povo não vê muito por aí.

Como esta chave de pé interessante, que ele usa contra os guardeiros que ainda têm a ousadia de deixar o pé na alça de mira de Peposo.

Confira o famigerado “pé de vaca”, um antídoto contra a guarda-laçada, e bons estudos.

Paulo Peposo ensina ataques na chave de calcanhar. Foto: Reprodução

Nosso GMI em Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, o professor Paulo Peposo preparou para a aula de hoje dois ataques na chave de calcanhar para você surpreender o adversário nos treinos em kimono. Vale ressaltar que, em torneios da IBJJF, a chave de calcanhar é permitida apenas para os faixas-marrons e pretas, na modalidade sem kimono.

Repare que o professor faz variações da chave de calcanhar: ao abrir a guarda do oponente e por baixo. No primeiro ataque, Paulo Peposo abaixa o nível, laça o calcanhar e coloca a perna esquerda por baixo de uma das pernas do adversário para impedir que ele levante.

No segundo movimento, Peposo faz guarda-aberta, pega o adversário desprevenido e ataca na chave de calcanhar.

Confira a aula no vídeo abaixo, e bons estudos.

 

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Uma publicação compartilhada por Gracie Magazine Brasil (@graciemagoficial)

Cristiano Titi sob ataque da mão de vaca. Foto: Reprodução

Como anda seu jogo de ataques surpresa, sorrateiro leitor? O ataque na mão de vaca, que costuma pegar os adversários desprevenidos, pode ser levado a um outro nível, dependendo de onde parte.

É o que ensina Cristiano “Titi” Lazzarini, nosso GMI em Belo Horizonte, ao revelar uma posição ardilosa, capaz de surpreender muito casca-grossa desavisado, a partir do jogo do faixa-preta Junio Souza, o “Valério”, faixa-preta da Gracie Barra BH.

Confira a posição brutal partindo da guarda laçada e muito cuidado com os parceiros ao aplicar!

* Entre para o time GMI! *

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Uma publicação compartilhada por Gracie Magazine Brasil (@graciemagoficial) em 25 de Jun, 2020 às 7:17 PDT

Professor Paulo Peposo é faixa-preta desde 2000. Foto: Reprodução

Os leitores de GRACIEMAG pediram uma técnica clássica e eficiente e a nossa equipe foi beber na fonte. O professor Paulo Peposo, nosso GMI à frente da Peposo Team, em Belo Horizonte, ensina na aula de hoje como ele costuma matar a guarda laçada para chegar aos cem-quilos. O experiente faixa-preta demonstrou duas maneiras de desamarrar o nó cego do guardeiro que pretende frustrar o passador.

Repare que, na primeira variação, Paulo Peposo vira o punho para afrouxar a pegada do adversário e segura na boca da calça da outra perna. Em seguida, dá um passo para o lado e projeta o quadril para frente para desatar o laço.

Já na segunda opção, o professor passa para o lado em que o braço está laçado. Peposo domina a perna do adversário, faz o legdrag e afunda o joelho para aterrissar na lateral com pressão.

Confira a aula no vídeo abaixo, e bons estudos.

Lucas Valente e Andressa Cintra brilharam no Brasileiro 2023. Foto: Reprodução/Instagram

Lucas Valente conquistou seu primeiro título brasileiro na faixa-preta ao ter atuação avassaladora no Ginásio Poliesportivo José Correa, em Barueri, no domingo, 7 de maio. O atleta formado pela Gracie Barra dominou o peso leve e surpreendeu os adversários com seu Jiu-Jitsu letal. Ele finalizou três das quatro lutas que disputou na categoria e não sofreu pontos na competição.

Valente mediu forças na final contra Natan Chueng e teve um desempenho irretocável para se tornar campeão. Ele usou suas especialidades para triunfar no campeonato. Lucas executou duas raspagens da guarda fechada. Na segunda, capitalizou a montada e partiu para as costas. Instantes depois, estrangulou o adversário com um ataque letal com a gola. 

Lucas Valente vibra ao derrotar Natan Chueng na final do Brasileiro 2023. Foto: Camila Nobre/Focados no Tatame

No decorrer de sua campanha no torneio, Lucas Valente também derrotou Luiz Paulo Carneiro, Lucas Maquiné e Wesley Patrick. Contra Luiz Paulo, na semifinal, o aluno de Vinicius “Draculino” Magalhães foi ainda mais implacável. Lucas finalizou o oponente em apenas 30 segundos após dar um bote letal na chave de pé reta. Apenas Lucas Maquiné, nas quartas de final, resistiu ao poder de fogo do campeão. Ele foi derrotado por 2 a 1 nas vantagens. 

A conquista do Brasileiro 2023 foi ainda mais saborosa porque a esposa de Lucas, a faixa-preta Andressa Cintra, também boletou a medalha dourada. Ela derrotou Thalyta Silva na final do peso médio. O casal campeão foi responsável por trazer os dois ouros para a Gracie Barra no adulto faixa-preta.  

Com o título brasileiro, Lucas Valente se credencia como um dos favoritos na categoria no Mundial 2023, a ser disputado na primeira semana de junho. Porém, Valente terá concorrentes do mais alto calibre, como Gabriel Rollo, Elijah Dorsey, Natan Chueng, Levi Jones, Kevin Mahecha e João Victor Machado.

E aí, fiel leitor? Quem há de parar Lucas Valente no Mundial 2023?

 

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Uma publicação compartilhada por IBJJF (@ibjjf)

There’s a deadly beast unleashed in the brown belt division. Who can rein him in? Photo by John Cooper.

Recently-decorated brown belt Keenan Cornelius, a jewel in the Team Lloyd Irvin crown, put in another sterling performance at the Long Beach Pyramid, last Sunday in California.

As has now come to be expected of him, Keenan took home two gold medals, at the 2012 No-Gi World Championship.

At medium heavyweight he tapped out all his opponents; at absolute he again met up with his rival Francisco “Sinistro” Iturralde of team Alliance, and the only fighter he didn’t submit was his teammate Wilbur Leonard, his opponent in the final, another gold medalist, the winner of the ultraheavyweight division. Once again, the athletes on Lloyd Irvin team refused to close out, and locked horns for real.

Is there anyone in the brown belt division who can stop this wizard of the mats?

Who would you like to see Keenan facing next season?

Commitment in Belo Horizonte

The young American has a few commitments on his agenda for next year. In January, he should be popping by the IBJJF European Championship, in Lisbon, Portugal. On the 28th of April, Kennan is one of the attractions at the Copa Pódio event in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, headlined by the Lightweight Grand Prix. The Lloyd Irvin athlete is set to take part in one of the supermatches.

Let us know what you think, Jiu-Jitsu lover: who can stop Keenan Cornelius?

Watch the brown belt in the final of his weight group and share your prediction.

Wanderlei launches an assault on Rich Franklin in the main event at UFC 147 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Photo: Inovafoto/UFC publicity

By Mauro Ellovitch

I woke up on Sunday overcome with sadness. That tightening in the chest, that groan in the stomach, that bitter taste in the throat. Nothing could get my spirits up. And to think that I had so much to say about UFC 147.

I could write about the dense crowd that packed the gymnasium, turning a blind eye to all the naysaying in the lead-up to the event. Having been at UFC Rio and this latest UFC, in Belo Horizonte, I could write about all the notable differences between the Rio crowd and Minas Gerais crowd (the former a lot more lively and heated, the latter more focused and respectful—especially when it came to the American fighters on the card). The reactions from Thiago “Bodão” and Marcos “Vina” would yield a few good lines. The unbelievable battle between Cezar “Mutante” and Sérgio was worth a chronicle on its own. Just as the public’s “woe” about Vitor Belfort was. But none of that cheered me up on that overcast Sunday morning. I was inconsolable.

Ever since it was announced that Belo Horizonte would host UFC 147, I was anxious to see Wanderlei Silva the legend fight in “my back yard.” I’m from São Paulo but have been a resident of Minas Gerais for the past seven years. I’ve lived in a number of regions in this gigantic state and learned to love it as my home. Early in the week leading up to June 23, I could hardly contain my anxiousness to be near the octagon and witness “The Axe Murderer” chopping down Rich Franklin with his potent knees. Here, on Minas soil!

The distressing outcome of the main event, with Wanderlei losing, took the shine off the event I’d awaited so eagerly. The immortal son of the state of Minas Carlos Drummond de Andrade once said, “I have but two hands and the sentiments of the world.” Wand’s s two hands weren’t enough to carry the weight of the nation’s sentiments. He fought, tried, hit, got hit, tired. And it wasn’t enough for him to win.

My friends called me to ask about the fight and I caught myself discussing unreal hypotheses. “What if the second round had gone on another 30 seconds?” “And if that counterstrike had found its mark in the last round?” That’s right. I was suffering from “Fan whose Team Lost Syndrome.”

Anyone out there who cheers for a team (be it MMA, soccer, volleyball, hand shuttlecock) knows what I’m talking about. I’ve been in that mood before, like when São Paulo Football Club lost the final of the 1994 Libertadores Cup, for example.

We felt the defeat of our object as fans as though we ourselves had lost. We play and replay it over in our heads and ask what could have gone differently. For a true MMA fan from way back, watching Wanderlei Silva lose in the Mineirinho Gymnasium was akin to watching the Brazilian national soccer team lose the 1950 World Cup final in Maracanã Stadium.

But that’s what sport and life is made of. Winning and losing. Celebrating and suffering. And mainly, continuing to cheer. I didn’t stop rooting for São Paulo soccer team, nor for the Brazilian national team, and I won’t stop when it comes to Wanderlei Silva. He will always be an idol and a reference in the sport because he has shown unmatched courage.

That’s why I’ll leave it to Guimarães Rosa, Minas Gerais’ greatest author, to conclude for me a lot better than I could do myself: “The course of life wraps everything up. That’s how life is: it goes hot and cold, tightens and loosens, goes calm and then gets restless. What it wants from us is courage.”

Wanderlei Silva at weigh-ins for this Friday's UFC 147 BH / Photo: UFC/publicity

On newsstands across Brazil in January 2008, NOCAUTE magazine issue 60 featured a great interview with Wanderlei Silva, in which the UFC star issued praise for and a prophecy about his nemesis Vitor Belfort.

“He’s a great athlete . … His has his merit and I’m sure our fight will happen in the future,” said the fighter four years before the fight… well, almost happened.

The issue is full of gems, like images of the submissions by GSP over Matt Hughes, Fedor on Hong Man and Lyoto Machida on Sokoudjou. Our favorite excerpt, however, is one from “The tip of the iceberg,” on the fight between Wand and Chuck Liddell—two fighters who crossed paths amicably years later in Belo Horizonte.

Here’s the part in question:

“If the brilliant chronicler Nelson Rodrigues (1912-1980) were alive—he who never missed a Carlson Gracie fight in Rio—, he would likely have scribed an epic description of the second-to-last fight of the night in the UFC. Something like this:

The battle on Saturday was dramatic by nature and charged with soul, it’s stars dripping with readiness like drenched umbrellas. At the very first trade of blows, Wanderlei Silva showed just why he’s the pride of his nation: following one of the tremendous haymakers the fellow Chuck Liddell would dish out in the fight, the Brazilian took a step back to such in a lungful of air, rested his back against the fencing of the terrifying octagon, and underwent a transformation.

He was no longer a fighter, but a windmill, spinning his blades at dreadful speed and sweeping the American, the crowd, the Brazilian fans, the devil. Yes, Wanderlei lost, but it was a triumphal defeat. After all, our Silva remained on his feet, and the one who landed on his backside and crashed to the ground like a building in Downtown Rio wasn’t him, but his opponent, in the second round. Come and go: getting upended is the most harrowing experience a man can suffer in his brief time on Earth.”

Wanderlei Silva is about to embark on another epic battle, facing his old acquaintance Rich Franklin tonight. Who have you got winning it? The former UFC champion or the former Pride FC champion.

UFC 147
Mineirinho, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
June 23, 2012

Wanderlei Silva vs Rich Franklin
Fabricio Werdum vs Mike Russow
Cezar Mutante vs Serginho Moraes
Godofredo Pepey vs Rony Jason
Yuri Alcântara vs Hacran Dias
Milton Vieira vs Felipe Arantes
Francisco Massaranduba vs Delson Pé de Chumbo
Rodrigo Damm vs Anistávio Gasparzinho
Hugo Wolverine vs John Macapá
Leonardo Macarrão vs Thiago Bodão
Wagner Galeto vs Vinicius Vina

Milton Vieira getting the tapout in MMA. Is the BTT athlete at the perfect age for making his UFC debut? Photo: GRACIEMAG archives.

With over a decade’s experience stepping into rings and cages to face opponents from the most diverse corners of the world, Jiu-Jitsu black belt Milton Vieira has taken part in some of the biggest fighting shows on earth, including: Pride, Strikeforce, Shooto, Meca and Bitetti Combat. With more than his fair share of submission wins on his ledger, the BTT representative admits that making the first entrance into the octagon of his career next Saturday will be something special for him.

“Every athlete wants to compete at the best event there is, so making it to the UFC at this moment is really important to me. I’ve been working hard at Brazilian Top Team since 2003, when I joined the team, and I spared no sweat, blood or determination in getting to the UFC,” he said, as he gears up to face Felipe “Sertanejo” Arantes in the first fight on the card for the UFC to take place Saturday night in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte.

While his original background is in the luta livre style of grappling, Milton has faith his Jiu-Jitsu will lead him to triumph at Mineirinho Stadium. But anyone thinking the Rio de Janeiro native will do everything in his power to win via submission would be wrong.

“I’m not planning to only show what I can do on the ground. I like punching, kicking, flying knees, elaborate moves. I like getting the crowd going. I always fight to win. It’s something important to me, to my family, but I fight to put on a show. I want to always put on fun fights,” he points out.

Aiming not just to be part of the UFC but to make it to the top of the featherweight ranks, Milton is making his debut on the big stage at 33, an age when, according to his coach Murilo Bustamante, is when MMA fighters are just reaching their prime.

“In my view MMA fighters reach their peak at around 35, 36 years of age. Anderson Silva and myself, for example, won titles when we were over 30,” said Bustamante. “Milton is a talent just awaiting opportunities, and he has a bright future ahead of him.”

The BTT is now celebrating a new partnership with the marketing firm Garra.

What do you think, gentle reader, are you in agreement with Murilo? What’s the perfect age for an MMA fighter? What about for Jiu-Jitsu athletes? Let us know your thoughts in the comments field below.

Check out the card for the June 23 UFC show:

UFC 147
Mineirinho Stadium, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
June 23, 2012

Wanderlei Silva vs Rich Franklin
Fabricio Werdum vs Mike Russow
Cezar Mutante vs Serginho Moraes
Godofredo Pepey vs Rony Jason
Yuri Alcântara vs Hacran Dias
Milton Vieira vs Felipe Arantes
Francisco Massaranduba vs Delson Pé de Chumbo
Rodrigo Damm vs Anistávio Gasparzinho
Hugo Wolverine vs John Macapá
Leonardo Macarrão vs Thiago Bodão
Wagner Galeto vs Vinicius Vina

Sergio sinks a choke on Pé de Chumbo on TUF Brazil reality show. Publicity photo.

The UFC medical department has an announcement: there’s a Jiu-Jitsu world champion in the final of the TUF Brazil reality show. With the original finalist, Daniel Sarafian, having suffered a serious bicep injury while training, the opponent to face Cezar “Mutante” in the middleweight final is now Sérgio Moraes. The Alliance black belt had previously been knocked out by a Sarafian flying knee in the semifinals of the TUF Brazil reality show.

In the featherweight final, two fighters from the Brazilian state of Ceará, Godofredo Pepey and Rony Jason, will lock horns to see who gets their hands on a UFC contract.

On Sunday, during the final episode of TUF Brazil, Mutante earned the season’s best-knockout bonus of BRL 45,000 with a powerful kick to the head of Thiago Bodão, who himself was invited to fight on the card for UFC 147, coming up June 23 in the city of Belo Horizonte. The Vitor Belfort student also took home a spanking new pickup truck, for having been elected the best fighter of the reality show.

The prize for best submission went to Rony Jason for the armbar he used to put away Anistávio Gasparzinho, while best fight went to Thiago Bodão vs. Francisco Massaranduba.

Check out the card for the upcoming event in Minas Gerais State, and comment below: does Sérgio Moraes have what it takes to fight on even terms with Mutante on the octagon floor? Watch the ace in action at the 2011 European Jiu-Jitsu Championship against Léo D’Avilla, and let us know if you think he’s capable of catching Mutante by surprise, as he always does when sporting a gi.

UFC 147
Mineirinho Stadium, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
June 23, 2012

Wanderlei Silva vs Rich Franklin
Fabricio Werdum vs Mike Russow
Cezar Mutante vs Serginho Moraes
Godofredo Pepey vs Rony Jason
Yuri Alcantara vs Hacran Dias
Milton Vieira vs Felipe Arantes
Francisco Massaranduba vs Delson Pé de Chumbo
Rodrigo Damm vs Anistávio Gasparzinho
Hugo Wolverine vs John Macapá
Leonardo Macarrão vs Thiago Bodão
Wagner Galeto vs Vinicius Vina

The first encounter, at UFC 99 / Publicity photo

To compensate for one former champion not being able to face Wanderlei Silva, the UFC top brass acted quick and came up with another ex-champ to fight at UFC 147 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, on June 23.

Rich Franklin overcame Wand by a narrow decision the first and only time they fought, back in 2009 at UFC 99, and he was America’s darling before taking merciless beating twice from Anderson Silva back in 2006.

Franklin joining the fray hence makes sense to Brazilian fans, who were hoping for a marquee showdown, and it strengthens the card for pay-per-view sales.

UFC 147
Mineirinho Stadium, BH, Brazil
June 23, 2012

Wanderlei Silva vs Rich Franklin
Fabricio Werdum vs Mike Russow
Yuri Alcantara vs Hacran Dias
Milton Vieira vs Felipe Arantes
Francisco Massaranduba vs Leonardo Macarrão
TUF featherweight finalists
TUF middleweight finalists