Matheus Cunha in action during an IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu tournament. Photo: Personal Archive

Currently competing and training in Texas, United States, Matheus Cunha, a Jiu-Jitsu black-belt, discovered a pleasant surprise in the sport. Initially, when he started at 11 years old, his goal was to lose weight, but the identification with that environment made the kid realize that he wanted to go further. Today, at 24 years old, Matheus is improving his technique at 413 Jiu-Jitsu, a team led by athlete and professor Pedro Rocha, which is preparing to assemble the 2025 competition team. Matheus is one of the members of this select group.

After taking his first steps in Jiu-Jitsu as a child with master Roberto Godoi, in Barueri, São Paulo, Matheus’ journey in the sport took another direction after he became a blue-belt, when the first opportunity for sponsorship arose with a trip abroad.

“As a blue-belt, I had the opportunity to be sponsored by Frota Academy, in Switzerland, and I took my first international trip when I was 16. I did a camp in the country and then competed, as a Juvenile, in the IBJJF Euros. It was a great experience.”.

Since then, Matheus’ dedication has given him the chance to broaden his horizons through Jiu-Jitsu. Today, after spending some time in Texas, he feels more mature, but with the same desire to improve as the 16-year-old who visited Switzerland for the sport.

“My routine in the United States consists of training only. I train three to four times a day, varying between physical preparation and Jiu-Jitsu. I’m going to all the Opens here in the country and I intend to do super fights, in addition to participating in the Pans and in the Worlds, Gi and No Gi, IBJJF competitions, and in the AJP Tour Grand Slam, in Dallas.”.

In June of last year, Matheus was promoted to black-belt, beginning a more challenging chapter as a Jiu-Jitsu competitor. The 2025 season has already begun for him. At the end of January, he competed at the IBJJF Dallas Winter Open, Gi and No Gi, a high-performance competition. On that occasion, the black-belt placed well on the podium in both modalities and left the tournament with two silver medals. A warm-up for the promising months to come.

Diogo Moreno fights for his guard at the Dallas Open. IBJJF

Fighting at the IBJJF’s Dallas Open last weekend, Diogo Moreno of Soul Fighters earned one gold and one silver for his efforts at the Kitty McGee Arena.

Moreno competed in the medium heavy division and secured the top spot by submitting Angel Cicero (Unified Jiu-Jitsu) with a choke from the back.

In the absolute, after defeating tough opposition, including the U.S.’s Tim Spriggs, Moreno ended up foiled by Inácio Neto in the final.

Watch this video to see Moreno catch and adjust on his way to the title.

Diogo Moreno se embola no chão para trabalhar sua guarda no Dallas Open. Foto: IBJJF

Em ação no Dallas Open de Jiu-Jitsu da IBJJF, realizado no último final de semana, o faixa-preta Diogo Moreno, da nossa GMI Soul Fighters, voltou para casa com um ouro e uma prata após belas apresentações no tatame montado na Kitty McGee Arena, no Texas.

Com instruções de João Gabriel Rocha, faixa-preta radicado nos EUA também forjado no dojo da Soul Fighters Tijuca, Moreno entrou com tudo na disputa do meio-pesado e conseguiu chegar ao topo do pódio ao finalizar Angel Cicero (Unified Jiu-Jitsu) com um justo estrangulamento pelas costas.

No absoluto, depois de vencer nomes de peso, como o casca-grossa americano Tim Spriggs, Moreano acabou parado na finalíssima, por Inácio Neto, e garantiu a prata no aberto.

Confira no vídeo abaixo o bote e o ajuste de Diogo Moreno para finalizar rumo ao título do Dallas Open!

Jared Dopp. Instagram

The Dallas Open took place last weekend and had Jared Dopp as the big winner of the gi section, while Gabriel Marangoni stood out without the gi.

Gi

A black-belt under Rafael Lovato Jr., Dopp won half of his double gold in a super-heavyweight final versus Jimmy Lugo. In the open division, it came down to him and middleweight champ De’Alonzio Jackson, and Dopp again succeeded. Gabriel Marangoni, meanwhile, became featherweight gi champion, but it was in the no-gi section that he really shone.

No-gi

Much lighter than his competition, he beat medium heavyweight champion Samuel Snow in the absolute final. Also worth pointing out is the performance of Lucas Pinheiro, of AMBJJ, who beat both light featherweight fields and took bronze in the gi absolute division.

You can click here for the gi results, and here for the no-gi results.

Yesterday was a good day. It was my last chance to qualify for #ibjjfworlds and I managed to pull it off. I walked away from the #DallasOpen with double gold after four tough matches. Leaned a lot and definitely found parts of my game that need sharpening. Next up is the @f2wpro in Denver followed by the Worlds! #BJJ #iamhyperfly #ycth #lovatojiujitsu #RibeiroJiuJitsu @hyperfly @studio540 @truenutrition @warhorsept

A post shared by Jared Dopp (@megalodopp) on Apr 30, 2017 at 1:19pm PDT

O evento, que contou com disputas com e sem kimono, teve como nome maior o casca-grossa Inácio Neto, professor da Gracie Barra Westchase, no Texas. Com três ouros na competição a fera mostrou o poder e refino do seu jogo.

Após conquistar o título peso meio-pesado na disputa e kimono, ao bater José Jr. (Paragon JJ) no sábado, Inácio voltou com tudo para o domingo sem kimono, e mordeu o ouro duplo. Antes de superar Marcus Wilson (Grappling Unlimited) com um belo triângulo pelo título absoluto (Veja aqui), Inácio encarou Robsinho Gracie, pelo ouro no peso pesado.

Após um duelo técnico, Inácio conseguiu raspar da guarda fechada e aplicar um justo katagatame para garantir o alto do pódio.

Confira abaixo o lance da final peso pesado sem kimono, e para os resultados completos, clique aqui!

Danny and Marc

Following the successful campaign at the recent Dallas Open, GMA member Danny Alvarez had a graduation ceremony at his school in Arlington, TX.

Among many students getting new belts and adding degrees to their belts, Marc Trought received his black belt after years of training.

Danny and AJ

AJ Tucker also received his black belt after many years of training.

Danielle and Danny

Danielle Alvarez, Danny’s daughter, received her brown belt after a very successful run as a purple belt, when she collected numerous medals.

Congratulations to all students who received new belts or degrees.

Know more at www.AlvarezBJJ.com

Keenan Cornelius awed the crowd at the recent Dallas Open with a sweep using the worm guard that ended in a beautiful armbar.

Watch the video above to see him doing it and then watch the one below to learn how he does it.

Jerrod traçou uma estratégia que deu certo, raspou Tinoco e jogou por cima, na pressão. O adversário virou de quatro apoios e ficou em maus lençóis: Jerrod conseguiu pegar as costas e estrangular.

Veja e aplauda você também.

Contra o bom Arnaldo Maidana (Checkmat), na final do absoluto, Keenan usou a lapela para raspar e finalizar com estilo no armlock.

Veja como funciona o golpe favorito de Keenan, a seguir.

Com poucos minutos de luta, o árbitro interrompeu o combate e puniu os dois faixas-pretas por falta de combatividade. Nos minutos seguintes, a luta se desenvolveu.

E, aos 3min22s, Eduardo usou o armlock para finalizar Samir.

Confira:

Na final do peso médio, por exemplo, Marcelo “Lapela” Mafra (Checkmat) e o jovem Michael Liera (Atos) fizeram um duelo técnico e cheio de botes perigosos.

Logo no início do combate, Lapela envolveu Liera em sua guarda aberta e raspou usando o berimbolo. Por baixo, Liera achou espaço para subir com a perna de Mafra no single-leg e raspou de volta.

Nos minutos seguintes, Marcelo ganhou duas vantagens, ao tentar derrubar e raspar, e venceu.

Confira:

The brown belt division is know for reserving some serious thrills to whoever pays attention to the upcoming talents featured there.

Here’s another great example of that, when Mahamed Aly and Jared Dopp met in the first round of the ultra-heavyweight division.

Mahamed is the current brown belt open class world champion and Jared, a no-gi world champion himself, just returned from a silver-medal campaign at the +99kg division of the 2015 ADCC.

Aly called it the “best no-gi match of his entire career”.

Dopp was not happy with the final outcome.

This was their second encounter in Dallas.

Saturday, in the gi, Dopp beat Mahamed with a last minute takedown (click here to watch).

Watch and see how it played out.