Francisco Iturralde with the black belt around his waist. Photo: Personal Archive

A pupil of Fernando Soluço, Ecuador’s Francisco “Sinistro” Iturralde just got his black belt at the age of 21.

Sinistro is a well known face in IBJJF tournaments. At the 2013 Worlds in June, the lightweight nabbed third place at brown belt. Back in 2011, he won the WPJJC as a purple belt in Abu Dhabi.

“After eight years training a lot, I’m finally going to compete with the best black belts and represent Ecuador and Alliance in the big tournaments. I’m motivated and I’ll be training even harder to be the best in my division,” said Fracisco Iturralde on his Facebook page.

Our GMA representative in Ecuador, Fernando Soluço laid out his student’s characteristics and his new challenges. “He’s a skillful, technical kid who can play very well in various positions. Black belt lightweight is a very competitive category, but the brown belt today is also very tough. As either a lightweight or a middleweight, Sinistro is going to have a lot of potential,” he bets. “He’s a part of this new generation with a modern, submission-driven style of Jiu-Jitsu. But if I were to pick a single quality, I’d say Francisco is an excellent competitor. He’s one of Alliance’s big promises.”