The brothers João and Paulo Miyao, still purple belts, at the 2011 World Championship (Photo by GRACIEMAG)

At the invitation of Professor Rodrigo Barbi, the brown belt João Ricardo Bordignon Miyao and his burly brother Paulo were in the town of Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil, for a highly sought-after seminar this January. The brothers also visited the town of Novo Hamburgo for another seminar.

At Infiniti/Cicero Costha academy, the Miyao’s dazzled the 80 or so participants with a series of creative positions, such as guard passes and berimbolo techniques.

The brothers agreed to demonstrate one of their secrets exclusively to GRACIEMAG.com.

Check out how João Miyao’s berimbolo seems simple once explained in detail. João starts from spider-guard, uses the X-guard, distances the opponent’s base leg and easily takes the back.

Try it out in training. If you, like the Miyaos, are in Lisbon, maybe the move will help you find success at the European Open.

To check out the brackets for the European Open, unfolding all weekend in Portugal, visit the IBJJF website here.

André Galvão attacks from the back. (GRACIEMAG archive photo)

In the Holiday spirit, the GRACIEMAG.com team wishes readers and practicioners a much smoother life in 2013, with excellent passes as well.

Hence, we decided to gift you with an acrobatic maneuver–for you to pass guard and tap your guard-playing partner out with a choke hold. The trick is in the cartwheel.

“When the guard player sits to sink his grips, to put the brakes on him you need to release your grips and distance yourself to spring for the cartwheel,” explains Professor Fabio Roger, who teaches the position in the following video.

Did you enjoy that? Happy holidays and plenty of health and Jiu-Jitsu for you and your whole family!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP2EgNzoTdQ

Rodolfo attacks from mount. Photo by Carlos Ozório.

The main WPJJC event only comes around in April, in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. But the mood surrounding the event will already heat up in January, when yet another leg of tryouts for all-expenses-paid travel to the UAE is held in Brazil.

The Rio trials, always one with the deepest talent pool, is set for January 19 and 20 at Ginásio Caio Martins in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro State.

Big names of world Jiu-Jitsu are confirmed to be there, like the heavyweights Rodolfo Vieira (GFTeam) and Gabi Garcia(Alliance). And you can get in on the action too, by clicking here.

Watch Rodolfo Vieira’s last performance at the Rio de Janeiro tryouts:

Starting from the left: Pedro Valente, Rickson Gracie, Helio Vigio and João Alberto Barreto in the foreground at a February 2009 party for Helio Gracie / Photo by Gustavo Aragão

Today, November 21, Rickson Gracie turns a year older. His ID says he’s 54; but he doesn’t look it.

All thanks to Jiu-Jitsu and the breathing exercises the gentle-art ace has been practicing since he was 20 years old.

In these days of bullying and meanness, GRACIEMAG.com felt it appropriate to highlight the main lessons it has learned from the red-and-black belt.

“Through Jiu-Jitsu I learned to be a better person and look any adversary life throws my way right in the eye. And often that’s all it takes.”

Could you want anything better than that, avoiding a fight or altercation with no more than a look? Well, that tends to be the way it goes with Jiu-Jitsu practitioners, as our readers have seen time and again in life.

Today is also the birthday of another “young fellow” who learned the value of fearing no one from Helio Gracie.

His name is Pedro Valente, a 74-year-old red-belt and surgeon who is father to Jiu-Jitsu professors Joaquim, Pedro and Guilherme, as well as the athlete Joana Valente.

“I can’t remember a day in my life when I haven’t used the Jiu-Jitsu I learned from Helio Gracie. I’m not talking about just the techniques in training, but mainly the mind, the life philosophy. You know, you even use what you’ve learned in Jiu-Jitsu when you’re tying your shoes in the middle of the street,” Pedro Valente taught us one time.

So there you have our tribute to the two of them, on this special date for Jiu-Jitsu.

Dr. Pedro Valente giving his son a check-up in 2009 / Publicity photo

Marcelo Garcia in a classic photo from ADCC 2011 / Photo by John Lamonica/GRACIEMAG.com

Never has there been a Brazilian in New York quite like our GMA Marcelo Garcia.

The ADCC legend and five-time Jiu-Jitsu world champion is recovering from an injury that kept him out of the 2012 Worlds. He should be returning to action soon, though, to the delight of fans and students of his across the planet.

Not long ago, Marcelo was paid a visit by the current female absolute champion of the world, Gabi Garcia, and the roll that ensued between the two turned out to be quite interesting to watch, even instructive.

Take note of how Marcelo kicks off the roll with a reversal, after controlling Gabi’s arms and extending his legs for the hook sweep.

What do you say, gentle reader? What did you learn from this epic spar, with a total of 12 world titles between the two participants?

Léo Nogueira and the crew from Alliance at his seminar in Florianópolis / Alliance publicity photo

Jiu-Jitsu black belt Léo Nogueira took some time off from training with MMA star Mauricio Shogun in Curitiba, Brazil—but for a good reason.

The current absolute world runner-up, now a sparring partner to the former light heavyweight champion of the UFC, traveled to the city of Florianópolis for a highly sought-after seminar at Santa Catarina Air Force Base.

“There were around 60 Alliance team members there to learn from Léo. Besides being an excellent athlete, he’s a really down-to-earth and humble person,” recounted Rodrigo Lima, a black belt and the promoter of the event.

To make the most of the trip, the two-time world champion decided to stick his neck out at the South American Jiu-Jitsu Championship coming up next weekend of November 24 and 25 in São José, Santa Catarina State.

“We’re going in with a strong team, led by Professor Alexandre “Gigi” Paiva, and without a doubt Léo will be scoring important points for Alliance. Our goal is to win the adult contest, since last year we got stuck with second,” said Rodrigo, a Gigi Paiva student.

Don’t miss out on the action at the South Americans next weekend. Sign up here.

GSP pressures past Carlos Condit’s guard at UFC 154, in Montreal, Canada. Photo by Josh Hedges/UFC.

The brothers Ryron, Rener and Ralek Gracie regularly offer their insight into what went wrong and right in the biggest fights of world MMA—focusing on the Jiu-Jitsu aspect, of course. And thus the gentle-art professors’ Youtube channel, The Gracie Breakdown Channel, got bombarded this weekend, following the top-billing bout of UFC 154, between welterweight monsters Georges Saint-Pierre and Carlos Condit, which the former won via unanimous judges’ decision.

How did the John Danaher-trained Gracie Barra black belt pass guard with such balance and efficiency? What makes his takedowns so effective? According to Rener and Ralek, it all comes down to his proficiency in wielding the basics.

Check out what two of the Gracie brothers had to say about the welterweight champion’s Jiu-Jitsu mastery. What’s more, at minute 20 Rener and Ralek demonstrate how the challenger, Carlos Condit, set his sights on a leglock from guard and ended up attacking the Canadian star with a triangle.

Like you, Keenan Cornelius too has learned from defeat. Photo by Dan Rod/GRACIEMAG.

Keenan Cornelius is the biggest Jiu-Jitsu revelation of 2012. After all, the Hawaiian, Lloyd Irvin-trained fighter won everything he was in at purple belt, and after winning double gold at the Worlds, earned his brown belt.

Keenan just kept turning heads at his new rank, outdoing black belt Roberto Tussa, and then raising the roof against Roberto Cyborg at the Abu Dhabis Trials last October in New York.

But a fighter’s life isn’t all wins and glory. The proof that no one is born invincible is here. Before becoming the big name of the year, Keenan got a taste of what it is to lose, at the 2011 Pan, in California.

Keenan faced another purple belt revelation that year, AJ Agazarm of Gracie Barra. Check out the two squaring off, and comment: have you ever experienced a loss that made you all the stronger?

Keenan Cornelius and his traditional celebration, raising the “L” in honor of his coach, Lloyd Irvin / Photo: IBJJF

Hawaii’s Keenan Cornelius started turning heads by accomplishing one of the rarest of feats: shutting down the berimbolo of the skillful Miyao brothers in the purple belt division. From there, Keenan went on and never looked back; winning weight divisional and absolute titles in the four biggest IBJJF tournaments there are: the Europeans, Brazilian Nationals, Pan and Worlds.

A complete and relentless fighter who’s just at good at playing guard as he is at passing, the brown belt is also big on razzle-dazzle moves, like the ones in the following video of his highlights.

For example: checkout minute 1 of the video, where Keenan spins and lands on his opponent’s back.

How’d you like that?

Team Nova União’s Marcio André at the 2012 Worlds: advanced studies of the guard, berimbolo and passes. Photo by Dan Rod/GRACIEMAG.

Seventeen-year-old Nova União purple belt Marcio André is one of those Jiu-Jitsu competitors who gets down to the nitty-gritty in his studies, devoting a big chunk of his day to positional analysis.

His efforts have been bearing fruit, as you can see in this video from the last Jiu-Jitsu World Championship, in Long Beach, California.

After ten striking encounters with the brothers Paulo and João Miyao, Marcio André developed a safe and effective way of freeing himself from the web known as “berimbolo”, a position the Miyaos are wicked at.

“The opponent starts by grabbing my belt and sending me backwards. When he pushes me backwards, I land seated at the other side of his head. I need to keep a distance and take his right leg out of play, since that’s the leg he uses to push me backwards or threaten me. Once I’ve got the leg under control, I grab his left elbow with my left hand and pull it upwards, at the same time extending my right leg, which is between his legs,” narrates Marcio, a student of Professor Fábio Andrade of the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Bangu.

“After that, I switch the hold on his pants with my left hand, put my arm in the middle of his belly and move my knee forward, turning sideways. If he tries sweeping me by tossing me backwards, I prop my head on the ground, release the grip and fly to his black. If he throws me backwards, I pass my leg over his, continue with my underhook, force my knee out and pass his guard,” said the promising up-and-comer.

What do you think?