Pedro, Joaquim and Gui Valente with Mayor George Vallejo and the legendary Royce Gracie, at GB Miami in Key North Miami Beach / Publicity photo

This December, Gracie Miami academy had its routine altered by two big-name visitors.

A purple belt in Jiu-Jitsu, Mayor George Vallejo made the most of the Dec. 10 occasion of the year’s-end promotion ceremony at the Valente brothers’ school to award them with the key to the city of North Miami Beach.

The other guest is an old acquaintance of theirs. A resident of California, the legendary UFC champion Royce Gracie was in Florida too. And his deference was perhaps even more striking.

“For the first time, Royce brought his students from every corner of the planet for evaluation at our academy. It was a striking event, with Jiu-Jitsu practitioners coming from as far as Mexico and even Kenya,” remarked black belt Guilherme Valente.

Royce Gracie and the Valentes / Publicity photo

“Most of the students did well in their evaluations and were promoted. Here the student is judged by a commission, and if approved after taking the test, they get a new belt,” he explained.

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

UFC champion Junior Cigano and Luiz Dórea parading on firetruck in Salvador, Brazil / UFC publicity photo

Sunday was a day for citizens across Brazil to exercise their right to vote for their cities’ mayors and councilmen. The battle was a heated affair, and a handful of fighters saw their arms raised once the votes were in.

Jiu-Jitsu black belt Marcelo Arar was one of them. A professional politician for some time now, the former competitor was reelected town councilman in Rio de Janeiro, as was Olympic medal-winning judoka Aurélio Miguel in São Paulo. Now judo world champion João Derly counted 14,038 votes and was one of the town councilmen with the most votes in Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul State.

Others tried for seats on the town council but to no avail. In Rio de Janeiro, former UFC fighters Eugênio Tadeu and Rafael Carino didn’t make the cut. In Salvador, Luiz Dórea—renowned boxing coach to Rodrigo Minotauro, Cigano, Demian Maia and others—had 2,230 votes but didn’t make it either, a fate shared by his former-boxer counterpart Reginaldo Holyfield, who obtained twice as many votes.

In Ceará State, Jiu-Jitsu scored big. Black belt Fabiano Lobo is the new mayor of Santa Quitéria, while Gracie Barra professor Daniel Baima was elected town councilmen in Maracanaú.

Do you know any fighters or gentle-art teachers who won at the elections? Let us know in the comments field below.