Ricardo Cachorrão during his last fight in the  UFC, in 2011. (Photo by Dan Rod/GRACIEMAG)

A former UFC fighter and coach to Frankie Edgar, Ricardo “Cachorrão” Almeida returned to the mats of competition this year–and did so in grand style.

The Jiu-Jitsu Professor and GMA of ours in New Jersey, USA, where he has been teaching for the last decade, took top honors in the 2012 No-Gi Pan senior 1 absolute division upon beating Fernando Zulick.

At that tournament last September in New York, Cachorrão would also win the medium heavyweight division, beating Tobias Owen. Refresh your memory of the absolute final, and see what you can learn from him.

Lepri at 2011 No-Gi Worlds / Photo by Luca Atalla/GRACIEMAG.com

The IBJJF No-Gi season is in full swing, and Lucas Lepri, a Jiu-Jitsu professor part of our GMA, was one of the big standouts at the No-Gi Pan last month in New York.

The professor at team Alliance won the lightweight division and only had the brakes put on his winning the absolute in the final, at the hands of Pablo Popovitch.

Lepri took the time to demonstrate a triangle from back control exclusively for GRACIEMAG.com readers.

Pay attention to minute 0.47 of the video, where Lucas goes head to head with his student to prevent him from turning his hip and escaping the position.

Lucas then places his left leg on his sparring partner’s hip and pushes it down. Next, using the same leg, he breaks his opponent’s grip and places the leg on his chest—to start the triangle process.

At minute 1:35 the world champion uses his left hand to thrust and turn left.

Lepri then adjusts his right leg to fasten the triangle, pulls the elbow up and squeezes for the tapout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzHR4-1JTXQ

Don’t miss any of the goings-on this No-Gi season. Stay tuned to GRACIEMAG.com to keep up to date on the Brazilian No-Gi Nationals this coming weekend. And click here to sign up for the World No-Gi Championship.

Rafael Mendes gi-less at ADCC 2011, in Nottingham, England / Photo by John Lamonica/GRACIEMAG.com

The IBJJF No-Gi Pan is coming up September 29 at New York’s Nat Holman Gymnasium, and a number of big-time Jiu-Jitsu aces are confirmed to be there, like Caio Terra, Renan Borges, Jonatas Novaes and Daniel Wanderley, among others.

The deadline for getting in on the action is September 21, so click here to make sure you get to show off your Jiu-Jitsu in the city that never sleeps.

For some extra motivation, watch Rafa Mendes teaching his favorite No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu move step by step:

Davi subs Kayron. Photo: Dan Rod.

Davi Ramos was the big name to arise from the No-Gi Pan. After winning the middleweight division, the Cesar Casquinha black belt who also represents Atos waded into the absolute, winning the division after overcoming medium-heavyweight champ Kayron Gracie in the final.

Check out the meeting between the two in the open weight decider:

Davi celebrates triumph in absolute. Photo: Dan Rod.

If the essence of the gentle art is the submission, that’s exactly what Davi Ramos was seeking at the No-Gi Pan this Saturday in New York. Having gone through a total of six matches to take the middleweight and absolute divisions, Davi only didn’t get the submission in one of them. The Cesar Casquinha black belt has been standing out at No-Gi competitions lately, having won the Brazilian Nationals and the No-Gi division of the World Pro this year with Atos teammate Claudio Calasasans.

Like in the bible story where David defeated the giant Goliath, the black belt reveals how he grew to the occasion to have a perfect campaign in New York, in the following interview with GRACIEMAG.com:

How did things go at the Pan?

I had six matches in all and only didn’t get the finish in one of them. I had two matches at weight and four in the absolute. The only one I won on points ended 14 to 0. I could tell my opponent was only working on not getting submitted, so that made it difficult.

And how about the absolute final, against Kayron?

He was beating me by 2 to 0. I was trying to attack him with a kneebar and ended up going to a calf crunch, with which I finished him.

You’ve been coming up with better results without the gi, would you agree? Which do you prefer, Gi or No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu?

I like competing in the gi more, but I really have been managing bigger titles without it. For this event I trained with André Galvão, helping him get ready for the ADCC. We did all our training together and I learned a lot from him. He told me I’d do well.

Did you expect him to win both weight and absolute at the ADCC?

You can never predict the absolute, especially for those of us who aren’t from heavy divisions; you have lots of matches against tough, heavier guys. But I imagined he’d win at weight and would do well overall. He trained a lot for it, always said it was the title he was missing. It was in his sights.

Now the Pan is out of the way, is the No-Gi Worlds what’s next for you?

I’ll return to San Diego and continue training with André. I really want this world title. I really want to thank André, the Atos students and Casquinha students, who keep in constant contact with me to give me advice. I’d also like to thank Gilbert Durinho, who is always giving me helpful pointers on how to fight.

In the contest areas at Nat Holman Gymnasium Davi won the middleweight and absolute divisions. In the open weight final he came up against none other than Kayron Gracie, who had already secured gold for himself in the medium heavyweight division.

Caio Terra in action at Pan / Photo: IBJJF

There were other submission wizards who put in stellar performances in NY, though: The light featherweight division was all Caio Terra’s, who also won the Gi Pan earlier this year and more recently came up spades at the American Nationals; gold-medal honors at featherweight went to André Monteiro, representing our GMA Rodrigo Medeiros; and taking first at lightweight was another GMA of ours, Lucas Lepri of Alliance; and rounding out the black belt podium, Alexandre Moreiro won at heavyweight, Francisco Tavares at superheavyweight, and Petrus Melo at ultraheavyweight.

In the overall team standing, our GMAs locked down the top three spots on the podium: Avengers in first, Renzo in second, and Gracie Barra in third.

Check back with GRACIEMAG.com soon for a photo gallery from the competition.

And for click here for the complete results.

Lepri, one of the favorites to win, getting the tapout at No-Gi Worlds / Photo: Luca Atalla

This Saturday, Jiu-Jitsu fans in New York will be treated to heaps of top-flight action and technique. The brackets for the No-Gi Pan, released by the IBJJF, show Caio Terra, Lucas Lepri, Kayron Gracie, Renan Borges, Clark Gracie and Brandon Mullins among other aces all in the mix to see who will be the No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu king of Manhattan. The competition will take place at Nat Holman Gymnasium, on the corner of 138th and Convent Avenue.

Caio Terra, silver medalist at the American Nationals, and Clark Gracie, who was at the ADCC and lost a riveting encounter with JT Torres, both look to be in fine competition form, but the other names on the roster are promising, as well. Check out the brackets on the IBJJF website by clicking here, and comment: who’s going to take the cake at weight and in the absolute?

Kayron celebrates at 2010 Pan.

Besides the ever-popular IBJJF No-Gi Worlds and Pan on the horizon, the year also brings the next chapter of the ADCC, further showcasing the best of no-gi.

So get in the mood for what’s to come with this video of Kayron Gracie teaching a No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu sweep that can work equally well with the gi.

Victor celebrates winning absolute. Photo: Carlos Ozório.

The Brazilian No-Gi Nationals 2010 saw Victor Costa crowned champion of the main category. The CheckMat representative beat four opponents in making it to the highest spot on the winners’ stand, nabbing his second medal of the day. Earlier, in the superheavyweight division, he forsook competing in the final to save energy for the absolute.

An illustrious figure among the competitors? The black belt doesn’t see himself that way, despite his background being somewhat different from his opponents’. Before getting involved in the gentle art, up until he was eighteen, he was dedicated to soccer. He was a goal keeper who even figured on the professional team of São Paulo’s São Caetano soccer club. After that, he became the businessman behind the Koral Kimonos brand. From there on out, his involvement in Jiu-Jitsu became so intense that practicing and competing in the sport became his destiny.

Get to know a bit more about Victor Costa in this GRACIEMAG.com interview:

Did you imagine you’d do so well at the No-Gi Nationals?

I competed at the No-Gi Pan and that marked my competition return. I was lucky to only have one match, because I wasn’t that well prepared, I’d been away from competition for a long time. But I won and that picked up my spirits a lot. I knew the Brazilian Nationals was coming up at the end of the month and so I started to believe I could win it. I never imagined I’d make it so far in the absolute, but I knew I could do well.

Submission in absolute final. Photo: Carlos Ozório.

When did you start believing you could actually win the main division?

When I won my first match in the absolute, I got to talking with Chico Mendes, one of the coaches at CheckMat, and we saw it could work. I concentrated and started thinking about making it to the final. I was really confident in my second match; I fought well and got the finish. The semifinal against Theodoro Canal was rough. He’s a really technical athlete, really quick and it was a hard match, but I won. Capoeira (Nilson Ricardo), my opponent in the final, had lost to the same fighter I beat at weight. So I was confident, didn’t want to squander the chance, and I went into the match focused.

How do you manage to reconcile business with proper competition training?

First comes my love for Jiu-Jitsu, my desire to compete. I was a soccer player, turned professional at eighteen, but there was a lot of politics involved and I ended up sort of abandoned. I started Koral with my brother and, then, started training Jiu-Jitsu. I saw it as an individual sport, where we depend much more on ourselves. As I always had a drive to win, it was the perfect union. I won the world championship as a brown belt, but after getting my black, I kind of dropped out.

Photo: personal archive.

What has Jiu-Jitsu changed in your life?

Jiu-Jitsu made me a more focused and dedicated person. There’s always time for training on my agenda! Ever since I started Koral fourteen years ago, I’ve made loads of friends through Jiu-Jitsu. The folks on my team are great. They all help me and provide me incentive in competing. I stayed in Florida with Rodrigo Cavaca, who I admire a great deal. I was at Nino Schembri’s academy and the guy took off his gi to help me prepare for the Pan. So I know people wherever I go. It’s a family for everyone and I feel privileged in that respect.

What’s your relationship with the other competitors like? Do they treat you any differently for your being a businessman who works in the fight world?

I feel it’s normal. All athletes these days have a very professional mentality and they know how to separate things. In the warm-up area, they all know I’m just another competitor, and I see it like that, too. I’ve faced athletes who I sponsor before and it was real professional. I’m a laid back guy, I respect everyone and feel it’s just a normal situation.

Popovitch at Copa America

Everyone knows what Pablo Popovitch can do when he takes off the gi – he won the last ADCC after beating Marcelo Garcia in the final and is this season’s Pan-American No-Gi champion.

On October 9 at Lake Gibson High School in Florida, Popovitch won the absolute no-gi division of the Copa America alongside CheckMat black belt Marcus “Bochecha”, which you already found out here on GRACIEMAG.com.

Popovitch and Bochecha (right)

However, this time our GMA ventured into the gi division, which he closed out with Bochecha, too.

The next chance to see Popovitch in action will be at the No-Gi Worlds on November 7. In the meantime, check out the black belt’s three submission wins in Florida:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3UIm4jfdyw

Keep on top of the upcoming IBJJF events:

To find out more about the Miami Open, click here.

To find out more aout the No-Gi Worlds, click here.

Diego on Pan podium

Brazilian Top Team black belt Diego Gamonal did a fine job at the No-Gi Pan in New York, winning the heavyweight division.

“The matches were really tough. I fought in a really stacked division, but it all worked out. It was the first time I competed at a No-Gi Pan and I intend to be back next year,” remarks Diego.

Now the fighter forges ahead in his class-teaching tour in the USA and gets ready for the upcoming IBJJF events in the country, the Miami Open and No-Gi Worlds. After spending three months in Portland, Oregon, he goes on to spend two months at BTT Boston, a GMA of ours, alongside Professor Daniel Mirel.

“I’m still working to get the gang ready for the Miami Open and No-Gi Worlds. I just don’t know at what weight group yet because it’s hard to keep up a diet here (laughs)!” he says in closing.

Do as Diego Gamonal does and participate in IBJJF events.

To find out more about the Miami Open, click here.

To find out more about the No-Gi Worlds, click here.