Gustavo Dantas with Nova União's first-place trophy at Phoenix Open 2012 / Publicity photo

Nova União is preparing the team for the 2012 Worlds with two main training camps, in Arizona and Texas. “We understand that this is a big challenge, but we’re going for it,” said Dantas. “We have good talent in the juvenile, female and male divisions coming in from Brazil, plus many standouts from the United States.”

The team standouts include black belt Marcelino Freitas, who will be flying over from the Land Down Under, Australia, to further bolster the heavily stacked featherweight division. The standouts making the trip from Brazil are young talents who come from very humble backgrounds. With the help of the veteran competitor and leader of Nova União Bangu Bruno Bastos and his black belt Fabio Andrade, who organized funding for the competitors from Brazil to travel, the future frontline of Nova União was given the opportunity to fly to the US to pursue their dreams of becoming world champions.

“Bruno has a big heart and does an amazing job with these kids; he literally takes it out of his pocket to support them,” Dantas explained. “Marcio Andre, who won the blue light feather division last year and just won the Brazilian Nationals last weekend will be returning to the fold, but not to defend his title, as this time around he’ll compete at purple belt. Other competitors like Isaque Bahiense and Paulo Silva, who also won the Brazilian Nationals, and Yuri Santos, who recently won at the Phoenix and Dallas Opens, are just a few of the competitors who have benefited from the fundraising programs organized by NU Brazil and NU USA. They come from very humble families, and live in neighborhoods where drugs, crime, and violence are rife. Without Jiu-Jitsu, it is possible that these young men would never leave the state, let alone the country. We help raise money and Bruno opens his arms and home to them because we truly believe in their potential and they deserve to have these kinds of opportunities.”

Team Nova União took first in the overall team contest in the adult male and beginners divisions at last weekend’s Brazilian National Jiu-Jitsu Championship. For the complete results, click here.

Beginners:

1 – Nova União – 23
2 – Alliance – 16
3 – Gracie Humaita – 13

 Adult Men:

1 – Nova União – 78
2 – Alliance – 69
3 – CheckMat – 43

Ultraheavyweight black belt champion Bruno Bastos / Publicity photo

Bruno Bastos won the ultra heavyweight division of the adult black belt contest and took third in the open class “It’s an honor to have Bruno competing in Arizona, I tell all my students, I think he is the most experienced black belt from NU, he has been competing nonstop for twenty years.” said Dantas about his counterpart. In the purple belt division, the featherweight Christian Broadnax, middleweight and absolute runner-up Issa Able and medium heavyweight Daniel Hampton dominated their divisions against some stern competition: “There were a lot of good out-of-state competitors, and with the Arizona Jiu-Jitsu community growing strong, the Phoenix Open will grow a lot in the next few years.”

Nova Uniao will be back in action at the Dallas Open and Long Beach Spring Open.

Nova Uniao restarted their mission of again winning a World Championship title a few years back, and this year of 2012 they are planning on bringing a strong team: “Winning the Worlds, it’s a big challenge, but we are realistic and we will get there at some point. We are setting the goal of getting on the podium, but I would not be surprise if we accomplish our main goal sooner,” asserted Dantas.

Overall team standing:

1 – Nova União – 273
2 – Gracie Barra – 182
3 – BJJ Revolution Team – 117

For complete results from Phoenix Open 2012, click here.