The following was announced on nhbgear.com today by Alliance General Fabio Gurgel.
I’m writing this message to let everybody know what is going on here at the Alliance head quarters. From now on all the Tererê students , become part of our team. I’m very happy once that they were originaly from our school and came back because Tererê guided them to me. Tererê is not coming at this moment because he is moving to Natal city on northeast of Brazil) but we hope we can have him back soon.
Cobrinha, Leu and many other champions are already trainning with us.
Welcome guys!!!
Fabio Gurgel
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This is huge news for the team. Alliance was at one point the top competing Jiu-Jitsu team in the world. It had some internal power struggles as does every team, but now has reinforced itself reuniting with many new students and former students.
Also, big congrats to Alliance Atlanta team member Chris Moriarty for an awesome performance at this past weekends World Gracie Championships. Chris competes almost every weekend and wins pretty much all of the competitions. He is Jacare’s and Traven’s student. Expect to hear more things from Chris and the Alliance team in the near future!
Alliance Canada blue belt Jurgen Rudolph left 2 days ago for sunny Brazil. Jurgen will be attending the Alliance Masters Camp in Buzios, Rio de Janeiro, which is organized by the legendary Alexandre Paiva. Also on hand for the camp will be the grand master of animal biotics, Orlando Cani. Jurgen became an animal biotics fanatic after his previous trip to Brazil back in 2004. To learn more about animal biotics and Orlando Cani visit orlandocani.com
Jurgen will be training Jiu-jitsu with Alexandre Paiva and several other black belts from the Alliance Team in preperation for the International Masters and Seniors World BJJ Championships. This is basically the “Mundials” or “Worlds” for the over 35 crowd. It’s a huge event. Great to see that Jurgen chose to compete in this tournament.
Even though I just got back, after a month being there, I can’t help but feel jealous. Buzios is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
This past weekend the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championships were held in Rio de Janeiro. Alliance superstar Marcelo Garcia took gold in the middleweight division, defeating the tough André Galvão in the finals. He’s one of only a handful of guys who dominate ADCC (Submission Wrestling/No-gi) and the Mundial (Gi). We’ve been lucky to have Marcelinho visit us at Alliance Canada numerous times. Not only is he one of the best grapplers on the planet, he’s also an incredible instructor. Look for Marcelo to visit again in the near future.
Check out PJ “Primetime” O’Sullivan’s new highlight video onyoutube.com. It features clips from his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu matches over the years. They say he’s pretty good with the triangle. I dunno, just what I heard. Plus Jean Jacques Machado makes a cameo appearance. Enjoy!
Alliance Croatia studentDamir Mirenic has been competing internationally, attaining a 6-1 record. He defeated Carlos Baruch (a Vitor Belfort student) in his last fight. Our own instructor in Kitchener, Dragan Konjevic, has spent a lot of time over seas teaching BJJ. Damir, with an already extensive background in striking (with Cro Cop’s team), is one of his proteges.
Rumour has it that Damir may be making an appearance in the Pride Bushido ring very soon. If so, this will be a huge accomplishment for the Alliance Team, and especially for coach Dragan! Good luck to you, Damir!!
As for myself, I’m leaving this Friday for Brazil with fellow team mate Andy Kwan. We’re going to be meeting Shannon Konvaitis down there and training at the third annual Alliance BJJ Camp. Stay tuned; I’ll keep you guys updated with any signifigant happenings in Brazil with the team.
Here’s a recent interview byonthemat.com with a Team Alliance fighter from Brazil, Rodrigo Damm. Rodrigo is a mad submission wrestling competitor and wins the prestigious Campos submission wrestling event every year. He is also a world Jiu-jitsu champion.
Big congrats to Bryan Edge (Team Joslin/Alliance Canada) for his victory in the E.C.C. event in Nova Scotia last Friday. It was his second professional MMA fight (Seesherdog.com for his complete fight record). Edge submitted his opponent via guilotine choke in the first round at approx. 1:30. He trained very hard for this fight and it definately paid off. Way to go Edge!
