Hey everyone, hope you enjoyed UFC 77 yesterday. Here’s what we’ve got in store for you on this week’s episode of The FightWorks Podcast, which meets the Intergalactic Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Empire’s criteria for “totally sweet”:

A conversation with Ricardo Almeida, black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Renzo Gracie. He began competing in mixed martial arts in 2000 and then hung up his gloves in 2004 to concentrate on other obligations. Almeida, who holds an MMA record of 8-2-0 and has submitted fighters like Dean Lister and Josh Barnett in submission grappling competitions, has been picked up by the UFC and will make his return to action in early 2008. Learn more about the man who received offer letters from all the big MMA promoters after announcing a desire to fight again this fall.

Our second interview is a brief one with Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt champion Fernando Pontes, better known as Margarida. We sit down with Margarida for 5 minutes and get to know what he’s up to. Die-hard BJJ junkies will know him for medaling in the world championships in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005. He also was the only person to make it look - albeit briefly - like the indomitable Roger Gracie could be stopped on his way to winning the absolute division of the 2007 BJJ World Championships.

Lastly, we’ll have a lengthy conversation with Rener Gracie who discusses a new offering from the Gracie Academy in Torrance that was announced on Tuesday by email which stated, “Become an official Gracie Family Representative - Get Certified to Teach in 2 Weeks - No Previous Grappling Experience - Turn your school into a Certified Gracie Combatives Training Center”. He’ll also bring us up to speed on the MMA careers of his brother Ralek Gracie and Ryron Gracie.