He’s kind of short and stocky guy but super strong and really nice. Actually I met him on the plane going to Manaus last year. Him and his students sat behind me and were really disruptive during my 4 hour fleight into Manaus from Rio. When I turned around to ask them to stop I saw the ears on them and knew I was in deep shit. But, he opened up the conversation asking me if I trained jiu-jitsu and invited me to train at his academy for free!

PAULO COHELO and OMAR SALUM also have there own academies, and are also Humaita students and have some successful academies as well around Manaus. I never trained with them but heard a lot of good things about them.

NOVA UNIAO

The Nova Uniao academy I trained at for a couple days was run by two black belts named Daniel Freitas and the other guys name was Kareca! The academy was located on Rua Castelo Branco near the Centro, and it’s kind of hidden but if you are fortunate enough to train there, you will be in luck. Tough workout and some cool technical instruction. Nova Uniao has another 2 academies I believe in Manaus but I didn’t get a chance to train there. I know SHOOTO fighter Marcos Loro trains at the other academy though.


GRACIE BARRA/OSVALDO ALVES
The Barra club I trained at this year was Clube Pina. Thanx to OTM’s Scotty for giving me the hookup with World Champ Bibiano Fernandes, as this is where he trains at! Definitely gonna hit Clube Pina again next year when I go back to Manaus. The club was stacked! Like I mentioned before, had like 30 fighters in one class, and actually had 8-10 black belts all willing to roll! It was amazing! Bibiano was super nice and and introduced me to everyone! The main instructor is Pina. I think he’s a black belt under Osvaldo Alves. Anyways, by far one of the best clubs in Brasil I ever trained at! Every guy I sparred with had a completely different style and was eager to help me with my game as well as spank my fat white ass! I am pretty sure Osvaldo Alves has other clubs and affiliates in Manaus but I wasn’t able to check them out. Osvaldo Alves is one of the most respected jiu-jitsu instructors out of Brazil and is Fredson Paixaos instructor and has also taught Amaury Bitetti and Vitor Belfort. He was also one of the only 5 black belts to get graded from legendary Rolls Gracie! Osvaldo hosts a tournament at the end of the year every year named the Copa Osvaldo Alves. Last year I competed in the tournament and had a blast! Definitely check out a tournament if you can in Manaus. The fans there are crazy! Last year at the Copa, a fight broke out and hundreds of people jumped the cages surrounding the tatames to get in! INSANE! Hopefully when OTM’s Jungle Brothers gets released, we might get to see some of that footage as OTM’s Scotty and Danny DoNothing were also on hand to film the action!

OTHER CLUBS!
There were a lot of other clubs I heard of in Manaus. But right now the most famous one has got to be ASLE! ASLE is where multiple time jiu-jitsu world champion and now ADCC champion Ronaldo Jacare trains at under the watchful eye of Sensei Henrique Machado (No Relation to Jean Jaques).
From what I understood, Sensei Henrique teaches a mix of Judo and BJJ! There are classes 3 times a day Monday thru Friday. This place is the hot spot right now! From the outside it actually looks like a little garage but when you get inside, the place is all jiu-jitsu. Right now, ASLE has another young prospect up and coming! His name is Ary, and is a 2 time mundial champion as well as multiple time brazilian champ. Apparently this kid is the second coming of Jaca so look out!

There is also the Anibal Fight Club, who now hooked up with A.S.L.E. and are one team. This club recently had some young fighters get the gold at the last mundial and I had a chance to watch some of their fighers in action last year! VERY INTENSE!!! http://www.anibalfight.com/

There are a lot of other smaller academies in Manaus. Take a trip one day and look around and I’m sure you will see some. I know there are a ton of other independent jiu-jitsu clubs as well as a Artur Mariano, Muay Thai affiliate and a Luta Livre academy as well.


If you do plan to go to Manaus, you might wanna check out the site http://www.portaldaluta.com.br/index.htm, it is a brazilian site run by Greci Fernandes. Shes like Manaus’ unofficial jiu-jitsu reporter party chick! The site always has cool updates about the Manaus scene but is only in Portuguese. So get started on those lessons.

Other than jiu-jitsu, Manaus has a lot of cool things to see. There’s the hotel Tropical, which is right on the Rio Negro, and of course the Amazon jungle, you got to check out. I camped out there a couple nights and it was scary! Also if you do go to Manaus, Stock up on your deet, and you might have to get a yellow fever or malaria medication as well. The malaria medication gives people nightmares when you take it but according to the doctors here, it’s necessary!

Anyways, if you go, have fun, train jiu-jitsu and be ready to train hard! Also, you might wanna look as less Gringo as possible as Manaus is not as famous as Rio for tourism, so when a bald white gringo like me walks the streets, the girls want me, but the dudes wanna kill me! Just kiddin! No but seriously get a tan!