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At this time Paulo started the Para State Federation together with Professor Alfredo “Verdugo” Marques, a top level Black Belt Champion under Master Oswaldo Alves, and affiliated the Para Federation under the Brazilian Confederation of BJJ – CBJJ.
In 1995 Paulo received his Brown Belt and became the Para Federation President in the same year.
On the end of 1996 Paulo moved to south Brazil together with his good friend and loyal student Giovannio Reis (Paulo’s 1st ever Black Belt), more exactly to Porto Alegre city at Rio Grande do Sul State (border with Argentina).
There he opened the Extreme BJJ Academy which became one of the main BJJ schools in south Brazil having many champion students winning State and South Brazilian titles.
Paulo became Vice-President of the Rio Grande do Sul BJJ Federation together with Ze Mario Sperry and Walter Mattos.
In 1998 Paulo received his Black Belt from his instructor Jorge Pereira after 16 years of sweat and blood.
But the journey didn’t finish there, actually it was just the beginning…
Paulo lived in Porto Alegre for 3 years where he helped developing BJJ and evolved his training and teaching skills. Over there Paulo also met his wife and in 2000 they decided to take a long surf holiday trip to New Zealand, Bali and Australia where he met Brad Paterson who invited him to teach some classes at his gym in Neutral Bay, Sydney.
Paulo became the 1st Brazilian BJJ Black Belt to teach and live in Australia and the 1st BJJ Black Belt teaching in Sydney and fighters from all around NSW came to learn from him in group and private classes.
On the end of 2001 Paulo moved his classes to Bondi where he then started to build up his ROOTS Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Team of Champions.
In 2002 Paulo and other 2 Brazilian Black Belts living in Sydney founded the NSW Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (NSWBJJF) under the Australian Brasilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (AFBJJ) and the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IFBJJ -based in Brazil) having the aim of develop and grow the sport of BJJ in Australia organizing competitions and a State ranking for BJJ athletes. In the same year of 2002 the NSWBJJF started the NSW State Circuit composed of 3 events and the one who scored more points overall would became the 1st NSW State Champion fighter and Academy respectively. ROOTS became the 1st ever NSW State BJJ Champion Team with 2 victories of possible 3 and repeated the result for the next 2 years winning 2002, 2003 and 2004 in a row.
In 2003 Paulo took his 3 top students, Andrew Gorton, David Obrien and Phillipa Katonivualiku for the 1st time to Brazil to compete in the world stage to fight at the BJJ World Cup and BJJ World Championship. What happened then was that all 3 students and Paulo got GOLD and became world champions and his students the 1st Australians to get a title at this level in BJJ stunning the International and Brazilian BJJ community being reported in the main martial arts magazines and websites as the “100% successful team”!
Phillipa won the Australian National Wrestling Championship in 2003 as well.
In 2004 Paulo went to Los Angeles (USA) to compete in the Pan American Championships together with his old friend and instructor Jorge Pereira, team mate and also old friend Wander Braga and his Australian World Champ student Andrew Gorton.
As a result Paulo won Silver in the Absolute (open weight) division, Andrew got 3rd place in his weight division and Jorge got Gold in his weight division and Silver in the Absolute as well.
Still in 2004 4 of Paulo students went again to compete in the Worlds in Brazil and brought home 3 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze medal. The athletes were Andrew, David and Phillipa who won for the 2nd time in a row the BJJ World Cup and Phillipa got 3rd in the World Championship as well while Rob Toman brought a nice Silver medal.
2005 started and ROOTS Team won the Australian National Submission Grappling Championship (No Gi tournament) repeating the victory in 2006 and becoming 2 X Champion Team in a row.
In July 2006 Paulo went to Brazil to compete in the Worlds but this time in one division above the usual for him. He did a hard work during 6 months and put on 6kg to go up one division from Middleweight (79kg) to Light-heavyweight (85kg).
The fights were hard and after 3 tuff combats he brought another medal home, this time Bronze.
But the year hadn’t finished yet and just to make it even more challenging Paulo accepted the invitation to fight MMA again at the King Of The Cage (KOTC) event in Sydney on Dec 1st, 2006.
3 months of hard work: BJJ, boxing, wrestling, fitness…Ready!
The fight lasted 29secs. Clinch, takedown, side control, mount, back, CHOKE!
And the year was over with another victory.
Now put up all that paragraph where says:
“In the Mixed martial Arts (MMA) scene Paulo has…and many more champion fighters”.
2007 started with another NSW BJJ State Title for ROOTS Team in May and victories in MMA events during the whole year by some of Paulo’s students in Australian events as KOTC, X-AGON, Cage Fighting Championship (CFC) and Warriors Realm.
Paulo didn’t compete during that year taking a break to concentrate in improving his techniques, build up the gym, lapidate students and teach seminars around Australasia at his affiliated ROOTS Academies -7 in NSW State, 2 in Western Australia State and 2 in South Korea – and other Gyms which invite him regularly to show BJJ skills for their students.
2008 started and the competition schedule is back with the target set to the Worlds in Brazil on July once again and other smaller comps as the Pan American Championship in California on April and the Asian Championship in Japan on November…
In the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) scene Paulo has some great fighters under him including his BJJ Black Belt student Tony Bonello- King Of The Cage (KOTC) World Champion in the Middle, Light-heavy and Heavy weight divisions - , Andrew Gorton, Will Cunningham, Roy Pariente and many more upcoming champion fighters.
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