Beleza wins big at Pan-Ams

Daniel Beleza, far right, in the blue rashguard, at M.A.C.E. in Red Lion.

As I said in an earlier post, Daniel "The Cobra" Beleza, second-degree black belt with York's Academy of Combative Arts, and Red Lion's M.A.C.E. academy scored a huge win at the recent Pan-American Jiu-Jitsu Championships in Carson, Calif. In the black belt/master division, light featherweight, Daniel placed first.

Here's an account of Daniel's success from http://diariodonordeste.globo.com/ Keep in mind I used Alta Vista Babel Fish for the translation from Portuguese to English and then also did a little editing of my own:

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter Daniel Beleza won a gold medal at the Pan-American Jiu-Jitsu Championships, held at the California State University, Dominguez Hills, in Carson City, held the last weekend in March.

At the event, sanctioned by the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation, Daniel displayed a thrilling performance, finishing his first two opponents in less than two minutes in each match.

In the finals, Daniel faced Mauricio Villardo, a fighter from the Academy Gracie Humaitá, and won gold.

A total of 2,500 fighters representing countries including the United States, Mexico, Japan, Italy, Russia, Brazil, Portugal, Spain and France, participated in the competition. Three hundred of those athletes represented Brazil.

Daniel now has his sights set on the IBJJF's US Open Jiu-Jitsu Championship, held in April in New York City.

Following that, Daniel will enter the IBJJF's most important competition of this season, the XIV World-Wide Championship, Long Beach, California, in June.

Since August, Daniel has been living in York, Pennsylvania, where he trains and teaches at M.A.C.E. academy in Red Lion and ACA - Academy of Combative Arts.

As many of the prestigious Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments are held in the United States, Daniel decided to move here to minimize costs. Daniel's resume includes a 3rd place finishes at both the 2008 World Jiu-Jitsu Championships and the 2008 Pan-American Games.

Original story written by Moacir Felix.