Recently in Daniel Beleza Category

Here's an email I received from Joe Duffey, co-owner of Academy of Combative Arts in York City:

Daniel (BJJ champion Daniel Beleza) took Jimmy Chappell up to the Poconos for the WKU Warrior Challenge for a fight. Jimmy won in the first round via armbar. Also, Daniel took a team of guys(Team Beleza is the fight name) to Scranton today (6/27) for the PA Brazillian Jiu Jitsu tournament and all of our guys placed. We had 2 in the kids division, Chaz and Jordan, both winning gold, 4 in the adults white belt division(in 3 different weight classes), Tom(gold), Jaysin(bronze), Josh(gold), Tux(silver) which equated to 2 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze medal, and 2 in blue belt division(2 different weight classes), Jimmy(gold) and Mike(Bronze) resulting in a gold and bronze medal.
I'm very proud of them so I wanted to share the news. Joe Duffey

Daniel Beleza

I received an email from Joe Duffey, who, along with Frank Nguyen, run the Academy of Combative Arts in York City. Joe told me that ACA's resident black belt (2nd degree in BJJ) Daniel Beleza, got third in the recent International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation's World Championships, held June 4-7 at California State University in Long Beach.

Here are the results from the IBJJF Web site:
weight class: LIGHT FEATHER

FIRST guilherme mendes Atos

THIRD carlos vieira Check Mat Bjj

THIRD Daniel Beleza Academy of Combative Arts.

Earlier this year, Daniel scored back-to-back first place victories at the Pan-Ams and the New York International Open.

Congratulations, Daniel, from all of us here at MMA Explosion!

Worlds promo video:

A while back, I blogged about the Academy of Combative Arts in York City, and its quest to open up a school on Arch Street.

Well, it appears the school is open, with Frank Nguyen and Joe Duffey as co-owners:

Teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes is Daniel Beleza, a second-degree black belt who has two recent first-place wins in top-level BJJ tournaments.
ACA also had several of its fighters, including Mike Oberdick, fight in the inaugural Central Pennsylvania Warrior Challenge.

Daniel Beleza

For more information, log onto to their new Web site here.

Daniel Beleza, fresh from his first-place win at the Pan-Ams in California, the second-degree BJJ black belt scored another first in the Black Belt Adult - Light Feathweight category at the IBJJF's New York International Open Championships.

After getting the first place, Daniel, who is an instructor at MACE in Red Lion and Academy of Combative Arts in York, barely had enough time to get back and corner fighters at the Central Pennsylvania Warrior Challenge the next day.

Congratulações, Daniel.

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.

Daniel Beleza

I talked with Llew Chester, co-owner of the Academy of Combative Arts, (located in downtown York), and he filled me in on a few things.

First, Daniel "The Cobra" Beleza, second-degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, recently took first place at a major BJJ tournament, I believe in California.

"He cleaned up over there; it was really remarkable," Chester said. "He's really pumped up about it."

Llew added that the academy's progress is not moving along as fast as it should.

"We're having problems passing the inspection; we have to re-do the ceiling," he said. "Everything is set to go and we can't move."

Still, Llew remained positive, saying, "It's definitely going to happen, I'll tell you that."

To find out more information, call co-owner Frank Nguyen at 717-841-4077. To go to Daniel myspace page, click here.

I meant to post this the other day - you might have read (and watched) my post on Daniel Beleza, 2nd-degree BJJ black belt, who teaches at MACE in Red Lion - but I forgot to list some of his accomplishments:

-- 3rd place, 2008 Pan American Games.

-- 3rd place, 2008 World Jiu-Jitsu Championships

-- 2nd place, 2008 Brazilian Natiopnals.

-- 1st place, 2007 World Jiu-Jitsu Championships.

-- Master with world-famous Nova Uniao team, Rio de Janeiro.

Camera guy/producer/editor extraordinaire Tom Joyce and I were at Hooters of York on Saturday to see Couture vs. Lesnar. A huge, intense crowd was there and it was all good, with the exception of a few party-dicks.

James Olewiler from MACE (Martial Arts with a Combat Emphasis) was there, working the crowd, passing out flyers, spreading the word about secodn degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt - and world champion - Daniel Beleza, who teaches at MACE. Things sound like they're really coming togetehr for MACE, and with legalization (hopefully) around the corner, it's only going to get better.

We alsp checked in with Jerod Phillips from Tap or Sleep, who was there showing off his hot new model Flynn. Jerod talks about his new clothing line, and what his fighters are up to in the coming weeks, both here on the East Coast and in the Mid-West.

So I went over to Hooter's of York last night after work for a little UFC 90 action. There, I met James Olewiler, owner and head trainer at M.A.C.E., which stands for Martial Arts with a Combat Emphasis, located at 133 W. Broadway in Red Lion.

With Olewiler's place, George McGinnis' York Mixed Martial Arts Academy, and at least one traditional karate studio, little Red Lion is becoming quite the hotbed of martial arts in York County.

Anyway, Olewiler, through his friend Frank, who owns an Asian restuarant on the square in York City (Next to Marcello's), connected with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Daniel Beleza, and succeeded in bringing Beleza to M.A.C.E.

Although I hadn't heard Beleza's name before, his reputation preceded him. For months, I'd been hearing rumors that a BJJ black belt was coming to this area. When I didn't hear anything more, I throught they were just that, rumors. Turns out Beleza is for real:

Now that's gotta be one of the sickest flying triangles I've ever seen.

I spoke with Beleza, and he's a very friendly guy, totally passionate about BJJ, competing and teaching. Olewiler said he and Frank also plan to bring on board a muay Thai fighter to round out their MMA program, and then hope to put together an MMA fight team.

I also met Jason Lauer, who just opened up a crossfit gym at 1451 Spahn Ave., York. Crossfit is an excellent physical training regimen for fighters, those who want to train like fighters, or just those who want to get in shape, real shape - a true fusion of strength and stamina.

Years ago, Crossfit helped BJ Penn hone his cardio, putting him through a meat-grinder of a workout that he then labeled "Fight Gone Bad." The workout was three five-minute rounds with a 1-minute rest in between, the length of a professional MMA non-title fight.

I plan to get over to M.A.C.E. and Crossfit at some point in the future, hopefully with a vdeo camera to get some footage to post here. Great meeting everybody at Hooters and remember to keep it tuned here for all the latest on MMA, in York and beyond. Later.