Daniel Beleza: April 2009 Archives

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.