Whoop! Terere Knee Shield Pass!

More Jiu-Jitsu History: The Alliance Split

Some fascinating jiu-jitsu history here.

Alliance Scism Creates New Team

In 2002, the landscape of competitive Jiu-Jitsu began to change. Since 1996 the IBJJF had dominated the sport Jiu-Jitsu world but a new federation rose to challenge it in 2002. Known as the CBJJO, this federation held Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Cups in which the winners were given cash prizes, something unheard of in the IBJJF.

This was very attractive to many, including some under the Alliance banner. Alliance was a team formed by a Rolls Gracie black belt, Romero "Jacare" Cavalcanti and one of his first students, Fabio Gurgel. As time wore on Cavlcanti backed away from leading the competition team and focused just on teaching, and Gurgel took the helm. This caused some tension with some of Cavlcanti’s other black belts.

Friday Night Fights: Matt Serra v. Terere

Terere: Return of a Champion

Friday Night Fights: Jacare v. Terere

Whoop!

Te-re-re!

Terere: "Let Them Know I'm Coming Back!"

When a voice sounded over the Nextel radio of Professor Elan Santiago (Alliance), he couldn’t believe what who it was.

- Hey, man! How’re you doing?

So Elan answered. It was the lively voice of the old Fernando Tererê, the Jiu-Jitsu champion who has been hospitalized in a rehabilitation clinic in Sorocaba, Sao Paulo state, for the last two months. So they had a conversation like they hadn’t had in years.

I've contributed to the fund to help defray the costs of Terere's rehab - and am likely to do so again over the next few days. There's a Paypal link at the bottom of the Gracie Magazine article. If nothing else, please send a few positive thoughts southward today.

Here is a peek at the "old" Terere if you need a little inspiration.

Guard Passing with Terere