The latest to switch teams is Talita Alencar.
Alencar is a black belt (she received her black belt at the podium of Worlds 2016) set to compete against Mackenzie Dern in the main event of Fight To Win Pro 12.
Alencar is a light featherweight competitor and she’ll continue training with Hector Vasquez out of Last Vegas, Nevada, she personally confirmed yesterday to flograppling.
This change in Alencar’s words comes from a wish to forward her professional grappling career:
I thought a lot before making my decision. I don’t want to live in Brazil any longer, and here I will have all the support I need as an athlete. I’ll never be successful if I continue to live in Brazil.
She is not the first to switch to alliance in hopes of pushing the career to next level – Malfacine also changed the same teams – Gf Team for Alliance way back in 2008. As the Worlds records indicate, the change has largely worked for him.
Another interesting tidbit is that Alencar is now a teammate of Mackenzie Dern’s famed opponent Gabi Garcia (although Garcia is now focused mainly on MMA but still confirmed she will be at ADCC 2017).
Alencar was born in Fortaleza, Brazil and she’s trained with GF Team in Rio de Janeiro where she’s lived upto this point. The change might also be a result of the relatively small GF Team presence in the USA – they are located in only several cities.
A Cobrinha black belt she’s set to train with – Hector Vasquez welcomed her to the Alliance team with these words:
It’s official !!! Please welcome our newest member to the Cobrinha BJJ Family @talitawijtman ?. She is a great addition to the Alliance Team.
