The name Atos is still fairly new in the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world, but the team has made a big impression. According to BJJ Heroes: “Atos was Created in 2008, Atos Jiu Jitsu is an academy led by Ramon Lemos and Andre Galvão which in just a few years managed to make a huge dent in the BJJ landscape. With its headquarters originally in Rio Claro, São Paulo – Brazil, Atos has since had a strong impact in California where it opened doors first through André Galvao and later by jiu jitsu prodigies, the Mendes Brothers (Guilherme and Rafael). Mainly a lightweight team in the early stages of its creation, the Atos competition party was heavily linked with the development of positions such as the 50/50 guard and the leg drag technique, since then the Atos Jiu Jitsu roster has grown to a wider span of competitors in different weight classes.”
Over the past year, Atos has received some important reinforcements with the breakup of Team Lloyd Irvin’s Medal Chasers group, which meant that JT Torres, Keenan Cornelius and Jordon Schultz joined the already strong Atos team, and moved from Maryland to San Diego. If we look at the Atos armada, it is really impressive: Mendes brothers, Galvão, Ary Farias, Bruno Frazatto, Ed Ramos, Guto Campos, Vitor Toledo, Rodrigo Caporal, Claudio Calasans Jr, brown belt Jordon Schultz and lower belts such as Mike Carbudillo, Michel Liera, Michael Perez, among others. The big question is will Atos be able to dethrone Alliance which has been on the team podium at the Worlds since 2008?
Atos has been getting closer and closer to the top spot in recent years. At the 2012 Worlds, Alliance was first with 97 points, followed by Alliance with 66 and Atos came third with 46. At this year’s Pan, Alliance barely beat Atos by 2 points: 85 to 83. The gap is for sure getting closer.
Jacare Cavalcanti himself said that he saw Atos as the most serious rivals at the moment. Alliance still has a formidable army with such stars as leo Nogueira, Leo Leite, Bernardo Faria, Rubens Cobrinha, Marcelo Garcia, Bruno Malfacine, Gabi Garcia, Luana Alziguir. Let’s wait and see what happens…
Team Atos training hard for the worlds:
