READ LATEST UPDATE ON THE SITUATION…HERE
José Olimpio, more known as “Zé Radiola”, one the top 3 leaders of the Gracie Barra organization has left GB to form his own team: ZR Team.
Ze Radiola is one of the most respected and successful BJJ instructors in the world, from his Gracie Barra Pernambuco academy, he has formed world champions such as Braulio Estima, Victor Estima, Otavio Sousa, Lucas Rocha and many others. Last year at the Worlds, he lead the Gracie Barra team.
For the past weeks, BJJEE has learned from sources close to Ze Radiola’s ZR Team and from Gracie Barra’s arch nemesis Alliance Jiu-Jitsu that ZR Team would be joining or working together with 11x world champions Team Alliance.
A few days ago, BJJEE contacted prominent black belt students of Ze Radiola’s but none of them wanted to comment or confirm the rumours.
Until today, when a Facebook post from Ze Radiola’s son Guilherme made it official. You can see Ze Radiola, Gui Rocha and Lucas Rocha having a meal with Alliance leader Fabio Gurgel:
“Barbecue to finalise new plans…#ZRTeam #Alliance”
It is still unclear just how many prominent black belts under Ze Radiola (Estima bros, Otavio Sousa etc..) will follow their master in this move to the alliance with the arch rival. Losing someone as valuable as Ze Radiola will be a big blow for Gracie Barra.
The ZR team hand sign is the same as Zenith Jiu-Jitsu’s (Drysdale-Cavaca):
UPDATE: Ze Radiola has just made a statement in Portuguese from Atlanta airport (Atlanta is Alliance HQ in USA) that he has left Gracie Barra and he is forming his own team. He will very soon make a statement detailing the reasons why he chose to leave GB, the organisation that he defended for 20+ years…
At this year’s word championships, Team Alliance managed to repeat the success and come out as the most decorated Male Adult Team at Worlds. Last year they had 121 medals in the same category while this year they managed to win 118. Gracie Barra came 5th. Top 5 ranked teams are:
1 – Alliance – 118
2 – CheckMat – 46
3 – GF Team – 46
4 – Atos Jiu-Jitsu – 42
5 – Gracie Barra – 37
