Andre Pederneiras in the front
Regarded as one of the top jiu jitsu and MMA academies in the world, Nova União has busted into MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) in the later years through fighters like Renan “Barão”, José Aldo, Jussier “Formiga” and many others. The team led by Wendell Alexander and André Pederneiras has been at the forefront of jiu jitsu and was regarded as one of the top 3 BJJ academies in the world at the turn of the millennium, with 2 team world titles by 2002. Since the shift to MMA, the dominance in the jiu jitsu world toned down, though Nova União is still considered to be one of the best academies in the game with very strong affiliated academies throughout the world such as Kimura in Natal (Brazil), Fernando Boi Team in Goiania (Brazil), Robson Moura Association (USA), Gustavo Dantas JJ Association (USA) and many others. Read full team biography from BJJ Heroes.
Former UFC lightweight contender Kenny Florian wrote an article for FOX Sports where he talks about the reason for MMA-BJJ gym Nova Uniao’s success, which comes from Andre Pederneiras methods and reaching out to the underprivileged youth:
“After receiving his black belt from the legendary Carlson Gracie Sr at age 22, Andre started his own BJJ academy and would eventually join forces with fellow Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Wendel Alexander in order to compete more competitively with the larger schools in Brazil.
“It was extremely unusual for different BJJ schools to train together and join forces but that is exactly what Pederneiras and Alexander did.
“Combining forces, this new team would find much more success in the large Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournaments. Within a short timespan the team “New Union” or “Nova União” in Portuguese would become a jiu-jitsu powerhouse.
“Andre had great success working with the less privileged kids in Rio. He was very active in the community and in the slums (favelas) he gave the youth a place to train.
Nova Uniao MMA fighters
“Andre had a lot of experience training kids and he found a recipe for turning many of them into champions. BJJ in Brazil was typically reserved for people with money so Pederneiras was pretty revolutionary in offering to teach those who couldn’t afford to pay him.
“Andre was also one of the few BJJ practitioners who believed in and cross-trained in wrestling back in the day. Continuing with his trail blazing ways, Andre was criticized by many Brazilians in the nineties for training non-Brazilian fighters for MMA and Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions
“All these elements paint the picture of what makes Nova União so good but perhaps the investment of time, patience and a family atmosphere is equally as important.
“When you combine those elements with offering underprivileged kids an outlet and giving them structure to improve their lives, you get fighters like Barao and Aldo who are great examples of talent, humility and hard work.
“Whether Pederneiras has intentionally done this to create world champions or not, patience and goodwill towards the poor youth in Rio has helped him create two of the best UFC fighters the world has ever seen.”
