I wrote this last spring for the April/May 2009 issue of Full Contact Fighter mag.
Gold Rush on the Garden State: The Gold Team Hits NJ
by Matt Kaplan
Jorge “Macaco” Patino’s crew of tough, young, submission-savvy Gold Team fighters has landed and set up camp on American soil, and the East Coast MMA scene has taken notice. The Newark-based camp’s goals are simple and shared freely: “When you think of New Jersey and MMA, Gold Team should automatically come to mind.”
Gold Team Fighters USA may be new to the MMA scene, but its founder certainly is not. A UFC and PRIDE veteran who has fought under the Chute Boxe banner and around the world against top-flight opponents, Jorge “Macaco” Patino is a third-degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, a Judo black belt, and a five-time MMA champion in Brazilian. Macaco is a vale tudo superstar in Sao Paolo, Brazil, and has established Gold Team camps in Brazil, Poland, and Japan. With his latest American endeavor, Macaco is primed to enhance his legacy as both a fighter and a trainer before American fight fans.
A renowned grappler, the powerfully built Macaco (Portuguese for "monkey") earned his BJJ black belt from Octavio de Almeida, a sixth-degree black belt and the president of the Sao Paolo State BJJ Federation. Macaco later received his first and second belt stripes from Flavio Behring, and his third from the Carlson Gracie Federation. Macaco is a four-time International Master jiu-jitsu champion, a two-time Mundial de Master champion, and a Brazilian, Pan American, and Gracie Open champion.
Macaco’s BJJ prowess, however, belies his penchant for the knockout; Macaco has reportedly ended 22 of his 45 pro fights with first-round, opening minute knockouts. His victories against Anderson Lima, Gabriel Vella, Paolo de Jesus, and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza for example, are studies in unrequited punishment, and if his relentless, head-hunting style of attack reminds you of, say, countrymen Wanderlei Silva and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, it is not by coincidence.
Impressed by Macaco’s hard-fought victory over Luis Brito in 2003, Chute Boxe founders Rudimar Fedrigo and Rafael Cordeiro called Macao, who at the time was vacationing with his wife on Silveira Beach, and invited him to train with the famed Chute Boxe team that following Monday. Macaco cut short his vacation and packed for Chute Boxe headquarters in Curitiba, where he trained for several months and under whose banner he and several of his Brazilian Gold Team fighters have fought.
By 2007, Macaco had established himself as an MMA institution in Brazil, fighting regularly and overseeing 30 schools and some 6,000 students. In November, 2007, Macaco, along with former pupil Gabriel Gonzaga, traveled to Newark, NJ to corner long-time trainee Thiago Silva against Houston Alexander at UFC 78. Newark has a thriving Brazilian population, and Macaco was approached about opening a gym in the city. Shortly thereafter, Macaco was fortuitously introduced by brown-belt pupil Reubens Lopes to Fred Magalhaes. A year later, when Macaco’s plans to open a gym in Newark with other investors ultimately fell through, he and Fred partnered up, and Gold Team Fighters USA was born in August, 2008.
Today, Magalhaes serves as Gold Team’s manager, and Macaco is building up a stable of
home-grown American fighters. One of Gold Team Fighter USA’s best young talents is 19-year-old lightweight Charles Oliveira da Silva, an Brazilian purple belt champion who also held three MMA belts in Brazil. He has finished all eleven of his MMA opponents, six via submission and five by way of first-round KO. In April, Oliveira made his U.S. debut with an impressive first-round submission win over the heavy-handed Bellmore Kickboxing stand-out Dom Stanco and was crowned USKBA East Coast Lightweight champ. The Gold Team seems to have good reason to expect big things from Oliveira, who has already been offered a four-fight deal with Bellator Fighting Championship.
Another one of Gold Team's brightest stars is perhaps its smallest: female 135-pounder Vanessa Porto (8-3 MMA). The 25-year-old native of Jau, Brazil brings to the ring a dangerous submission game and a tenacious, entertaining style. Early in her career, Porto went the distance with Cristiane Cyborg, despite giving up nearly 20 pounds to the Chute Boxe wrecking machine. According to Richard Weling, GTFUSA's marketing/sponsorship manager, big fights are on the horizon for Porto, including a potential June 5 meeting with Tara Larosa of Philadelphia Fight Factory and a scheduled July 25 meeting on the Shine Fight Promotions card with American Top Team's Ediane "India" Gomes, who, as coincidence would have it, earned her Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Macaco. Joining Porto at the upcoming Shine event is Macaco’s top training partner Flavio Alvaro, a former Rio Heroes bare-knuckle champ who will face Jean "The White Bear" Silva in Miami on July 25.
Since its inception in August, the GTFUSA gym has enrolled 100 students and is growing strong, thanks in large part to Macaco's passion for BJJ and a method of instruction designed for anyone looking for high level training, even those with no real desire to climb into the ring. The 5,000-sqare-foot GTFUSA gym in Newark offers a full cage, daily MMA classes, daily BJJ classes, and no-gi training twice a week. In the coming months, Macaco hopes to bring in someone from his Chute Boxe days to serve as a Muay Thai instructor. Until then, Macaco and company are preparing for the opening of a new 4,000-square-foot facility in Caldwell, NJ.
With an abundance of reputable MMA and BJJ instruction available to those in the NY/NJ metropolitan area, what sets GTFUSA apart from the others, one student says, is the gym's crowned jewel: Macaco himself. In addition to an MMA career that has pitted him against some of the sport's toughest combatants (Pat Miletich, Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza) and an astounding list of BJJ accomplishments, the 36-year-old Macaco is still very much a fighter. In fact, he is training for a July 25 fight against UFC and Meca Vale Tudo veteran Roan Carniero as part of the Shine Fight card in Miami.
"Macaco's not one of these guys who gets his black belt and then sits back and makes money off of what he accomplished years ago. He's on the mat every day," explains Weling, himself a student under Macaco. "He always says that you get on the mat, and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But what counts at the end of the day, he always says, is that you just get out there on the mat."
Gold Rush on the Garden State: The Gold Team Hits NJ
by Matt Kaplan
Jorge “Macaco” Patino’s crew of tough, young, submission-savvy Gold Team fighters has landed and set up camp on American soil, and the East Coast MMA scene has taken notice. The Newark-based camp’s goals are simple and shared freely: “When you think of New Jersey and MMA, Gold Team should automatically come to mind.”
Gold Team Fighters USA may be new to the MMA scene, but its founder certainly is not. A UFC and PRIDE veteran who has fought under the Chute Boxe banner and around the world against top-flight opponents, Jorge “Macaco” Patino is a third-degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, a Judo black belt, and a five-time MMA champion in Brazilian. Macaco is a vale tudo superstar in Sao Paolo, Brazil, and has established Gold Team camps in Brazil, Poland, and Japan. With his latest American endeavor, Macaco is primed to enhance his legacy as both a fighter and a trainer before American fight fans.
A renowned grappler, the powerfully built Macaco (Portuguese for "monkey") earned his BJJ black belt from Octavio de Almeida, a sixth-degree black belt and the president of the Sao Paolo State BJJ Federation. Macaco later received his first and second belt stripes from Flavio Behring, and his third from the Carlson Gracie Federation. Macaco is a four-time International Master jiu-jitsu champion, a two-time Mundial de Master champion, and a Brazilian, Pan American, and Gracie Open champion.
Macaco’s BJJ prowess, however, belies his penchant for the knockout; Macaco has reportedly ended 22 of his 45 pro fights with first-round, opening minute knockouts. His victories against Anderson Lima, Gabriel Vella, Paolo de Jesus, and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza for example, are studies in unrequited punishment, and if his relentless, head-hunting style of attack reminds you of, say, countrymen Wanderlei Silva and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, it is not by coincidence.
Impressed by Macaco’s hard-fought victory over Luis Brito in 2003, Chute Boxe founders Rudimar Fedrigo and Rafael Cordeiro called Macao, who at the time was vacationing with his wife on Silveira Beach, and invited him to train with the famed Chute Boxe team that following Monday. Macaco cut short his vacation and packed for Chute Boxe headquarters in Curitiba, where he trained for several months and under whose banner he and several of his Brazilian Gold Team fighters have fought.
By 2007, Macaco had established himself as an MMA institution in Brazil, fighting regularly and overseeing 30 schools and some 6,000 students. In November, 2007, Macaco, along with former pupil Gabriel Gonzaga, traveled to Newark, NJ to corner long-time trainee Thiago Silva against Houston Alexander at UFC 78. Newark has a thriving Brazilian population, and Macaco was approached about opening a gym in the city. Shortly thereafter, Macaco was fortuitously introduced by brown-belt pupil Reubens Lopes to Fred Magalhaes. A year later, when Macaco’s plans to open a gym in Newark with other investors ultimately fell through, he and Fred partnered up, and Gold Team Fighters USA was born in August, 2008.
Today, Magalhaes serves as Gold Team’s manager, and Macaco is building up a stable of
home-grown American fighters. One of Gold Team Fighter USA’s best young talents is 19-year-old lightweight Charles Oliveira da Silva, an Brazilian purple belt champion who also held three MMA belts in Brazil. He has finished all eleven of his MMA opponents, six via submission and five by way of first-round KO. In April, Oliveira made his U.S. debut with an impressive first-round submission win over the heavy-handed Bellmore Kickboxing stand-out Dom Stanco and was crowned USKBA East Coast Lightweight champ. The Gold Team seems to have good reason to expect big things from Oliveira, who has already been offered a four-fight deal with Bellator Fighting Championship.
Another one of Gold Team's brightest stars is perhaps its smallest: female 135-pounder Vanessa Porto (8-3 MMA). The 25-year-old native of Jau, Brazil brings to the ring a dangerous submission game and a tenacious, entertaining style. Early in her career, Porto went the distance with Cristiane Cyborg, despite giving up nearly 20 pounds to the Chute Boxe wrecking machine. According to Richard Weling, GTFUSA's marketing/sponsorship manager, big fights are on the horizon for Porto, including a potential June 5 meeting with Tara Larosa of Philadelphia Fight Factory and a scheduled July 25 meeting on the Shine Fight Promotions card with American Top Team's Ediane "India" Gomes, who, as coincidence would have it, earned her Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Macaco. Joining Porto at the upcoming Shine event is Macaco’s top training partner Flavio Alvaro, a former Rio Heroes bare-knuckle champ who will face Jean "The White Bear" Silva in Miami on July 25.
Since its inception in August, the GTFUSA gym has enrolled 100 students and is growing strong, thanks in large part to Macaco's passion for BJJ and a method of instruction designed for anyone looking for high level training, even those with no real desire to climb into the ring. The 5,000-sqare-foot GTFUSA gym in Newark offers a full cage, daily MMA classes, daily BJJ classes, and no-gi training twice a week. In the coming months, Macaco hopes to bring in someone from his Chute Boxe days to serve as a Muay Thai instructor. Until then, Macaco and company are preparing for the opening of a new 4,000-square-foot facility in Caldwell, NJ.
With an abundance of reputable MMA and BJJ instruction available to those in the NY/NJ metropolitan area, what sets GTFUSA apart from the others, one student says, is the gym's crowned jewel: Macaco himself. In addition to an MMA career that has pitted him against some of the sport's toughest combatants (Pat Miletich, Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza) and an astounding list of BJJ accomplishments, the 36-year-old Macaco is still very much a fighter. In fact, he is training for a July 25 fight against UFC and Meca Vale Tudo veteran Roan Carniero as part of the Shine Fight card in Miami.
"Macaco's not one of these guys who gets his black belt and then sits back and makes money off of what he accomplished years ago. He's on the mat every day," explains Weling, himself a student under Macaco. "He always says that you get on the mat, and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But what counts at the end of the day, he always says, is that you just get out there on the mat."
Macaco is a Beast on the Mat or in the Cage but a Very Humble Wise and Honorable Brother and I love what he and his staff is doing at our Gym Goldteam Newark over here were one Big Family. Goldteam Fighters Heyyyyy!!!!!!!!
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