Leo Nogueira

Leo Nogueira won his first black belt world title by beating Marcus Buchecha. In the 2011 super-heavyweight final, tied 2-2 on points and advantages, the referees’ decision went his way. A year later he won gold again by closing out the division with Alliance teammate Bernardo Faria and reached the open class final, which he lost to Buchecha 8-4 in the closing seconds after sweeping Xande Ribeiro in the quarterfinals.

Born on May 12, 1987, in Guarujá, on the São Paulo coast, he started at 16 at Integração in Santos under Elcio Figueiredo and joined Alliance at the end of 2007. Fabio Gurgel gave him his black belt on July 1, 2009, right after he won the brown belt open class at the Worlds. In São Paulo he shared an apartment with Bernardo Faria. The Tozzi pass, a variation of the São Paulo pass, is his favorite technique.

He also took Worlds bronze in 2014, won the Europeans and the Brazilian Nationals in 2011 and the Pans in 2015. In 2016 he won the super-heavyweight division at the Worlds, but the title was voided: a sample collected on June 5 in Long Beach tested positive for clomiphene, and USADA imposed a two-year suspension, disqualifying his results from June 1, 2016 onward. The gold went to Alexandro Ceconi.

He moved to Miami to teach and, in 2015, to Atlanta, where he trained again under Romero Jacaré. He is head instructor at Alliance Atlanta.