Alliance's Next Roosterweight Hope Hiago Gama To Begin Black Belt Career
Alliance's Next Roosterweight Hope Hiago Gama To Begin Black Belt Career
Not many athletes in jiu-jitsu are able to become a world champion at every belt level, but Hiago Gama looks like he might be able to pull it off.
By Michael Sears | Not many athletes in jiu-jitsu are able to become a world champion at every belt level.
It is an arduous task to achieve success while still a “beginner” at blue belt, maintain a high level when things get more serious at purple belt, and then repeat the feat a third time in the cutthroat brown belt ranks. A lot can go wrong on the path to an IBJJF world title, rendering the accomplishment unattainable for most.
Roosterweight Hiago Gama has run the gauntlet at the lower belts, and in 2018 he is ready to take on the challenge of the black belt division. First stop: the IBJJF European Championships, which run from Tuesday, Jan. 16, to Sunday, Jan. 21, in Lisbon, Portugal.
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Photo: Michael Sears
“Black belt is for sure the highest level, but I’ve been getting ready for this moment since blue belt," Gama said. "The difference in the beginning will be the experience of my adversaries that have been black belts for many years.
"Some of them have been black belts for longer than I’ve been training. But I believe in my work and I know that everything happens at the right time.”
Gama’s success is a result of training out of Alliance in Rio de Janeiro under the supervision of the team’s co-founder Alexandre “Gigi” Paiva. The academy is located in the upscale Leblon neighborhood in Rio’s South Zone. A stairwell next to the pool at the Campestre country club leads to one of the most beautiful academies you will ever see.
On the way to the mats you pass a wall graphic containing the image of every Alliance black belt world champion, and there is an awe-inspiring amount. Featured on this wall is perhaps Gigi’s most famous student, Fernando “Terere” Augusto. Terere was also IBJJF world champion at blue, purple, and brown belt. He would go on to complete the cycle at black belt, becoming a two-time world champion.
Hiago is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Gigi’s former star pupil. Being in the roosterweight division, he will also look to fill the void left when teammate Bruno Malfacine retires after potentially winning a 10th world title in 2018.
Gama training with "Gigi" Paiva. Photo: Michael Sears
Although currently based in Rio, Hiago was born and raised in Vitoria de Conquista in the state of Bahia in northeast Brazil. His teacher in Bahia, Gleison Oliveira, is a student of Alexandre Paiva. Gama won an in-house competition that led to him winning a full sponsorship from the team, allowing him to make the move to Rio in 2012.
At blue belt, Hiago won every competition he entered. In 2013, he achieved the esteemed IBJJF Grand Slam, winning the World, Pan, Brasileiro and European championships in the same year. At the 2017 Worlds in Long Beach, CA, Hiago won his matches by 5-0, choke from the back, 6-0, 4-0, and a 4-4 ref decision in the final. Overall on the day he outscored his opponents 25-4. Paiva awarded Hiago with his black belt on the podium.
Deploying a versatile guard game that seems to favor half-butterfly accompanied by an arsenal of open guards, Hiago will hit basic hook sweeps, overhead sweeps, or invert underneath his opponent. On top he is almost exclusively a knee slice passer. Back takes come from everywhere for Hiago, and the majority of his submissions come from the back.
His black belt debut at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in Rio left him feeling unsatisfied, losing by disqualification for knee reaping in the quarterfinal. Hiago will look to make a big statement in his debut as a black belt in an IBJJF tournament, scheduled for the Europeans in Portugal.