My instructor returning at Miami Open (video)

[Nick Powers]

After seven years away from competition, my teacher Andre Almeida "Dedeco" got back on the mat at this year's Miami Open, where he took gold in his division. It's truly amazing to see this happen and be a part of it for me, since this is the man I train under and who I hope will eventually earn my black belt from.

His first black belt, Rafael "Formiga" Barbosa, also took gold in his division but opted out of competing in Absolute due to a knee injury. Formiga has been running over people all year, taking gold in Chicago, Boston and the FGO in Portland, Maine. Many of his wins were in both his division and absolute, and No Gi as well.

This is just a quick clip of one of his matches during the day, but I just wanted to share it with erry'body from the 10th and see what you guys think!

[Tony Toffolo]

great fuckin sweep! his opponent was way bigger than him. solid match.

[Nick Powers]

Yeah, there aren't many times that Dedeco has to look up to talk to someone haha, it's pretty crazy seeing how much taller the guy was. And Dedeco is not a small guy by any means, he's somewhere around 260, 270 or so but he moves like he's 160 pounds.

I don't know the history of his opponent Stephen Hall but from what I hear, he'd been dominating everyone he faced in competition lately.