In the lead up to the 2022 World Master, Alliance’s Jhonny Loureiro had made some big changes in his life. A move from Sao Paulo to San Diego to help further build the Alliance association here in the US and a change in his training routine were all part of Jhonny’s preparation for the event. “It was something unexpected for me. In a meeting in São Paulo with Fábio Gurgel, he asked me if I wanted to come help here at Alliance San Diego as Head Coach together with Johnny Faria. I was taken by surprise because it was not something I was looking forward to.”

Although the move was not part of Jhonny’s plans for the future, he made the jump and hasn’t looked back. Prior to moving to San Diego, Jhonny had a successful gym in Brazil and was close to family and friends. "I have my gym in Brazil, my son lives there and my family too. Thank God everyone is fine but I miss everyone and especially my son a lot. I came to San Diego with a great purpose and with many sacrifices, but always with my heart and soul connected with my friends and family so that in the near future I can bring a better quality of life to everyone through sport,” said Jhonny. “All these sacrifices are what give me the strength to stay focused and for me to do my best in every moment of my day.”

The move to San Diego has been very fruitful thus far, as Jhonny competed in the 2022 World Master and came home with silver in his weight class and gold in the open. He had five matches at maser 1 middleweight, losing a close final to Jaime Canuto by two points. Jhonny found redemption in the open class where he won three matches, including a semi-final win over Riccardo Evangelista and a finals victory against Gabriel Procópio. “I'm feeling good. I'm back in San Diego with my friends, family and training partners. I enjoyed three days at the beach here on the coast of California and got back to my training and teaching routine. It was a three month cycle of intense training. My physical trainer Wagner Zaccani asked me to go one week without physical preparation so I could relax and have a good laugh with friends and family.”

Now that Jhonny has settled into his new home in San Diego, he’s set on creating a routine that will lead to more achievements on the mats. “I believe I'm on the right track. Training here at Alliance San Diego is very good. Johnny Faria is a great teacher and we have a very strong team of competitors. I believe that consistency and hard work, regardless of adversity, are the keys to success. If there was one thing I learned in this camp for the World Master it was this; regardless of the adversities and challenges we are going to face, we must keep faith in God, focus on our best and on what makes us better, always moving forward!”

Jhonny will not only be training at Alliance San Diego, he’ll also be focusing on taking the academy to the next level through his teaching efforts. “Yes, the idea now is to make Alliance San Diego the biggest and best Jiu-Jitsu school reference in the USA. Along with this I will keep training at a high level and compete in major tournaments.” Other competitors out of Alliance San Diego include Fellipe Andrew, Melissa Stricker, and Luciana Mota, among many others. With this group of highly accomplished athletes, the sky is the limit for the San Diego based academy.

The remainder of Jhonny’s 2022 will be dedicated to training and competing without the gi. “In the competitive field I want to win the No-Gi Pan and the No-Gi Worlds. We  have been starting to train hard without the gi since last week. For sure our team will arrive very well prepared for these competitions.”

The Pan No-Gi will take place from October 14-16 in Garland, Texas and the No-Gi Worlds will take place from December 7-11 in Anaheim, California. Go to ibjjf.com for more details on these events.