Wald Bloise is a World Extreme Fighting Champion, HooknShoot Champion, Reality Fighting Champion, Absolute Fighting Champion, NAGA Absolute Champion & Pan American Champion. Wald is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt under his cousin and close friend, “Minotauro” Nogueira and also a Muay Thai black belt .

He was Muay Thai coach for American Top Team and The Armory prior to opening the school.

Nogueira and Wald trained together for many years. Wald taught his Muay Thai skills to Nogueira and Nogueira taught Wald Jiu Jitsu.

Check out this interview with Wald Bloaise from Team Nogueira Jupiter West Palm Beach MMA.

Marcus Aurélio (born August 18, 1974) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist. He formerly fought for the PRIDE Fighting Championship and for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He currently fights as a lightweight, and primarily employs Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Aurélio began his career in promotions such as ZST and HOOKnSHOOT, earning notable submission victories against Remigijus Morkevicius and Rich Clementi. Aurelio then came to PRIDE Bushido, where he defeated PRIDE Lightweight Champion Takanori Gomi with an arm triangle in a non title fight. A rematch for the title was scheduled six months later, which Gomi won by a controversial split decision.

On June 24, 2007, Aurelio announced his signing with the UFC. He made his debut at UFC 74, losing to Clay Guida by split decision. During his stint in the UFC, Aurelio became the fastest man to win by submission in

UFC history with an armbar over Ryan Roberts at UFN 13 in just 0:16 of the first round. He was defeated by Evan Dunham on August 29, 2009 at UFC 102. He replaced Matt Veach who sustained a back injury while training.

After his defeat at the hands of Evan Dunham at UFC 102, Aurelio was released from the organization, along with other UFC veterans, Hermes Franca, Chris Wilson, and Justin McCully.

Avtandil Gogolishvili is a 1996 Olympian in Freestyle wrestling for the Republic of Georgia and widely recognized as one of the best in the World when he was competing.

His accolades include:

• 15 wins over Olympic Gold medalists and World Champions
• 4x Soviet Union Champion freestyle wrestling
• 3x Tbilisi Champion (recognized as the toughest wrestling tournament in the world because all nations could enter more than one athlete)
• Veterans World Champion freestyle wrestling
• 3-0 MMA record (retired)
• 1990 4th place in the World 82 kg freestyle wrestling

Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira is the former UFC Heavyweight Champion and became the first person to ever hold the heavyweight title in both Pride FC and theUFC. He is a top heavyweight of the world. Nogueira is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo black belt. Some might also know him as “Big Nog” as he has a twin brother who is also a very skilled MMA fighter. “Minotauro” Nogueira has faught and beaten some of the best fighters in the world.

Be sure to tune in to his next event on February 21st, 2010. He will be facing Cain Velasquez in Sydney, Australia at UFC 110: Nogueira vs. Velasquez.

From Wikipedia

Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, (born June 2, 1976 in Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, Brazil) is a Brazilian mixed martial artistknown for his technical mastery of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He competes in the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he is a former UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion. He is widely recognized to possess the best Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the MMA heavyweight class and being one of the best mixed martial artists of all time.

He rose to prominence in the Japanese Pride Fighting Championship promotion, where he was the first Pride Heavyweight Champion from November 2001 to March 2003, as well as a Pride FC heavyweight grand prix finalist.^[3][4] He is the first and only fighter to have held Championship titles in both the Pride Fighting Championship promotion and the Ultimate Fighting Championship promotion. He holds notable wins over Tim Sylvia, Dan Henderson, Sergei Kharitonov, Mark Coleman, Valentijn Overeem, Ricco Rodriguez, Mirko Filipović, Jeremy Horn, Josh Barnett, Heath Herring, Fabricio Werdum, Semmy Schilt, Bob Sapp and Randy Couture.

Born in the town of Vitória da Conquista, Brazil, Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira started training in judo at the age of 4 he started boxing when he was 14 and he starts to practise Brazilian ju-jitsu when he is 18. He was run over by a truck when he was 9, and fell into a coma for 25 days. During this time he lost a rib and part of his liver and had to be hospitalized for eleven months. As a result of the accident he has a large scar, including a noticeable indentation, on his lower back.^[5]

A few years after his MMA debut he started to train at the Brazilian Top Team. In June 2007 Nogueira officially left Brazilian Top Team prior to his UFC debut and is currently associated with Black House.^[6]

Nogueira’s notable victories in Pride include wins over Dan Henderson, Mark Coleman, Heath Herring, former UFCheavyweight champions Ricco Rodriguezand Josh Barnett, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović, and Bob Sapp.

Following the end of Akira Maeda‘s Rings federation, Nogueira was signed by Pride. He debuted in July 2001 at Pride 15, quickly submitting Gary Goodridgeby triangle choke. In Pride 16, he submitted UFC and Pride Grand Prix champion Mark Coleman by armbar. He was crowned as the inaugural Pride World Heavyweight Champion after defeating Heath Herring by decision.

He next defeated Enson Inoue, and then fought for Antonio Inoki‘s UFO organisation, scoring his first MMA KO victory againstSanae Kikuta.

He then represented Pride at a co-promotion with K-1, Pride Shockwave, against the super heavyweight former American footballer Bob Sapp. Sapp manhandled the much smaller Nogueira, spiking him onto the ring canvas and dominating the fight, until tiring and falling to an armbar submission. His battle with Sapp (who outweighed him by over 150 lb) made him a fan favorite for his seemingly inhuman ability to take punishment before recovering to win.

Dutch karate fighter Semmy Schilt was his next opponent. Again heavily outsized, he scored another victory by triangle choke. He then avenged his sole loss at this point by submitting Dan Henderson via armbar, who had previously beaten him in Rings by decision.

At UFC Fight Night 9 which took place on April 5, 2007 Nogueira was in attendance and was sitting cage side with UFC president Dana White. It was subsequently announced at UFC 69, by White, that Nogueira had joined the UFC, promoted initially as simply “Minotauro” Nogueira, much like the UFC’s promotion of Mirko Filipović as Mirko Cro Cop.

His debut in the Octagon was a third fight with Heath Herring at UFC 73, promoted under various combinations of his name and nickname, but was officially introduced to the audience under his full name and nickname. Nogueira once again defeated Herring, via unanimous decision. During the first round Nogueira was hit with a high kick that sent him to the canvas, in which unofficial judge Eddie Bravo thought the fight could have been stopped. Herring tried to finish but Nogueira was able to hold on and come back with a decision win.

It was announced during the UFC 79 broadcast and subsequent press conference that Nogueira would be fighting Tim Sylvia at UFC 81 for the interim heavyweight championship.

At UFC 81 Nogueira defeated Tim Sylvia in the third round with a guillotine choke to become the interim heavyweight champion. Sylvia knocked Nogueira down in the first round with punches. After pulling Sylvia into his half guard in the third round, Nogueira quickly secured a sweep and attempted an armbar which he missed but immediately transitioned into a guillotine choke as Sylvia tried to regain his feet. He is the first fighter to hold championships in both the UFC and Pride.^[9]

Nogueira’s entrance music for UFC matches is The Rolling Stones‘ “Gimme Shelter“.

Nogueira and former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir were the coaches for the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter, which premiered on September 17, 2008.^[10]

Both winners of The Ultimate Fighter Season 8, Ryan Bader and Efrain Escudero, were members of Team Nogueira.

After the season concluded, coaches Nogueira and Mir met at UFC 92 for the interim UFC heavyweight title.^[11] Frank Mir won in the second round via TKO due to strikes, showing much improved striking by knocking Nogueira down twice in the first round,^[12] Herb Dean stopped the match at 1:54 of the second round.^[12] The loss marked the first time Nogueira had been stopped in his career.^[13]

Two days after the fight Dana White revealed in an interview that “Nogueira had just gotten over a Staph infection” ^[14]. Nogueira himself verified this fact several months later in his own interview, stating that he had a Staph infection “20 days before the fight, [requiring] 5 days in the hospital.” When asked if this infection affected his fight, Nogueira answered: “For sure.” In addition to this significant illness, his knee was injured during training for which he had surgery in February 2009. Despite these legitimate handicaps, Nogueira offered strong praise for Frank Mir’s performance, with particular credit given to Mir’s ability to maintain “very good distance.” ^[15]