Gutemberg Pereira
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Salvador, Brazil
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About Us
Gutemberg Pereira was born on May 16, 1993, in Salvador, the capital of Brazil’s northeastern state of Bahia – growing up in a well-known impoverished borough of that town called Jardim Cajazeiras.
Throughout his childhood, Pereira always had plenty of sports-related extracurricular activities. This important facet of his day-to-day life lay in the belief Gutemberg’s parents had that keeping their son occupied would keep him off the streets and away from gang-related crime. Among his sports, before jiu-jitsu, Pereira played and competed in football (soccer), swimming, karate, muay Thai and basketball.
As a teenager, Gutemberg had a family problem that shook him to his core. He was advised to look for jiu-jitsu to improve his self-worth, finding at the time a local academy named Fight Club (FC). At FC Pereira was under the instruction of coaches Marcio Bittencourt, Marcílio, and Marcelo Villas-Boas who induced in him the love for BJJ and competition.
As a blue belt, Gutemberg traveled to Rio de Janeiro to compete at CBJJ’s Rio International Open. Being a massive fan of Rodolfo Vieira, Pereira went intending to ask Master Júlio César Pereira if he could be accepted in his competitors’ program at Grappling Fight Team (GFT), a request accepted by Pereira who strongly believed in the 18-year-old’s potential.
In 2015 Pereira traveled to the United States of America to take part in one of Roberto Abreu‘s Miami-based BJJ camps ahead of the competition. While in Florida, through Abraham Marte (a GFT partner), Gutemberg got an invitation to train at another team affiliate in Ohio. After a very positive experience at Kelly Hymore’s academy (GF Team Toledo), Gutemberg was invited to stay training in the US as a full-time competitor, an offer accepted by the Brazilian.
After two years in the US, having medalled in some of the sport’s top tournaments Gutemberg Pereira was promoted to black belt by Master Júlio César Pereira. He would later return to Rio de Janeiro where he became one of the leading faces of the local pro-squad.
