Fredson Paixao - The Black Belt Anomaly of BJJ

Fredson Paixao was born on the 13 May 1979 in the state of Amazonas in Parintins Town located near Manaus. Since his childhood, he was a big fan of Bruce Lee. He used to watch his movies but at that time he did not practice or showed any interest in martial arts.

At the age of 13, most of his friends were interested in Jiu Jitsu and some have already joined the grappling martial art. At that time, Paixao never thought about the grappling aspect of Martial Arts. He thought the striking feature of martial arts made it an efficient combat sport mainly because Bruce Lee inspired him.

Later in 1994, his same friend invited Fredson for some help in the Jiu-Jitsu gym. Fredson helped his friends in painting the gym walls and place new mats in the rolling area of the gym. Fredson’s friends discussed the benefits of Jiu-Jitsu all day and its efficiency in building a career as a fighter.  That conversation made him think about Joining Jiu Jitsu. Fredson finally enrolled in the Orley Labatos gym for Brazilian Jiu-JItsu training. From there, Fredson’s martial art journey started and his passion for Jiu-Jitsu increased day by day.

Fredson Paixao’s first tournament of mixed division ( White/ Blue Belts ) revealed he has great potential to become a seasoned fighter. After only four months of training with white belt fighters, he successfully defeated the blue belt fighter through submissions in the semi-finals. After that Fredson did not look back. His success stories are still popular in the BJJ community.

Just after two years, Fredson was called to Rio de Janeiro by his instructor Orley. Orley was an excellent coach who competed under the Osvaldo Alves banner and was famous for his efficient and effective training sessions. Orley called Fredson to fight in the World Championship as a blue belt but the position was already filled.

But Master Osvaldo didn't let him feel disappointed. He called him to fight instead under the purple belt division. Paixao immediately accepted the belt promotion.

After winning the purple belt division, Fredson decided to stay in Rio de Janeiro for training, He stayed at a friend's place for a few days and then moved to Osvaldo Alves's apartment. Fredson Paixao did not want to go back to Manaus and stayed in Rio de Janeiro for several years and trained hard.

From 1997 to 1999, Fredson Paixao won three gold medals in the Brazilian Nationals. After that, many people expected to see Fredson in the brown belt championships but Alves was thinking differently about Fredson. He promoted Fredson Paixao directly to the black belt in 1998.

Fredson Paixao's career reached its peak when he won first place in Brazilian Nationals five times and three times in Mundial as a Black Belt. He won the national fights both for Osvaldo Alves and Gracie Barra.

In 2004, Fredson Paixao's debut fight in MMA was organized with Rani Yahya. Rani Yahya was a tough and pro fighter in the MMA squad but Fredson won the fight by decision.

Paixao, in his debut match at WEC 40 lost against Wagnney Fabiano via unanimous decision and then again faced a loss in WEC 42 against Cole Province via split decision but the results changed when Cole Province was tested positive for banned substances.

In WEC 47, Fredson faced Courtney Buck and secured a win via submission and in WEC 50 his opponent was Bryan Caraway whom Paixao defeated via split decision.

Fredson Paixao is honored to be part of the first featherweight UFC fight. He was knocked out by his opponent Pablo Garza.

Fredson Paixao is now living as a personal BJJ and UFC coach of many fighters.

After the official merger of World Extreme Cagefighting with UFC in 2010, it was the first UFC featherweight fight between Fredson Paixao and Pablo Garza. Paixao was famous for his unique skill set of using wrist locks and previously Pablo has secured many submission wins.

At the end of the first minute of round one, Fredson went for a takedown attempt but before he could grab the legs, Pablo applied a deadly flying left knee right under his chin of Fredson and knocked him out in 51 seconds.

Bryan's first bout after recovery from a knee injury was set with Paixao. Bryan won this fight via a split decision. In the start, Bryan Caraway was not able to handle sudden attacks from Fredson. Broadway's efforts to escape chokes were remarkable but in the end, Fredson secured the win.

In this bout, Fredson and Megaton were pro fighters but the featherweight champion stole the show as most of the audience was expecting Fredson to win the match.

Megaton remained dominant throughout the match.

Fredson attempted a knee lock but luckily Wellington managed to escape from it. In the end, Wellington won by decision.

Fredson Paixao teaches in affiliate schools under the Fredson Paixao Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu banner in different cities and towns of Las Vegas. Most of the affiliate schools are in California, Okinawa, and Japan. Fredson Paixao's instructional series are also available for BJJ students.

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Photo Credit: @ufc & @sherdog