Michael Liera Jr. is a young competitor that Graciemag has watched since he was a blue belt. When he won the blue belt world title in 2011, we were there to celebrate the accomplishment.
By 2012 at purple belt, he had moved to Atos under Andre Galvao and won the Pans, placing third in the World Championship after we planned for a great run in our pre-worlds predictions.
But it was 2013 that he secured his place at the top winning both Pans and Worlds as a purple belt and earning double gold at the Pans as a lightweight.
At brown belt this past year, not much changed. Pans and Worlds were his to take along with third in the Worlds absolute and he also won his division at the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
On Nov. 4 Liera Jr. was promoted to the prestigious black belt at the age of 21 by Andre Galvao. Check out the celebration and nice words by his professor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVYVnWO27_s
