Charles Negromonte in action in the Brazilian State of Ceará (Photo by Ed Spider/publicity)
The European Jiu-Jitsu Championship is nearly upon us. Coming up Jan. 24-27 in Lisbon, Portugal, a number of stars have already added their names to the lineup, including Romulo Barral, Rodrigo Cavaca, Augusto Tanquinho, Igor Silva, Fernando Tererê and Luanna Alzuguir.
And there’s also a healthy share of young up-and-comers looking to make things rough on the favorites.
One such talent is Charles Negromonte, a middleweight student of Zé Radiola’s from Pernambuco State, Brazil.
“I’m really well prepared. I started training in early December and only stopped for Christmas and New Year’s. My preparations for championships are geared toward fine-tuning, because when your style is fine-tuned you save energy and strength. Zé Radiola always showed that to me,” Charles told GRACIEMAG.com before flying out to England to train with Bráulio Estima at GB Birmingham.
“I feel the big name at middleweight is going to be Claudio Calasans because he’s always placing at the top, but I’m not going to worry about it. I want to do my thing. I’m new at black belt, so he’s the one with the responsibility; I just want to fight. I’m feeling quite at ease to test myself at the big tourneys—and the first of them is the Europeans,” he said in closing.
The sign-up deadline for the Europeans is Jan. 16. Sign up here.
And click here to find out who’ll be there.
