Hey guys as stated in the thread title has anyone competed in Brazil lately? It is looking like I will be traveling to Brazil early next year and was wondering if the process to sign up was very difficult as a gringo?
I wanted to compete at the brasilieros but I can't get anytime off at that time of year. Anybody know of any competitions in late February early march???
Cheers in advance! 
Where will you be?
Sort of a big place brazoland
I'm thinking São Paulo. Wanted to go train at Cicero Costhas academy and de la riva aswell. I've only just started looking into it and It's purely a training trip so I'm open to suggestions. I figure if I go to rio or São Paulo I will have a good chance of hitting up a competition.
You're going to need a Brazilian visa and a passport. I would make sure you get those right now. If you don't live near a Brazilian consulate you'll need to hire an agency. I did not have either before going and I spent a good chunk of change gettin both.
well, cisero main gym is in sp city, fuck that place.
dlr is in rio
there was a cisero costha affiliate in the town i was at last week, but was just recently opened. i trained at a atos gym, one of ramon lemos black belts. those cunts trained hard. but there's not much to do in countryside sp.
a visa takes 2 weeks at the most.
there are comps all the time. whether they are worthwhile or not is another question. the big ones are the only ones worth doing.
late feb early march is just after carnival time. so tickets will be getting cheaper. fuck going over there during that time.
Hywel Teague -Voted up!! Thanks so much. This has basically told me everything I needed to know! One other question Hywel. Would you recommended training at either dlr or Cicero Costhas? Id like to really experience training in Brazil and not get stuck in a bit of a tourist trap but at the same time if I train in São Paulo.... Will I be raped and or stabbed? Have you done any training at the alliance HQ?ozjiujitsu - Hey guys as stated in the thread title has anyone competed in Brazil lately? It is looking like I will be traveling to Brazil early next year and was wondering if the process to sign up was very difficult as a gringo?
I wanted to compete at the brasilieros but I can't get anytime off at that time of year. Anybody know of any competitions in late February early march???
Cheers in advance!
Signing up is not difficult, although you will need to get your registration form for the federation in question signed off by a registered black belt (who you will represent in that competition). So long as your team situation allows this, then you're good to go.
When I signed up to the FJJ Rio earlier this year I spent about R$120 for both the federation membership and the tournament registration.
You will need:
• Passport photos
• ID
• Forms signed off by local black belt
• ...and in the case of the CBJJ a doctor or registered health professional stating you are fit to compete (most gyms will have someone in house who can do this for you).
CBJJ is a bit different, if you have IBJJF membership you should be OK as I believe your membership will be valid for all CBJJ tournaments in Brazil (CBJJ is Carlinhos's Brazilian national federation linked to the IBJJF).
Most tournaments by other federations (there are many) will require membership, ie FJJ Rio, FJJD Rio, SJJSAF, CBJJO, etc. A few tournaments, although not many, don't require membership - these are usually smaller annual tournaments.
Membership deadlines are usually about 2 weeks ahead of the comp, with shut off for sign ups about 1 week out. Except for the IBJJF these cannot be done remotely, you will need to go to the office in person to sign up (not as hard as it sounds).
Teams will usually get together in the gym a few weeks out to make sure paperwork is sorted out for all the competitors. If not, make sure to approach your coach and get them to take you through the process.
With regards to "the big ones are the only ones worth doing", I absolutely disagree. With big tournaments, places among teams are strongly contested as you can only field two competitors per division. At 'smaller' tournaments you will see these lesser-known guys tearing it up and the level of competition is very high.
The experience of competing in Brazil is an amazing one. Many people come here to test themselves against the locals, some successfully and some not, but all go home having learned something from the experience.
Take a look at the following videos for an idea about how it is to compete in Rio.
Hope this helps
Ok that's a couple more questions. Lol
One of the guys from our gym is training at alliance hq. He is staying with family and one of his cousins trains there so it made it easier.
Sp city is a jungle. I'll assume if you want to train at Cicero hq then you would want to live close by.
Are you going with other people? Or do you know locals? That will help a lot. Otherwise I'll rather train in rio. Fuck sp city. It's horrible.
Better still go to florianopolis. Can't go wrong
dojo stormer - One of the guys from our gym is training at alliance hq. He is staying with family and one of his cousins trains there so it made it easier.Don't know any locals and at the moment I'm going by myself. Sounds like São Paulo is a hole. Do you know where alliance hq is located. Cheers for the info.Sp city is a jungle. I'll assume if you want to train at Cicero hq then you would want to live close by.
Are you going with other people? Or do you know locals? That will help a lot. Otherwise I'll rather train in rio. Fuck sp city. It's horrible.
Better still go to florianopolis. Can't go wrong
And yes, the visa might only take two week. There are only a handful of consulates in the states. If you are not close you need to hire an agency. Mine took 6 weeks. This was before the World Cup, a full 6 months before, but still it's good to be prepared.
Yeah cheers I'm actually in Australia and live in the capital so I should have a consulate close by.
ozjiujitsu - Yeah cheers I'm actually in Australia and live in the capital so I should have a consulate close by.
The only consulate is in Canberra. The travel agency usually takes care of it for a $70 processing/courier fee. Very easy and straight forward. I would not recommend doing it yourself as contacting the consulate by phone is near impossible as they are open for like 2 hours a day and it goes straight to voicemail (plus they never return calls).
As a 3 time Rio vet, I would say go to Rio. The place is beautiful, there are tonnes of things to do, and while you mentioned tourist trap, the training at a lot of gyms is world class. My personal favs were Paulo Strauch, Nova Uniao and Tereres gym (I only did single drop ins at each though). I would recommend GFT, Fightzone (Checkmat) and Fabricio Martens gyms also from the guys I know who have trained there.
Where are you out of in Aus? What gym?
What ever you do just go? Eat everything insight. Get some açai. In my experience the natives were so welcoming. At least in the gym. A lot of those guys appreciate that you went that far to train or experience the culture, whatever it is they are cool.
I had a few guys come up for a picture after class and say "facey booky". I loved my trip.
carcaju -I'm from roots Bjj and I live in Canberra so the visa thing should be a piece of cake.ozjiujitsu - Yeah cheers I'm actually in Australia and live in the capital so I should have a consulate close by.
The only consulate is in Canberra. The travel agency usually takes care of it for a $70 processing/courier fee. Very easy and straight forward. I would not recommend doing it yourself as contacting the consulate by phone is near impossible as they are open for like 2 hours a day and it goes straight to voicemail (plus they never return calls).
As a 3 time Rio vet, I would say go to Rio. The place is beautiful, there are tonnes of things to do, and while you mentioned tourist trap, the training at a lot of gyms is world class. My personal favs were Paulo Strauch, Nova Uniao and Tereres gym (I only did single drop ins at each though). I would recommend GFT, Fightzone (Checkmat) and Fabricio Martens gyms also from the guys I know who have trained there.
Where are you out of in Aus? What gym?
Rio is sounding very tempting but in saying that id kick myself if I didn't check out Alliance and Cicero Costhas. Maybe ill train in São Paulo and try and compete in a competition in Rio in my last week.
Train with Gigi at his Alliance in Rio. Would love to train with the General and at Costhas, but the lifestyle in Rio kills SP. Best time to go would be July August that way you can compete in Rio International and SP has their IBJJF Open a week later I believe
I know some guys who went just outside SP to Calasans' place. They say it was super safe and chill but there was nothing in terms of social scene. It was all about the training 
yeah country sp is all about the training, not much to do really.
they train hard. so many killers at all belts and many dont have the funds to compete, let alone train.