Rafael “Formiga” Barbosa

Black Belt / Top-Level BJJ Competitor

Rafael has recenetly moved to Connecticut from Brazil to start teaching and competing in jiu-jitsu in the USA. He is one of the most talented and dynamic Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighters coming from Brazil.

Rafael will be teaching 2 days a week at our Cromwell location. The opportunity to train with Formiga is HUGE – he brings a wealth of talent, experience, and amazing technical knowledge.

Rafael has won NUMEROUS titles in Brazil, we will post them soon. He also just competed in the BJJ World Championships and submitted 2 of his opponents of the way to the quarter finals, where he lost to the champion by an advantage.

Formiga Classes

• Monday: 8:30-10PM (gi)
• Thursday: 8:30-10PM (no-gi)

Formiga Competing in Brazil Videos:

Formiga rolling at our school:

Formiga vs Oz Pariser

Here are some of the core combat benefits when training jiu-jitsu.

• Learn the most effective martial arts style
• Learn to depend against all ranges of combat
• Learn to depend against and defeat larger and stronger attackers
• Learn techniques used by top Military and Police units
• Learn techniques used in Mixed Martial Arts Competition
  
• Develop a combat mindset and preparedness

Since the inception of the UFC, Jiu-Jitsu has become a household name and is almost as popular as Karate.  The biggest difference in Jiu-Jitsu compared to other martial arts, is that Jiu-Jitsu is a Combat Martial Art.  Meaning: Jiu-Jitsu must be trained and taught in a combat situation.  We don’t practice our moves in the air, we are not performing endless katas fighting non-existent enemies, and we are definitely not jumping through the air trying to perform spinning flying upsidedown crazy horse kicks that have no real effectiveness in combat.

In every jiu-jitsu class you will work with a partner learning and experiencing real effective combat techniques that you can use in a street fight situation, a grappling tournament or a Mixed Martial Arts fight.

After your third class, you will actually spar in jiu-jitsu or what we call “roll”.  This is essentially a grappling training match.  You will face other students in your class and “spar” with each other to enhance and hone your techniques.  This is one of the biggest differences in Jiu-Jitsu then other martial arts.  In every class you are training your mind and body to fight and use jiu-jitsu effectively.  There are no fake opponents, no techniques that don’t work, and you will always improve and learn from each class.  For you new people and potential students - PLEASE DO NOT BE AFRAID of rolling or sparring in jiu-jitsu.  When we face a new student, we are “working” with you.  We HELP YOU beat us!  As you improve, we slowly increase the level of techniques.  This way you are always improving and learning to fight.  There is nothing to gain by a senior student destroying a new student.  No one improves that way.

Jiu-Jitsu is also a very personal art.  As you increase your knowledge of jiu-jitsu, you will begin to develop your own core set of techniques and develop the way you fight.  Because of this, we want to teach you jiu-jitsu and want to teach you how to fight better.  In doing so, we also are improving ourselves.  Your knowledge and understanding of jiu-jitsu may exploit a weakness in our jiu-jitsu in which we must train to fix.  This way everyone is always improving.

Martial Arts training in general can be a life pursuit that affects and changes you as a person.  You will learn to be…

• More Confident
• More Humble
• More Patient
• Happier
• Achieve a Healthier Life Perspective

I cannot tell you how these changes happen, maybe it’s act of executing combat techniques, maybe it’s the feeling of improving every class, maybe it’s gaining new friendships and admiration for training partners, maybe it’s something unknown that just happens when a person pursues martial arts.

Not only do these general well-being changes happen, but almost every student I have ever come across has noticed physical changes as well.  They become..

• Stronger
• More Agile
• More Muscular
• Loss of Body Fat
• More Endurance
• Healthier Overall

These changes almost happen subtly and without “work”.  Most people spend ours at a gym trying to achieve just a few of those physical changes, but with Jiu-Jitsu training, your body and mind are in constant action.  You are using your body is so many different positions, as well as using your muscles in so many different ways.  When training jiu-jitsu you’re not just using one set of muscles, you’re using your whole body as one core unit.  And to top it off, your body is employing both endurance and strength muscles.  I often wonder why people spend hours at the gym just to increase the size of their biceps when they could be increasing their knowledge as well as improving their body.

Eventually, a jiu-jitsu practitioner may choose to supplement his or her jiu-jitsu training with additional workouts in the gym.  But, we highly recommend that in the beginning of your jiu-jitsu training, focus first on jiu-jitsu, then supplement later.

Remember, jiu-jitsu and martial arts can be a life pursuit of constant improvement.  But, for some people they are not interested in training martial arts for their whole life.  That is not to say that these people cannot reap the benefits of jiu-jitsu training.  Typically a student will start noticing changes within the first month or so, and will really benefit from jiu-jitsu training after 4-6 months.  I warn you though – jiu-jitsu is HIGHLY addictive.

For instance, in Kobukai Ju-Jitsu we spend a great deal of time training takedowns and throws that can permanently disable your opponent, or setup a quick bone break / choke to quickly end the fight.  If we can avoid ground grappling, we will.  The reason being is that the ground adds extra variables to the combat equation that could potentially lead to harm or death.  One of the biggest and most obvious variable would be a another attacker.  Obviously, we are much more mobile while standing and if the situation presents itself, we can always escape and run away.  But, if you are fighting on the ground and involved in a grappling fight on the ground, you are basically stuck until you finish off your attacker.

That being said – ground grappling and learning to fight on the ground is a VITAL skill.  It is said that 90% of all fights go to the ground, so it is extremely important to learn how to fight on the ground – BUT - 100% of those fights started standing, so you DEFINITELY need to learn to fight on your feet.

The question that may arise from this post is which Jiu-Jitsu style should you choose?  The answer is simply – what is your goal?  If you goal is pure self-defense, then Kobukai Ju-Jitsu is for you.  If you are looking to compete in MMA, Jiu-Jitsu or Submission Wrestling fights, then Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is for you.  If you are just looking for an extra hobby or to get into shape, either style would work for you.  My suggestion would be to come down during our class times and check out both styles and see which one really interests you.

At our Jiu-Jitsu school in Cromwell, CT we teach the core grappling and striking DEFENSE techniques needed for Mixed Martial Arts competition – BUT, we are not a true Mixed Martial Arts school.  We still believe in teaching and learning a martial art, NOT JUST TRAINING A FIGHTER.

Some of us do compete in MMA and can provide our students with additional training with Luigi Mondelli and other trainers who are part of our group.  But, we highly recommend learning a base art first such as Jiu-Jitsu and then enhancing your skills with other arts such as Kickboxing or Muay Thai.

If you are JUST LOOKING TO BE A FIGHTER – I am sorry, but we are not the school for you.  We believe that martial arts and jiu-jitsu is much, much more then fighting.