Alain Guerra Pozo
Alain Guerra Pozo heads ZR Team in Britain, teaches at Reef Jiu-Jitsu and has trained several other black-belt instructors.
Biography
Sources for this profile
BJJ Heroes, Pozo biography.(opens in a new tab)
Alain Guerra Pozo grew up in Recife after moving from Ecuador as an infant; an uncle introduced him to boxing.
Where in the source: Biography opening.
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Charles dos Anjos taught Pozo in Zé Radiola's early academy and awarded his blue belt. Pozo later trained with Wilson Junior in London.
Where in the source: Early training paragraphs.
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Enso, Instructors.(opens in a new tab)
Enso lists Pozo's current BJJ rank as third-degree black belt.
Where in the source: Alain Guerra Pozo section.
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Enso lists Pozo as a third-degree BJJ black belt and head of ZR UK.
Where in the source: Alain Guerra Pozo section.
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Enso identifies Taylor Pearman, John Woodman and Tom Aylott as black belts under Pozo, and Pozo as co-owner of Reef Jiu-Jitsu.
Where in the source: Named instructor sections.
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Reef Jiu-Jitsu, Pozo.(opens in a new tab)
Pozo heads the ZR Team association in Britain and teaches at Reef Jiu-Jitsu in Chelmsford.
Where in the source: Instructor biography.
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Seymour Yang, 2010-11-12.(opens in a new tab)
Pozo recalled his early training at Zé Radiola’s small Recife school. Travel and several years of no-gi training interrupted his belt progression.
Where in the source: Early training.
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In 2001 he trained briefly with Roger Gracie, tried wrestling, then joined Wilson Junior's Carlson group in a London hotel. Nelson Solari awarded his purple belt.
Where in the source: London/Solari.
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Pozo recalled encouraging Bráulio Estima to visit Britain and hosting him before Estima established himself in Birmingham. He later trained with Florida's F2 Fight Team and American Top Team.
Where in the source: Estima/Florida.
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Seymour Yang, 2010-11-13.(opens in a new tab)
In 2010 Pozo taught grappling and newly added gi classes at Black Label in Colchester, alongside other combat-sport coaches.
Where in the source: Black Label.
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Pozo favored a relaxed, humorous atmosphere, encouraged students' technical variations and simulated competition to prepare them. He competed partly to understand his students' experience.
Where in the source: Teaching/competition.
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He advocated training gi and no-gi from white belt, emphasizing control without cloth grips and technical precision in the gi; simple techniques remained central for larger students.
Where in the source: Gi/no-gi/size.
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BJJEE, 2013-08-02.(opens in a new tab)
Pozo described years of tourism work and travel, no-gi training in Florida and readjusting to the gi on returning to Britain.
Where in the source: Travel.
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His Essex teaching developed from MMA sessions in 2009 into BJJ, with a permanent 9th Legion base in Colchester by 2013. He wanted to coach athletes at ADCC.
Where in the source: Academy/ambitions.
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His children's classes emphasized games and movement first. Adult classes combined warm-ups, drilling, techniques, standing work and sparring, with room for individual styles.
Where in the source: Classes.
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Jiu Jitsu Legacy, 2019.(opens in a new tab)
Pozo recalled discovering grappling through a beach friend's invitation to Radiola's school. He left his full-time job in 2009, initially living at the gym, before earning his living from teaching and seminars.
Where in the source: Origins/livelihood.
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By 2019 his priorities were instruction and enjoyable daily training. He studied newer positions for younger athletes and assessed promotions through sustained observation rather than formal tests.
Where in the source: Routine/promotions.
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He described Radiola's long days coaching at tournaments as an example for other ZR coaches and emphasized humility within the team.
Where in the source: Team atmosphere.
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Fight City Gym, Alain Pozo.(opens in a new tab)
Fight City Gym identifies Pozo as its BJJ head coach and a black belt under Wilson Junior of Carlson Gracie Team.
Where in the source: Coach biography.
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IBJJF, Europeans 2012.(opens in a new tab)
Representing Carlson Gracie Team, Pozo won male Master 2 brown-belt featherweight at the 2012 IBJJF Europeans.
Where in the source: Master 2 / Brown / Male / Feather, full two-place podium.
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IBJJF, No-Gi Europeans 2015.(opens in a new tab)
Listed as Alain Gildo Pozo of Carlson Gracie Team, he won male Master 3 black-belt lightweight and placed third in open class at the 2015 No-Gi Europeans.
Where in the source: Male / Master 3 / Black / Light73.50kg and Open Class, complete podiums.
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IBJJF, London Winter 2015.(opens in a new tab)
Pozo won male Master 3 black-belt featherweight at the 2015 London Winter Open for Carlson Gracie Team.
Where in the source: Male / Master 3 / Black / Feather67.50kg, all three entries.
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Lineage
No teaching connections are shown on this page.
Open lineage