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Eduardo Telles

“The Turtle Master”

Source: theturtlemaster.com

Eduardo Telles is a Brazilian 99 Jiu-Jitsu instructor who developed offensive turtle and octopus guard and won a 2013 No-Gi World title.

Biography

Eduardo Telles is a Brazilian fifth-degree jiu-jitsu black belt and the head of 99 Jiu-Jitsu in San Diego, known for building an offensive game from turtle and octopus guard and for winning a black-belt No-Gi World title in 2013. Born in São Paulo in 1976, Telles first practiced karate. A jiu-jitsu class at his karate gym led him to Fernando Yamasaki, his first instructor through blue belt. During a stay in San Diego to study English, he trained with Carlos Valente and received his purple belt. He returned to São Paulo and Fábio Gurgel's Alliance academy, where athletes including Fernando Tererê and Demian Maia also trained. Gurgel lists Telles among the black belts he promoted. Telles's early World Championship results belong to that development period: purple-belt ultra-heavyweight silver in 1999 and brown-belt heavyweight bronze in 2000. At black belt he took heavyweight and open-class bronzes at the 2002 Pan for Alliance. After the Alliance split, Telles and Tererê formed TT Jiu-Jitsu, a name built from their initials. Representing TT, Telles won the 2004 American National ultra-heavyweight and open divisions. He later took Pan silvers in 2005 and 2006, then won Pan heavyweight gold in 2007 while listed under 99 Valente. In 2006 Telles founded 99 Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil. His academy says he chose Nine Nine as a reminder that improvement remains a goal: 99 stops one short of 100. The school's growth continued alongside his competition. He earned black-belt gi World bronzes at ultra-heavyweight in 2008 and medium-heavyweight in 2010, representing different teams in those results. In 2012 he established 99's San Diego headquarters, where the academy identifies him as owner and head instructor. Telles's turtle game gave that school a technical language to teach. In Tommy Elliott's positional analysis, Telles uses frames and posts to deny a guard pass, then recovers guard or rises into turtle with an attacking plan. When an opponent reaches too far over his back or shifts weight forward, the position can lead to a reversal. His octopus guard brings an arm and head around an opponent from half guard, creating another route to the knees and a sweep. The two positions connect through changes of angle and weight rather than requiring Telles to stay underneath and defend. Elliott credits him with showing that turtle could support offense at a high competitive level. His first black-belt World gold came without the gi. At the 2013 No-Gi Worlds, Telles won medium-heavyweight ahead of Felipe Pena. A contemporary account of their final says the points were tied at 2–2 and Telles was behind on advantages before taking Pena's back in the final seconds. He also won the American National No-Gi medium-heavyweight division that year, with open-class silver there. The 2013 World title was a No-Gi weight-class gold, separate from his earlier gi Worlds bronzes and from an absolute title. At 99 Jiu-Jitsu, Telles teaches adult classes built around positional drills, while his Turtle Master platform offers instruction in turtle and octopus guard for gi and No-Gi practice. Those courses carry the same offensive ideas from his competition game into a structured way for students to learn them.

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