Fernando Pontes
“Margarida”
Source: bjjheroes.comA double world champion in 2001, Fernando “Margarida” Pontes inspired Lucas Lepri to try jiu-jitsu through his MTV appearances.
Biography
Sources for this profile
BJJ Heroes, undated biographical entry.(opens in a new tab)
Fernando Pontes is known in jiu-jitsu as Margarida, the Portuguese word for daisy.
Where in the source: Top biographical facts, nickname entry.
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Pontes was born in São Paulo, Brazil; many members of his family worked in medicine.
Where in the source: Biographical narrative, opening paragraph.
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He began jiu-jitsu at thirteen at Academia Formula, where Fernando Yamasaki and Fabio Gurgel taught.
Where in the source: Biographical narrative, paragraph introducing the first academy.
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After about two years with Fernando Yamasaki, the blue belt moved to Washington and trained with Mario Yamasaki for six months.
Where in the source: Biographical narrative, paragraph following the academy introduction.
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In California, Fabio Santos promoted Pontes to purple belt and later brown belt.
Where in the source: Biographical narrative, short California paragraph.
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Pontes also trained briefly with Rickson Gracie, whom he admired as a model for his own jiu-jitsu.
Where in the source: Biographical narrative, paragraph about returning to the United States.
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Back in São Paulo, Pontes trained with Roberto Godoi and Otavio de Almeida, who awarded him his black belt in 2000.
Where in the source: Biographical narrative, end of the paragraph describing the Rickson training period.
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The record lists a loss to Roger Gracie by a back choke in the 2005 Worlds semifinal.
Where in the source: Fight-history table, 2005 row for Roger Gracie.
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The record lists a 9–5 loss to Roger Gracie in the 2007 Worlds absolute quarterfinal.
Where in the source: Fight-history table, 2007 row for Roger Gracie.
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IBJJF, official 2000 Worlds results.(opens in a new tab)
At the 2000 Worlds, Pontes placed second in the adult men's black-belt medium-heavyweight division, representing Godoi/Macaco.
Where in the source: Adult male black-belt results: medium-heavyweight table, second row.
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He was also the adult men's black-belt open-class runner-up at the 2000 Worlds, again listed for Godoi/Macaco.
Where in the source: Adult male black-belt results: open-class table, second row.
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IBJJF, official 2000 Pan results.(opens in a new tab)
Pontes won adult men's black-belt medium-heavyweight gold at the 2000 Pan, representing Godoi/Macaco.
Where in the source: Adult male black-belt results: medium-heavyweight table, first row.
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At the same 2000 Pan, he also won the adult men's black-belt open class.
Where in the source: Adult male black-belt results: open-class table, first row.
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IBJJF, official 2001 Pan results.(opens in a new tab)
At the 2001 Pan, Pontes won adult men's black-belt heavyweight gold for Brazilian Top Team, with Fabio Gurgel second.
Where in the source: Adult male black-belt results: heavyweight table, first and second rows.
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IBJJF, official 2001 Worlds results.(opens in a new tab)
The 2001 Worlds list Pontes first and Saulo Ribeiro second in adult men's black-belt medium-heavyweight, with Pontes representing Brazilian Top Team.
Where in the source: Adult male black-belt results: medium-heavyweight table, first two rows.
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Pontes also placed first in the adult men's black-belt open class at the 2001 Worlds, again ahead of Saulo Ribeiro.
Where in the source: Adult male black-belt results: open-class table, first two rows.
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Sherdog Fight Finder, undated athlete record.(opens in a new tab)
Sherdog records Pontes's birth year as 1980.
Where in the source: Athlete header, age and date-of-birth block.
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Pontes won his professional MMA debut against Jorge Patino by unanimous decision at Showfight 5 on 9 November 2006.
Where in the source: Professional fight-history table, older of its two rows.
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His next recorded professional MMA bout was a first-round stoppage win over Edgar Segovia Dayan at Fair Fight on 16 December 2012.
Where in the source: Professional fight-history table, newer of its two rows.
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Graciemag, archive report, 6 May 2022.(opens in a new tab)
Pontes deliberately entered heavyweight at the 2001 Pan to face Gurgel. He explained that he wanted to test his limits against a heavier opponent he had long admired.
Where in the source: Article's early weight-change discussion and final paragraph containing Pontes's explanation.
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Gurgel had taught Pontes at Formula in São Paulo and had given him the nickname by which he became known.
Where in the source: Early retrospective passage about the teacher's role, before the description of the tournament.
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In their Pan final, Pontes worked from open guard, threatened an omoplata, then caught Gurgel in a choke; afterward he bowed to and embraced his former teacher.
Where in the source: Bout description following the embedded video, ending with the post-match exchange.
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Graciemag's archived report says Pontes won all five of his matches by submission during his double-gold run at the 2000 Pan.
Where in the source: Paragraph recalling the previous year's Pan, before the 2001 preliminaries.
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Graciemag, archive report, 22 May 2013.(opens in a new tab)
On his way through the 2001 Worlds absolute bracket, Pontes submitted Paulo Streckert with a choke, then Adriano Maciel and Leo Dalla with armlocks.
Where in the source: Opening tournament recap, paragraph listing his first three open-class opponents.
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He then defeated defending absolute champion Rodrigo Comprido on points in the semifinal, reversing the outcome of their 2000 Worlds meeting.
Where in the source: Opening tournament recap, semifinal paragraphs.
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In the medium-heavyweight final against Saulo Ribeiro, Pontes recovered guard after Ribeiro's early takedown and pass, then stood up, scored his own takedown, passed and finished with a choke from knee-on-belly.
Where in the source: Middle of the article, first final described after the reference to magazine issue 55.
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Their second final, the absolute, ended 2–0 to Pontes after an early takedown. The two finals took place at Tijuca on 29 July 2001.
Where in the source: Opening date paragraph and closing account of the second final.
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After his two titles, Pontes celebrated by riding a sponsor's prize motorcycle across the competition mats.
Where in the source: Last narrative paragraph before the video link.
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Graciemag, retrospective, 5 June 2021.(opens in a new tab)
Graciemag describes Pontes using a strong cross-collar grip to disrupt posture and threaten the neck while keeping his guard open to exploit an opponent's movement.
Where in the source: Technical explanation immediately before the first subsection about conditioning.
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His top game combined rapid movement and diagonal knee-cut passing with knee-on-belly pressure that exposed an opponent's arms and neck.
Where in the source: First paragraph of the subsection headed by the two-word phrase about endless conditioning.
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Pontes told Graciemag that a knee injury during his 2003 ADCC match against David Terrell kept him out of competition for almost a year.
Where in the source: Later career subsection, Pontes's answer about the Terrell match.
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In 2005, he submitted Marcio 'Pe de Pano' Cruz with an armlock at the Yamasaki academy's tenth-anniversary tournament.
Where in the source: Early passage about the magazine's interrupted press deadline.
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Pontes reached the 2004 World Cup absolute final, where Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza defeated him 7–0.
Where in the source: Later career subsection, paragraph following the account of the 2003 injury.
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The 2021 retrospective describes seminars as an important part of Pontes's later teaching work.
Where in the source: Final career subsection, paragraph discussing his choice of teaching format.
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Graciemag, Lepri feature, 7 July 2020.(opens in a new tab)
In 2000, MTV Brasil's reality series '20 e poucos anos' featured Pontes travelling in Brazil and the United States while pursuing his ambition to become a black-belt world champion.
Where in the source: Subsection about following complete fighters, opening paragraph.
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Seeing Pontes on MTV encouraged Lucas Lepri to try jiu-jitsu; Lepri admired his attacking approach from both top and bottom and his pursuit of submissions.
Where in the source: Same subsection, second paragraph.
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ADCC, Denis Martins interviewing Demian Maia, 9 February 2005.(opens in a new tab)
In a 2005 ADCC interview, Demian Maia described Pontes as a longtime friend and one of his idols, and said their Brazilian trials match lasted twenty minutes across two overtimes.
Where in the source: Second and fifth question-and-answer exchanges, about the trials opponents and the longest match.
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BJJ Heroes, undated interview with Pontes.(opens in a new tab)
Asked about his activity since 2007, Pontes said he had spent time recovering from accidents and competition injuries rather than simply stopping jiu-jitsu.
Where in the source: First question, opening answer.
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Pontes said that he returned to Brazil in 2009.
Where in the source: First question, closing sentence of the answer.
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After returning, he described training at welcoming academies and giving private lessons to children, teenagers, adults, older people and people with physical disabilities.
Where in the source: Fourth question and its complete answer.
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Asked about his longer-term plans, Pontes said he wanted to keep learning martial arts and strengthen jiu-jitsu as sport and culture for younger generations.
Where in the source: Seventh question and answer.
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Graciemag, television interview preview, 9 October 2010.(opens in a new tab)
In an October 2010 television interview preview, Pontes said he wanted to compete again but needed support and suitable remuneration; he argued that the athletes creating the spectacle should be paid.
Where in the source: Main body, direct statement attributed to Pontes.
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Competition results
| Year | Event | Result | Division |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | IBJJF World ChampionshipSource: en.wikipedia.orgAbsoluteGiVerified | 1st place | AbsoluteGiVerified |
| 2001 | IBJJF World ChampionshipSource: en.wikipedia.org-88 kgGiVerified | 1st place | -88 kgGiVerified |