Andre Pederneiras is no longer the leader of Brazil’s famed Nova Uniao team.
Pederneiras announced that he was stepping down as the teams leader on social media earlier today, this following an initial report from Combate.com.
“I’m still here at training, giving the same advices to my athletes,” Pederneiras told Combate. “But if, for instance, Urijah Faber comes here, I’ll be able to give him the same training, regardless of whether he represents Nova Uniao or not. If the people who are training at that time are bothered, I can just arrange a different time with him, a separate training session. Here, I intend to help any type of athlete, make it that he has all the support in training. A jiu-jitsu fighter, for instance, who belongs to a different team and wants to do technical training here.”
Andre Pederneiras, who coached both Jose Aldo and Renan Barao to UFC championships, issued the following statement to friends and fans on his Instagram page.
“Today, it was officially announced that I’m stepping down from Nova Uniao team, and I wanted to share a few words.
The decision to step down from the leadership of Nova Uniao began after we opened Upper Arena, which has been working as a training center for Nova Uniao for two years.
My idea is to make Upper Arena a neutral environment for high-level training for athletes from other teams, too, and not just Nova Uniao. I want to put together the biggest and best martial arts training center in the country, helping the sport evolve in Brazil, as well as work on the social side, passing on my knowledge of 30 yeas dedicated to the sport, both in the fighting department and in the administrative side, to those who want to learn.
It’s been 21 years of many accomplishments and conquests at Nova Uniao. Now I intend to invest in new dreams. I know it may seem crazy to some, but I think everything I did at the beginning seemed crazy. So I count on the support of all of you so that this is a victorious new phase. Not just for me, but for the sport and for this country that I love so much.”
In addition to Jose Aldo and Renan Barao, Andre Pederneiras was also instrumental in the development of former two division UFC champion BJ Penn.
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