Alexandre Dantas, commonly known by his nickname “Café”, is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who competed for the Gracie Barra academy, being also one of the sport’s greatest stars during the 2000’s decade, where he accumulated victories over some top competitors such as Fabricio Werdum, Marcelo Garcia, Fernando “Terere” or Demian Maia to name a few. Café also had a short spell as a mixed martial arts fighter, competing in the UFC.

Café means “coffee” in Portuguese. When Dantas started training martial arts his training partners used to call him “café com leite” (meaning latte) a slang phrase used for an easy to beat training partner/opponent. As Alexandre grew and his Jiu-Jitsu evolved, he became known as Café.

Alexandre Dantas was born on the 1st of March, 1979 in Rio de Janeiro, growing up in the famous Copacabana neighbourhood. He initiated martial arts through Judo, when he was 4 years of age with coach Oswaldo Simões, conquering several regional championships as a child.

At the age of 10, Influenced by Bruce Lee’s films, Dantas decided to practice a striking martial art (Karate), believing this would be a more efficient style of combat. It was after hearing of the Gracie’s success in Vale-Tudo that Alexandre became interested in Jiu-Jitsu.

At the age of 12 his friend Dino Amaral told Alexandre of a new jiu jitsu club that had opened near their house, more precisely at the Clube Radar. The pair decided to enrol in the classes which were led by a Carlson Gracie black belt named “Kiko” Veloso. Within 6 months Veloso closed the gym to open another academy at a different location but by then Dantas was hooked to Jiu-Jitsu. He soon found another gym and became a member together with his friend Dino. That gym was Dojo, led by Aloisio Silva.

Dojo was a small gym but had a decent team from which fighters such as Leka Vieira were introduced to the sport. Café Dantas soon became one of the hottest Jiu-Jitsu prospects in Rio de Janeiro, often competing as an adult even while still in his teens, stacking wins over some of the sport’s top athletes. Alexandre trained with Master Silva, and also with Artur Ignarra for most of his colored belt career, his success culminated with a gold medal at the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship (1999), as a brown belt. He also reached the semi final of the open weight division that day, but injured his rib against Fábio Leopoldo and was not able to continue in the competition. His win was rewarded with a black belt, which Café received while still on the podium.

The defeat mentioned above was against Yuki Kondo, the Pancrase Champion who would later on fight for a UFC title. Kondo was a seasoned veteran with 39 professional bouts, and although the 19 year old Dantas had 3 closed door vale tudo fights at his academy, he was in no way as experienced as the Japanese. Dantas completely dominated Kondo in the first round but the adrenaline of being at the biggest MMA stage in the world took over him and he fatigued in the later rounds, finally succumbing to strikes on the 3rd.

In 2001 Alexandre Dantas went to Gracie Ipanema to train, where he met Hélio “Soneca”, Marcelo Yogui, Bruno Severiano and Marcelo Pupo who started taking him to the Gracie Barra headquarters. Dantas felt very welcome by Carlos Gracie Junior, the head coach and decided to join the team.

It was at Gracie Barra that Alexandre “Café” Dantas had his best competitive years, especially 2002, a year when he won important tournaments such as the Rio de Janeiro state championship, the Pan American, the Brazil vs USA challenge as well as the World Championship without conceding one single point or advantage. Beating in 2002 great champions such as Demian Maia, Marcelo Garcia, Roberto Tozi or Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros to name just a few, each of those fights being an incredible accomplishment on it’s own.

After a prosperous career, Alexandre retired from international competition at the 2006 world championship to finish his PhD and start a family. He continued training to keep fit and coaches regularly at the Sociedade Hípica Brasileira, in Lagoa (RJ), while also competing occasionally in smaller organizations such as his own tournament, the “Copa Café Jiu-Jitsu”, a competition he organizes in Miguel Pereira – RJ.