Danilo had quite a summer, racking up gold medals at both the IBJJF Atlanta Open and Orlando Open.
Danilo has been training with Straight Blast Gym Buford for the past decade. He joined SBG in his forties, where he began taking Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes with us. Over the next 10ish years, Danilo was not only a regular in the gym but also on the local Jiu Jitsu competition scene.
Jiu Jitsu Coach Sean Coleman said this about Danilo:
“Danilo is one of our more active competitors. He’s pretty much a lock for all of the local IBJJF tournaments, and lately he’s been doing events out of state. It’s impressive to see any of our students regularly get out there and compete at a high level, but it’s especially impressive when that person is north of 50-years-old AND they’re winning. I have no doubt those things helped lead to Coach Phil(Gentry) deciding to award Danilo his brown belt last year (2020).”
Danilo is about to celebrate his 53rd birthday and is one of the most active Jiu Jitsu students at Straight Blast Gym Buford 👏.
Danilo’s dedication to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu completely squashes the whole “I’m too old to start/do Jiu Jitsu” argument. Not only is Danilo about to turn 53, but the man owns his own construction business and, trust us, he works very long and hard hours. Nonetheless, Danilo shows up to the gym just about every day (either at 12pm or in the evening) to hop into one of SBG’s Jiu Jitsu classes so that he can mix it up with his teammates….many of whom are half his age and have 50+ pounds on him.
Danilo has earned a reputation at Straight Blast Gym Buford as being one of the safest training partners on the mats. Danilo is a tactician and isn’t going to come at you with great vengeance and furious anger (copyright: Samual L Jackson). Danilo is cerebral and is going to push you with strong grips, tight pressure, and over a decade of Jiu Jitsu experience.
In addition to being a fantastic Jiu Jitsu student at Straight Blast Gym, Danilo has also been critical to the construction of both SBG Buford and the brand-new SBG Atlanta. When we decided to move SBG Buford into a bigger location in the fall of 2018, Danilo was one of the main players in getting our new (and current) gym up and running. Doing demolition, building walls, installing equipment, painting….Danilo did it all.
Flash forward to the fall of 2021 and Danilo is now the main man for putting together Straight Blast Gym Atlanta. This guy is putting in long hours, repeating a lot of the tasks he completed for SBG Buford, but he still finds his way to Jiu Jitsu class nearly every day. The man is a machine and frankly makes most of us look pretty soft for taking days off because we’re “too tired” from work 😂.
Over the past decade, Danilo hasn’t been the only member of his family to train at Straight Blast Gym. Due to Danilo’s passion and positive results at SBG, other members of the Montecinos clan have trained with the Straight Blast Gym tribe, participating in Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, Fitness Kickboxing, Kids Jiu Jitsu, and Fitness Performance classes.
SBG Buford/Atlanta co-owner Jim Sheppard added this:
“Danilo isn’t just a good teammate and hard worker, he’s a fantastic human being. I’ve had him take care of several projects at my house including building a walk-in closet, painting rooms, and installing a fence. I trust Danilo completely and give him access to my home even when I’m not around.”
