André Pederneiras

Pederneiras has spent a lot of time helping the local community, many of whom at underprivileged. Pederneiras has allowed the underprivileged to train and live at Nova União at no cost provided they help out at the gym. The most notable example of these students is José Aldo. Aldo grew up poor with little money but was allowed to train and live at Nova União provided he helped out at the gym. Eventually Aldo became the UFC Featherweight Champion with the highest number of title defenses at seven and is considered by Sherdog to be the greatest MMA featherweight fighter in history. As of 2021, Pederneiras still remains as Aldo's coach.

During Pederneiras' BJJ career under the Carlson Gracie team, he was a six-time Brazilian National Champion. In 2019, the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) promoted Pederneiras to 7th degree Coral (Red and Black) Belt.

Pederneiras is the co-founder of Nova União, one of the top BJJ/MMA academy and team, acting as its leader and MMA head coach until stepping down in 2018 after 21 years. He is widely regarded as one of the best BJJ and MMA coaches in the world.

In 2018, Pederneiras stepped down from his duties as leader and head trainer of Nova União to focus on building another gym called Academia Upper. This was the gym he originally trained at.

In 2017, Pederneiras attracted some attention when he urged Brazilian fighters to move to the United States as it offered better opportunities for training and development.

In 2002, Pederneiras decided to pull Nova União out of all tournaments organized by the IBJJF. This was due to opposition of IBJJF's policy of not paying their competitors. Pederneiras created the Olympic Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation (CBJJO) which would create create its own tournaments such as the Copa Del Mundo. Eventually after several years of disputes, Pederneiras allowed Nova União to return to IBJJF tournaments and CBJJO was dissolved. CBJJO would be re-instituted later under new management and IBJJF tournaments are now offering cash rewards.

In 2000, Pederneiras fought Genki Sudo at C2K: Colosseum 2000 where the match ended in a draw again. This was Pederneiras' last fight in his MMA career and he retired from MMA to become a full time coach.

In 1999, Pederneiras challenged Pat Miletich for UFC Welterweight Title at UFC 21 where he lost in the second round via technical knockout.

Pederneiras had a brief career in MMA that lasted from 1998 to 2000.

In 1998, Pederneiras had his debut fight at Vale Tudo Japan where defeated Rumina Sato in the first round via knockout.

Later on, Pederneiras decided make Nova União branch out more into MMA because he saw it as a viable way for many of its gym members who had poor backgrounds to earn a living. Pederneiras himself was previously an MMA fighter from 1998 to 2000. Pederneiras through his connections became President of Shooto Brasil, the Brazilian branch of Shooto, a Japanese MMA promotion. Pederneiras has organized many MMA events in Brazil as a way of providing its gym members as well as many other fighters a way of earning a living. Since then Pederneiras had focused mostly on the MMA part of the team and has left the BJJ part to Alexander and other trainers.

In 1995, the two of them eventually joined forces to create the gym, Nova União which translates to New Union. Nova União would become one of the leading teams in BJJ where it would win many medals in tournaments such as the World Jiu-Jitsu Championships.

In the late 1990s, Pederneiras became one of the first Brazilians to open the doors of his gym to foreigners with the most famous initial ones being B.J. Penn and John Lewis. This attracted controversy and his old master, Carlson called him a Creonte (meaning traitor) although anti foreign sentiment eventually faded away as time passed. Penn earned his Black Belt under Pederneiras in 2000 in just three years and then a few months later he became champion at the Black Belt level in the featherweight division of the World Jiu-Jitsu Championships. He was the first American to achieve this feat.

Carlos André Pederneiras de Castro (born March 22, 1967) is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) and Mixed martial arts (MMA) coach and promoter. A former BJJ competitor, holding today a Red and Black 7th Degree Coral belt, Pederneiras is a 6 x Brazilian National jiu-jitsu champion. During his short career as an MMA fighter, he challenged Pat Miletich for the UFC Welterweight Championship in 1999, and fought at the Shooto-ran Vale Tudo Japan events.

Carlos André Pederneiras de Castro was born on March 22, 1967 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. When he was 17 years old he joined a gym, originally to train with weight for fitness. However the gym offered Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) classes as well so he decided to try it out. He trained with Rodrigo Vieira, a student of Rickson Gracie until he received his Brown Belt. After Vieira left to join another gym, Carlson Gracie became Pederneiras' coach and also offered him a position of instructors of the juniors at the gym. In 1989, Pederneiras received his Black Belt from Gracie when he was 22 years old. In 2018, Pederneiras became owner of the gym he originally trained and renamed it to Academia Upper.