Danilo Cherman Goltsman's Profile

Danilo Cherman Goltsman was born on January 21, 1983, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — one of the country's most culturally and athletically vibrant cities. He spent his early childhood in the iconic Copacabana neighborhood, a seaside district long steeped in Rio's martial arts traditions, before his family relocated to the Flamengo district when he was 13. These formative years in Rio's urban landscape helped cultivate the competitive drive that would define his career.

Cherman's path to Brazilian jiu-jitsu began at home. His uncle, Orlando Jorge, was a devoted jiu-jitsu practitioner whose passion for the art sparked Danilo's curiosity and drew him toward the mats. At approximately 14 or 15 years of age, Cherman began his training under Leonardo Castello Branco, absorbing the technical foundations and competitive instincts that would carry him through the ranks and into one of Brazil's most prestigious jiu-jitsu organizations.

Danilo Cherman's trajectory shifted decisively when he transitioned from Leonardo Castello Branco's instruction to the training halls of André Pederneiras at Nova União — one of Brazil's most decorated and historically significant BJJ and MMA organizations. The move placed him at the center of a high-performance ecosystem that produced champions at every level of the sport.

At Nova União, Cherman trained alongside celebrated grapplers including Thiago Fernandes, Kiki Melo, and Vitor Shaolin Ribeiro. Daily exposure to elite training partners sharpened every dimension of his game, instilling the technical precision and competitive mentality the team was known for. Early in his career, teammates referred to him by the nickname "CP" — a moniker that emerged from a perceived resemblance to someone named Carlos Pedro.

In August 2003, André Pederneiras promoted Cherman to black belt, formalizing his standing as one of Nova União's established competitors and setting the stage for the next chapter of his martial arts journey.

Cherman's tournament career unfolded across multiple belt divisions and spanned both of Brazil's competing federations during a pivotal era in the sport's history, producing consistent results at the national and international levels.

Blue and Purple Belt Success

At blue belt, Cherman demonstrated early championship-level ability, finishing as runner-up at the CBJJ Brazilian National Championship in 1999. He returned the following year to claim the individual title at the 2000 CBJJ Brazilian National Championship — one of the sport's most prestigious domestic competitions — and contributed to Nova União's IBJJF Brazilian National Teams Championship victories in both 2000 and 2001. A third-place finish at the 2001 CBJJ Brazilian National Championship, competing at purple belt, reflected the natural adjustment of moving up through the divisions.

Dominant Brown Belt Season

Cherman's purple belt season in 2002 coincided with the institutional rivalry between the CBJJ and CBJJO federations, and he excelled within both frameworks. He won the CBJJO Brazilian Cup at purple belt in 2002 and captured the CBJJO World Cup at purple belt that same year. He then claimed back-to-back World Cup titles by winning the CBJJO World Cup again in 2003, this time at brown belt — a run that demonstrated both his versatility and his ability to perform consistently across competitive environments.

Black Belt Breakthrough

Following his promotion to black belt in August 2003, Cherman wasted little time establishing himself at the sport's highest tier. In 2004, he won the CBJJO Black Belt World Cup in dominant fashion, sweeping the division and finishing ahead of two of his own Nova União teammates. Defeating high-level training partners to claim the title underscored the depth of his technical development and his capacity to perform under elite competitive pressure.

Cherman's competitive ambitions extended well beyond the grappling mat. He made his MMA debut in 2002, stepping into mixed martial arts at a time when the sport was still finding its structure and identity on the world stage — making him one of Nova União's early trailblazers in the transition from pure BJJ competition to full combat sports.

His most significant MMA platform was Shooto Japan, one of the most technically respected MMA organizations of that era. Cherman earned recognition as one of Shooto's top athletes in his weight class, validating Nova União's philosophy of developing well-rounded martial artists capable of succeeding in both grappling and fighting contexts. He also competed for Fury FC and Cage Rage, two promotions that played meaningful roles in the sport's development during the mid-2000s.

After nearly a decade of competition across both disciplines, Cherman grew disillusioned with professional fighting and stepped away from competition in 2010 — closing an MMA career that had taken him from Rio de Janeiro to the international stages of Japan and beyond.

Cherman's transition from competitor to coach began before his formal retirement from MMA. Starting in 2008, while still active in his fighting career, he took on a coaching role at Lion's Den Academy in Middletown, Connecticut — bringing Nova União's technical tradition to practitioners in the northeastern United States.

Lion's Den Academy became the vehicle through which Cherman channeled the knowledge accumulated over more than a decade of training under André Pederneiras and competing at the highest levels of both BJJ and MMA. After fully retiring from competition in 2010, he redirected his energy entirely toward instruction, establishing himself as a respected voice in the Connecticut jiu-jitsu community.

Through his work at Lion's Den Academy, Cherman extended the Nova União lineage beyond Brazil, passing on the technical standards and competitive culture he absorbed from legends of the sport to a new generation of practitioners on the American East Coast.