These prestigious homegrown Canadian black belts were directly
trained and promoted by Marcus Soares.
Marcus has given away many black belts throughout his 30+ years of teaching. As head of the Carlson Gracie main camp in Rio he has given and promoted many fighters to black belt but always under the Carlson Gracie name.
When Marcus moved to Vancouver and started his own club, he finally was able to give black belts under his own name but always under the Carlson Gracie system.
Below are the black belts of Marcus Soares who fight under him and the Carlson Gracie name.
Denis Kang, promoted on July 2004
Omar Salvosa, promoted on September 2005
Stephan Kesting, promoted on December 2006
Vlado Skrepnik, promoted on December 2006
Adam Ryan, promoted on December 2006 (out of the team)
Adam Zugec, promoted on March 2008
Mark Stables, promoted on June 2008
Maurice Parry, promoted on November 2009
Clint 'Sanguebom' Allert, promoted on August 2010
Denis Kang, promoted on July 2004
When Marcus Soares first moved to Vancouver to set up his Braziliam Jiu-jitsu club one of his first students was Denis Kang. He is Marcus' first BJJ black belt outside of Brazil in his own club.
Over the last 10 years Denis has competed in the following organizations, Bas Rutten Invitational, UCC, USMMA, Super Brawl, TKO, Pancrase, IFC, World Freestyle Fighting, M-1 MFC Russia, Spirit MC, AFC, PRIDE Bushido, K-1, Dream, Raw Combat and UFC.
Marcus is Denis Kang's mentor and Marcus corners Kang in every fight he fights in.
Professional record breakdown: 47 matches 32 wins 12 losses
Omar Salvosa, promoted on September 2005
Omar Salvosa is a 5 time national champion under the Canadian Jiu-Jitsu Association and has represented Canada internationally in both grappling and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) competition.
He is a 2 time Gold medalist as the Lightweight competitor for Team Canada at the World Kobudo Grappling Championships.
Omar is known as one of Ontario’s pioneer students of BJJ and grappling, alongside standout colleagues Carlos Newton, Jeff Joslin, Mark Bocek and other highly skilled competitors actively practicing today.
Salvosa is a Marcus’ BJJ senior representative of the Carlson Gracie Team in Ontario and runs his own club Ascension in Scarborough, Ontario.
He received his black belt from Marcus in 2005.
Stephan Kesting, promoted on December 2006
Stephan Kesting got his black belt in December 2006 and is the owner of Grapplearts.com.
Kesting is one of Marcus’ best black belt and has over 25 years of martial arts training. He is an instructor in Erik Paulson's Combat Submission Wrestling and Dan Inosanto's Jun Fan JKD, Maphalindo Silat, and Filipino Martial Arts program.
Kesting has used his knowledge from Marcus and since 2002 he has released a series of best-selling instructional DVDs covering a wide range of topics.
Vlado Skrepnik, promoted on December 2006
Vlado Skrepnik got his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt from Marcus on December 2006. He is a training partner of Denis Kang and is widely considered one of the best BJJ fighters Marcus has ever seen.
Vlado is a firefighter by trade and has even been on the Vancouver firefighter’s calendar.
Vlado has won many titles and is one of Vancouver's best black belt.
Adam Ryan, promoted on December 2006 (Out of the team)
Adam Ryan earned his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt from Marcus Soares (Carlson Gracie Team) on December 2006 and has started his own mixed martial arts club.
Adam Zugec, promoted on March 2008
Adam Zugec got his black belt from Marcus on March 2008. He moved to the west coast in 1998 where he started training with Marcus Soares (Carlson Gracie Brazilian Jiu Jitsu), until he earned his coveted black belt.
Adam has started one of the most successful MMA club in Victoria BC and is now the first, and only, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt on Vancouver Island.
His MMA club is called Zuma which is a combination of Adam’s last name and Marcus’s first name and has started building a big reputation as a world class trainer training the likes of Ryan Ford and Strikeforce women’s champion Sarah Kaufman.
Mark Stables, promoted on June 2008
Mark Stables is the owner of Mecca Martial Arts in Toronto Ontario and received his black belt from Marcus on June 2008
Stables has been studying various martial arts for over 20 years and is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Marcus Soares of the Carlson Gracie Team.
Stables competing in the 2004 Copa Do Mundo (World Cup) in Brazil where he took home a bronze medal in the master division roxa, light heavyweight.
Mark is a great instructor and his classes are well-rounded with a solid emphasis on the clinch, throws, takedowns and ground fighting.
Maurice Parry, promoted on November 2009
Maurice Parry has been training with Marcus for over 10 years and has competed in some of the best tournaments around the world. By trade he is a RCMP police officer.
Clint 'Sanguebom' Allert, promoted on August 2010
Clint 'Sanguebom' Allert received his black belt on August 2010. On a trip to Ontario Marcus Soares surprised Allert with a black belt. Allert owns and operates the Sanguebom Burlington Academy of Martial Arts in Ontario Canada which he took over in in August 2003.
Sanguebom also hold's a Black Belt in Japanese Jiu Jitsu which focuses heavily on effective methods of Self Defense in close quarter conditions and is a certified personal trainer.
Since taking over and running the club Allert has skillfully orchestrated a strong team to represent Burlington in the GTA as well as internationally.
His team has been fortunate to remain 9-0 in MMA competition in 2009.
