Andreas Correa

Andreas Correa was born in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, on January 29, 1980. As his parents Alicia and Sverker divorced at an early age he was raised mostly by his mother but as both parents lived and still live in Stockholm he was able to spend time with both of them. Andreas doesn't have the typical Swedish look, being short (5"7), and not having blond hair and blue eyes. This is because his mother is from Argentina. She met Andreas' father in Buenos Aires in the middle 70´s and she quickly decided to move to Sweden where she married him and they got Fredrik (1977) and Andreas (1980). Because Andreas´ father has been married three times including Andreas mother, he has four additional siblings, Magnus (1967), Marcus (1988), Sara (1991) and Emilie (1993).

Andreas started his martial arts career with Karate at the age of 9 after watching the original Karate Kid movie one night. During the years to come, Andreas tried various martial art forms, but ended up focusing on the Korean martial art of Taekwondo, in which he received his black belt in 2001. But before that happened, Andreas, being tired of the class room after graduating High School in 1999 decided to try out for the Swedish Navy Rangers, also known as the Coastal Rangers, which is a special forces unit within the Swedish Amphibious Corps. It is considered to be one of Sweden's most elite units.

Andreas and hundreds of other candidates were handpicked after initial testing which only happens every other year in Sweden, for a second test, the Ranger Assessment and Selection Course. Andreas ended up being one of the 65 selected for Ranger training and after 15-months of rigorous training, he was one of the 28 that successfully graduated. Upon completion, Andreas was awarded the green beret, common to various commando and special forces units around the world and the Neptune trident, the special insignia of the Swedish Coastal Rangers. Both awards symbolize Elite Special Operations Force status within the Swedish Amphibious Corps.

After his military service, Andreas trained some various martial arts until he found Shootfighting in 2004. This was an eye-opener for Andreas who never had experience ground fighting before. Later the same year, after participating in a Randy Couture seminar in Stockholm, Andreas decided that he needed to go the source, Team Quest in Portland, Oregon to train. Being new to mixed martial arts (MMA), Andreas trained extremely hard for two years before he in 2006 felt he was ready to go to the United States to train. After going back and forth since then he finally decided to move to Portland in 2008. Nowadays Andreas trains and competes out of Five Rings Jiu Jitsu located in Beaverton, Oregon.

But Andreas is not just only a competitive athlete, he is also a seven time honor student with a 3.7 GPA at Portland Community College. After graduating with an Associate's Degree in General Studies and an Associate's Degree in Applied Science Spring 2010, Andreas is now pursuing to continue his studies at Portland State University. The goal is a degree in Physical Exercise and Health Sciences.