Vinicius “Draculino” Magalhães

Vinicius Magalhaes, commonly known by his nickname “Draculino”, is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor responsible for raising the games of grapplers such as Romulo Barral, Samuel Braga, Marcelo Azevedo, Brandon Mullins among many others, making his BJJ program one of the most successful ones ever in the sport. The Draculino Jiu Jitsu program has strong roots in Belo Horizinte and in Houston, Texas US and in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais Brazil.
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Vinicius Draculino Jiu Jitsu

Full Name: Vinicius Bittencourt Almeida Magalhães.

Nickname: Draculino was a joke name given by Vinicius math teacher when he was still a child. It stands for “Little Dracula” due to Vinicius0 sombre look as a child.

Lineage: Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie Sr. > Carlos Gracie Junior >Vinicius Magalhães “Draculino”

Main Achievements:

• 3x Pan American Champion (Black Belt Division 1995, 1996, 1998);
• Brazilian National Champion (Black Belt Division 1996);
• 2x World Silver Medallist (Black Belt Division 1996, 1998).

Weight Division: Pluma (Super Featherweight) 64Kg-141Lbs

Association/Team: Gracia-Barra.

Draculino Magalhaes Biography

Vinicius Magalhaes was born in Rio de Janeiro on the 30th of July 1971 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He started his Martial Arts career when he was 7 years old by training Judo, a sport he perused until he was an Orange Belt. His contact with Jiu Jitsu came later in his life (around 1884/85), Vinicius enjoyed surfing in the Quebra-Mar spot in Barra da Tijuca (Rio de Janeiro) and many of his surfing friends from that spot trained BJJ. One day he decided to take a class and soon got hooked to Jiu Jitsu as well.

His first teacher was Totila Jordan “Pitoco”, one of Renzo Gracie’s best friends (Totila Jordan would later be the founder of the Infight Academy). “Draculino” stayed with Master “Pitoco” for 11 months, until he moved to the Gracie Jiu Jitsu Club (Later called Gracie Barra) because of a good friend and neighbor Ralph Gracie. The club was run by Jean Jacques Machado who was still a purple belt at the time.

Vinicius trained at the Gracie Jiu Jitsu club every chance he had, earning his purple belt from Jean Jacques Machado (who was by then a brown belt). Shortly after receiving his purple belt, the head coach,Carlos Gracie Junior took over the academy, calling it Gracie-Barra, this was when”Draculino” started taking classes from Carlinhos, he received his black belt in 1995 from the hands of the Gracie.

In 1996 Vinicius moved to Belo Horizonte in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Draculino opened one of the very first Gracie Barra academies outside of Rio de Janeiro. Vinicius Draculino also has a degree in Law, and worked as a lawyer for a short period. He soon understood that working as a lawyer was not what he wanted to pursue and started dedicating himself fully to Jiu Jitsu.

Showing the warrior spirit inside him, Vinicius ventured in the world of MMA in 2003, even though he had been inactive as a competitor for a few years. He defeated Kleber Gaudino in a first round submission by arm triangle. He fought again in 2005, this time finding a much tougher challenge in Brazilian Top Team’s strong man Fabio Mello and was defeated by TKO. After he laid the base for his academy in Belo-Horizonte, he moved to the US to launch another Gracie-Barra base camp in Texas.

Today Draculino has awarded over 100 black belts throughout his academies and is one of the best coaches in the business.

Draculino vs Fernando Yamasaki (Pan Americans 1995)

Vinicius Magalhaes vs “Parrumpinha”