Lucas Norat

Lucas Norat is a jiu-jitsu black belt under Flávio Almeida, and a representative of the Gracie Barra team in the sport’s international circuit, who worked extensively with Villem Coelho at the franchise’s Jacarepaguá training center in Rio de Janeiro. Norat was one of the first big names produced by Team GB’s Ambassadors Program, a scouting project within the organization’s network aimed at pushing talented grapplers through fully paid scholarships.

Lucas Norat Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Lucas Norat Lopes

Nickname: N/A

Lineage: Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Carlos Gracie Junior > Flávio Almeida > Lucas Norat

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place IBJJF Phoenix Open (2021)
• 1st Place IBJJF Charleston Open (2021)
• 2nd Place IBJJF American Nationals (2021)
• 3rd Place IBJJF Phoenix Open (2021*)
• 3rd Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2023)

Main Achievements (Colored Belts):

• 1st Place IBJJF American Nationals (2020** brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF American Nationals NOGI (2020** brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF South American Championship Juvenile (2014)
• 1st Place IBJJF Brazilian Nationals Juvenile (2014)
• 2nd Place IBJJF American Nationals (2018 purple)
• 3rd Place IBJJF Brazilian Nationals (2016 purple)

* Absolute
** Weight and Absolute

Favorite Position/Technique: Well-Rounded / Weave Passing

Weight Division: Super-Pesado (100,50 kg / 222.0 lbs)

Team/Association: Gracie Barra

Lucas Norat Biography

Lucas Norat was born on June 26, 1997, in the Jacarepaguá, a large neighborhood located in the West Zone of Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro city.

As a child, Norat was not into sports and developed an overweight issue. His love for mixed martial arts, however, led him to Muay Thai at the age of 11, a combat sport he saw as a stepping stone towards a future MMA career.

Although a Thai boxing practitioner, when he was 13, Lucas started being harassed at school. Considering that his bully was bigger and older than him, Norat did not feel confident in his striking skills as a way to challenge his oppressor. For that reason, the young Jacarepaguá native opted to start jiu-jitsu, which had a reputation of being the optimal combat sport in a small vs large opponent scenario.

To start his new martial art journey, Lucas joined Joelson Souza’s grappling gym, where his father already trained, being a purple belt at the time. Joe Souza took Norat up to the yellow belt, but as the young prospect started looking to pursue a career in the sport, he moved to the more competition-oriented Gracie Barra Jacarepaguá Academy with coach Villeem Coelho.

Guided by Coelho, Norat’s career blossomed, with the Team GB prospect conquering South American and Brazilian National Championships while earning his blue and purple belts.

During an IBJJF training camp in 2016 at the squad’s headquarters in Irvine, California, Lucas Norat met Flávio Almeida, one of the team’s most distinguished athletes during the 2000s decade and currently one of the Red Shield’s foremost instructors. Although he did not get the desired medal at the tournament, Lucas left a great impression on Almeida who, a few months later, sent him an application form for a full scholarship at Flávio’s school in Arizona.

At Gracie Barra Arizona, Lucas Norat felt yet another level of professional training with the team’s program. One catered for the major leagues of the sport with athletes such as Roiter Lima, Austin Baker, João Marcio Santos, and Thiago Aso.

Lucas Norat earned his brown and black belts from coach Flávio Almeida, the latter in a promotion ceremony that took place on January 2021.