One of the greatest ambassadors of Jiu Jitsu in Brazil and throughout the World, Kyra is an example of success in a sport ruled by men. She is also the first female BJJ black belt from the Gracie family to compete (and win) at the highest level.
A De La Riva black belt, made famous at the age of 45 for giving Xande Ribeiro one of his toughest fights of the Mundials in 2006.
With a fantastic list of achievements, this natural born competitor was one of Sao Paulo’s start jiu jitsu practitioners. Today living in the United States where first came to compete in MMA’s IFL, he teaches in California at the Gracie Morumbi headquarters.
Josef Manuel Junior, mostly known by his “war name” of “Zé Cobra”, is a martial artist with over 20 years experience in the fight game. He is also a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under one of the legends in the sport, the honourable Robson Moura.
Ramon Lemos is the head jiu jitsu coach and co-founder of the famous Atos BJJ Team, having formed some of today’s top BJJ fighters, competitors such as Guilherme and Rafael Mendes, Gilbert Burns, Rodrigo Caporal amongst others. Ramon Lemos has also been involved with the grappling tuition of top Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters such as UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Rodrigo “Minotauro”.
Bruno Bastos is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu 5th-degree black belt, a rank awarded by Master Wendell Alexander. Bruno is well known for his past as …
One of the most important figures of the Nova Uniao team, Wendell is the co-founder of Nova Uniao and has formed fantastic competitors such as Bruno Bastos, Leonardo Santos amongst many others.
He is one of the most successful Jiu Jitsu coaches in California, today. The founder of Paragon BJJ academy has been one of the main culprits in the United States’s BJJ boom, having been responsible for the tuition of great fighters such as Jeff Glover, Bill Cooper and Tyrone Glover. Miller has also managed to maintain a successful competitive career of his own.
Many sportsmen dream of one day becoming a legend in their sport, Murilo Bustamante achieved this status in two of the most demanding sports in the world, jiu jitsu (BJJ) and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). At one point Murilo was one of the stars of the famous Carlson Gracie team, arguably the best BJJ team of all time. He then moved on to Mixed Martial Arts and formed one of the stronguest MMA teams the world had ever seen, BTT (Brazilian Top Team), a team he leads to this date.
He is the Vice-President of the Arizona State Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (AZSBJJF) and a top instructor from Nova Uniao. Gustavo was also part of a generation of fantastic fighters from the late 1990’s that terrorised the BJJ mats all over the world at the time.
He is a Judo and BJJ black belt famous for his competitive spirit that has kept him at the top of his game for almost two decades. Today he is also the president of the Arizona BJJ federation and a successful BJJ coach.
A gifted grappler from Paragon BJJ. Jeff is famous for his deep half guard techniques and for having a very attractive fighting styles always going for submissions. He has also won important tournaments such as the Pan Ams, the No Gi World Championship and Grapplers Quest.
One of the best Jiu Jitsu instructors in the world, the black belt graduated by Waldomiro Perez is the founder of one of the strongest teams in Sao Paulo, Brazil – The Macaco/Godoi (today Godoi Jiu JItsu).
A BJJ black belt from the famous Kimura-Nova Uniao, Kiki is a former BJJ World Champion and also a Brazilian National Wrestling Champion with a successful MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) career.
Caio Terra is a world Jiu Jitsu champion who competes under the Gracie Elite Team/Gracie Fighter Team. The Brazilian black belt has had a controversial career in BJJ, having left his first team and coach in less then amicable terms but having managed an amazing and rampant rise to black belt. He has also been known for his constant battles with Jiu Jitsu’s refereeing and more recently being outspoken about steroid use in the sport.
Octavio Couto, also known as “Ratinho” is a highly regarded Jiu Jitsu coach and a black belt under Romero Cavalcanti. He has been responsable for the growth of fighters such as Fernando Augusto, the Vieira brothers, Felipe Costa amongst many others.
He made history in BJJ by being the first American to win the Brasileiro in the black belt division. He is also a World Champion and one of the toughest competitors in his division today.
A 3 time World Champion and a 2 time ADCC Champion Werdum is a major fighter in MMA’s heavyweight division, having fought in three of the most important MMA organizations.
a top fighter from Nova Uniao, Marcelino has trained with some of the best BJJ fighters of all time and is an extremely accomplished fighter himself with multiple gold medals at the Brazilian National Championships.
Eduardo Telles is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under Fabio Gurgel and one of the most criative grapplers in the World. Famed for being a fan of the “Esquijitsu” (a nickname applied to his game which translates to: weird Jiu Jitsu) he created several attacks from the turtle position, a position that was deemed a weaker position by most grapplers before Telles created the turtle guard, revolutionizing what once was defensive ‘go-to’ move.