Flavio Almeida Seminar 2013

Professor Flavio Almeida – director of Gracie Barra USA – will teach a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Seminar in Birmingham, AL on Saturday, April 13, 2013. The workshop begins at 11:00 AM and is restricted to Gracie Barra Members only.

ABOUT

Flavio Almeida is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under Gracie Barra founder, Carlos Gracie Junior, he is also the brother of UFC veteran Ricardo Almeida. In the late 1990’s Flavio Almeida was regarded as one of the hottest prospects in BJJ, though a premature retirement to pursue an academic career took him out of the mats for the following years, he returned to the sport in 2006 after a successful run in the business world. Flavio Almeida has also released a famous BJJ instructional entitled: BJJ Sweeps DVD by Flavio Almeida.

Flavio Almeida in Detail

Nickname: “Cachorrinho”, which translates to small dog, or puppy. The name derives from his older brother, Ricardo Almeida, who is called “Cachorrao” (big dog) – for more details regarding Ricardo’s nickname, check his page.

Lineage: Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie Sr. > Carlos Gracie Junior > Flavio Almeida

Main Achievements/Record:

• 2x World Champion (1999 – brown, 1997 blue);
• ADCC Silver Medallist (2007);
• 2x Pan American Silver Medallist (2009, 2007);
• 2x Brazilian Silver Medallist (1999 brown, 1998 purple);
• 3x World Bronze Medallist (2007, 2001, 2000);
• European Bronze Medallist (2009)
• Weight Division: Peso Pesado (94kg-207lbs)

Team/Association: Gracie Barra

Flavio Almeida Biography

Flavio Almeida was born in 1979, being the younger brother of Ricardo Almeida. Born in a family of Portuguese and German descent, he was raised in the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, playing soccer, surfing and living freely. He started training martial arts when he was 12 years old through Karate. This Karate experience was short-lived and a year later Flavio decided to follow his brothers footsteps and join his Jiu Jitsu academy. His family loved the idea of having both brothers practicing BJJ as Flavio’s grandfather was a great fan of Helio Gracie, having followed Helio’s fights in the 1930’s and 1950’s.

Being taught in the Gracie Barra family, he had the privilege of receiving coaching from many legends of the sport, such as Renzo Gracie, Marcio Feitosa and of course, Carlos Gracie Junior. This had a tremendous effect in Flavio Almeida’s competitive career, and in the late 1990’s he was already regarded as one of BJJ’s hottest prospects having won the Mundial on two occasions in the lower belt divisions (blue and brown). After a very auspicious start with two bronze medals in his first World Championships as a black belt, losing to Margarida (a man he had defeated in the brown belt division) and Saulo Ribeiro, two legends of the sport, Cachorrinho decided to put a stop to his competitive career and drive his focus towards his degree in Economic Science at the UFRJ – Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.

He spent the next 5 years working and studying business, but the Jiu Jitsu bug was still inside him, and in 2006 he decided to quit his job and move to New Jersey in the United States to teach at his brother’s academy. His time in New Jersey did not last as his Rio de Janeiro genes begged for some warmth, and so he moved to the warm California sun to teach at Marcio Feitosa’s gym. He stayed there for a while until he opened his own place, also in California, under the Gracie Barra franchise.