Mauricio Motta Gomes
| Maurição Motta Gomes | |
|---|---|
| Born | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Residence | London, England, UK |
| Nationality |
 Brazilian |
| Style | Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu |
| Teacher(s) | Rolls Gracie, Carlos Gracie, Jr., Joao Alberto |
| Rank | 7th Degree Coral Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu |
Maurício "Maurição" Motta Gomes ( ) is a practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, one of the six people (most commonly known as the "Famous Five") to have been promoted to Black Belt by the famous Rolls Gracie prior to Gracie's untimely death. The nickname "Maurição" meant Big Maurício. He has been training and teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for over 50 years and at present holds the rank of 7th degree black and red belt. He is the father of Roger Gracie.
At the age of four, Mauricio was taken to BJJ academies by his father before he started training with Joao Alberto. In 1977, he began training with Rolls Gracie and was awarded his black belt in 1981. He married Reila Gracie, the daughter of Carlos Gracie in 1979. He is the father of the current BJJ and ADCC World Champion Roger Gracie.
Mauricio taught briefly in the Meidaimae area of Tokyo, Japan, at what was then Gracie Barra Japan in 1998. Not speaking perfectly well the Japanese language, he was not able to fully convey the details of his jiu-jitsu to the eager Japanese students, and after a brief return to his home in Brazil, he accepted a position in England, where with the capable assistance of local aficionados and entrepreneurs, he set up Gracie Barra UK, teaching in Birmingham and then in London, Edinburgh and Belfast. He was instrumental in bringing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to the UK and also bringing Felipe Souza, his son Roger and Braulio Estima to the UK to teach. Other Gracie Barra World Champions who subsequently came over included Carlos Lemos, Victor Estima and Lucio Rodrigues. Mauricio promoted his first UK students to black belt in 2005, Jude Samuel, Rick Young and Marc Walder.
Mauricio now divides his time between Brazil and the UK to teach at the Roger Gracie Academy in London.
With Felipe Souza and his son Roger Gracie - Mauricio also established the first Gracie Barra Jiu Jitsu School in China in Shanghai in 2002. Felipe Souza was the first Black Belt from Brazil to teach in China - for 6 weeks in 2002 and again for 4 weeks in 2004.
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Wikipedia