Braulio Estima

Braulio de Oliveira Estima is a 3rd degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He received his black belt from Carlos Gracie, Jr. on January 4, 2004. Throughout his grappling career, he has won in many Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments across the world, such as the Mundials, ADCC, Pan American Championship, and European Championship. His long list of accomplishments has made him well respected among other Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners, such that some consider him one of the top Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners in the world.

Biography

Early life

Braulio Estima was born on June 10, 1980 in Recife, Brazil. He was first exposed to martial arts at the young age of 9, where he was introduced to Judo. However, a year later, his judo instructor suffered an untimely death, which caused Estima to take a break from martial arts. Six years later, he decided to come back and began training Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the Gracie Barra Jiu-Jitsu Academy.

Early Grappling Career

Braulio Estima was first under the tutelage of Charles Dos Anjos when he first began training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at Gracie Barra. In less than one year of training, he captured 5 major junior titles in the white belt division, and as a result, was promoted to blue belt. When Dos Anjos left the academy, Ze Radiola took over as Estima's mentor and teacher. In 1999, after 3 years of training, Estima won his first Pan-American Championship as a blue belt. He was then promoted to purple belt soon after. Following more successful tournament showings, such as the bronze medal at the Pan-American Championship in 2000, he was promoted to brown belt. He went on to win gold for three straight years (2001-2003) in the Pan-American Championship as a brown belt.