Considered one of the biggest legends of jiu-jitsu in UFC history,
Demian
Maia has just inaugurated a new academy in Sao Paulo, where,
besides learning new techniques, students will be able to study the
whole history of the sport, from the founders through the great
competitors that marked jiu-jitsu history in Brazil.
In the following video, Maia delivers an exclusive presentation of
the new space to Sherdog.com, showing the museum area and
introducing the three dojos named after three icons of the sport:
Hélio e Carlos Gracie (dojo 1), Carlson Gracie (dojo 2) and Fábio
Gurgel (dojo 3).
According to Maia, who has 32 fights in 12 years in UFC, the main
focus of the new school will not be to produce MMA champions.
“We will have one Octagon where jiu-jitsu classes and MMA will take
place, but our main focus is to give the best structure to the
public who wants to learn jiu-jitsu to have a quality of life,”
Maia said. “We will have kid’s and women’s only classes and also
private classes.”
Maia last appeared at UFC Fight Night 170, where he suffered a
first-round TKO loss to current welterweight No. 1 contender
Gilbert
Burns. Prior to that, Maia had earned successive triumphs over
Ben
Askren, Anthony
Rocco Martin and Lyman Good in
2019.