Top Gracie Barra competitor and coach Flavio Almeida has just been promoted to 6th degree BJJ black belt by Carlos Gracie Jr during the annual Gracie Barra Summit this year. He has been a pivotal figure in the organization for decades now and alongside his older brother Ricardo Almeida, he has also been an important part of the history of BJJ at the same time. Ricardo was the one who led the family into BJJ at first, but Flavio joined him not long afterward and they enjoyed top-tier instruction from Carlos Gracie Jr, Renzo Gracie, and Marcio Feitosa right from the start of their careers as teenagers.
Almeida rose through the colored belt ranks during the 1990s and he was considered one of the top prospects in the sport for quite some time, winning the IBJJF World Championship at both blue belt and brown belt. He was immediately able to compete with the best in the sport after being promoted to black belt too, as he won a bronze medal at the IBJJF World Championship on his first attempt at that level. He went on to win more medals at that and other major IBJJF events, including the IBJJF Pan Championship and the IBJJF European Championship over the following years.
Perhaps the biggest achievement of his competitive career came at ADCC 2007, when Almeida won a silver medal at under 88kg after facing the legendary Demian Maia in the final. Now after more than two decades of being an active black belt competitor and coach, Flavio Almeida has been honored with the 6th degree on his BJJ black belt. The achievement signifies his fantastic career on the mats and the length of time he has dedicated to coaching the next generation of competitors who have followed in footsteps.
Flavio Almeida announced the news that he had been promoted to 6th degree BJJ black belt at the Gracie Barra Summit in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
