Jonatas “Rattinho” Eliaquim is the head instructor of Gracie Barra San Antonio, Texas. In this exclusive interview with BJJ Eastern Europe, this world BJJ traveler talks about his BJJ story that took him from Brazil to setting up Gracie Barra in Paris, France to the USA:

1. Hi Rattinho, can you please introduce yourself to the BJJ Community of Eastern Europe?

Jonatas Eliaquim, I am 32 years old, 2nd Degree Black belt, under Master Carlos Gracie.jr I was born in Sao Paulo-Brazil,but i growing all of the country in Brasil more than 8 cities. I am currently teaching and training at San Antonio-Texas-USA and my main titles are Brazilian National Champion 2003, European Champion per team 2005, 2nd place at European Championship 2007, 3rd place at European Championship 2008, 2nd at ADCC UK trials, I am veteran from Vic the biggest NO-GI Competition in France and recently 2nd in Dallas and Houston Open 2013.

Rattinho with Kristina Maria and Otavio Sousa

2. Please tell us about your Jiu-Jitsu story

I used to train other Martial Arts as a kid but a friend at mine at the time a blue belt introduce me to BJJ at the yer of 1999 in Aracaju-Sergipe-Brazil, I loved it after my first class. In 2003, at the time I as a purple belt, I moved to Rio de Janeiro and started to train at Gracie Barra Headquarters with Professor Marcio Feitosa and Master Carlos Gracie, I got more into to and start to compete in big tournaments and teach for kids and adults. In 2004 I was invited by Master Carlos to lead a new project to rebuild Gracie Barra Reputation in France, so I went there to be the Head Instructor of Gracie Barra Paris, I had a lot of support of my Professor Ze Radiola, now days we have 3 schools with more the 400 students under my supervision.

3. How was it running Gracie Barra Paris? How did it grow? How do you view the BJJ scene in France? Who is looking after your academy at the moment?

When I moved to Paris in 2004, Jiu-jitsu wasn’t well know and a lot of students didn’t have good instructions,good impression of BJJ and brazilian instructors. I had work really hard to people start to trust in the martial arts, everything under Master Carlos Gracie and Prof. Marcio Feitosa supervision. At the beginning we had only 15 students and we grown that number to over 400 hundred in 10 years of work. One of the responsible of this success, was and is my first black belt Julian Cazier, who taught me how to deal with the difference of culture and mentality betwenn Brazilians and French people,as a result of my evolution as a person and a teacher, we have 5 black belts in France and 1 in Japan who work hard everyday to maintain the same level of training that we had when I was there. Julian is the Head Instructor today of GB Paris under mine and professor Ze Radiola supervision.

4. Please tell us about your current academy in San Antonio?

Gracie Barra San Antonio is a dream coming true, I learned a lot in Paris and now I have the opportunity to use everything that I have learned. I have the support of my friend,world class competitor, teacher and 2nd degree Black belt Fabiana Borges, who brings her experiencie from Gracie Barra Headquartes-Irvine to help me make this school successful. We are workin hard everyday to spread Master Carlos vision “JIU-JITSU FOR EVERYONE!”. We do a great work with the kids, teaching them how to fight against bullying and get confident. We offer self-defense classes for the community, special training classes for militaries. We have a strong commitment with the community, offering special programs for military, single parents.

Rattinho With Kayron Gracie

5. What are your impressions of the BJJ scene in Texas?

Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is big in Texas and has a good potential to grown even more. We have strong competitors and Gracie Barra has been doing a beautiful work in all the big cities. I strongly believe that Texas will make a lot of champions.

6. What is next for you and your team in 2013-14?

In 2013, we had a huge grown at our San Antonio location, going from 0 to 100 students in 1 year, a lot of our students achieved good results in tournaments, our female leader Professor Fabiana Borges got 2nd in the Worlds and 3rd in the Pan Ams, my student from France Julien Fouche got 1st place in the Europens and Houston Open I’m going to Compete at London open GI and No GI and I’m going to do better than the last competition . In 2014, we are looking forward to double the number of students, help them to achieve their personal goals in BJJ as well keep changing peoples life.

7. If you want to thank somebody or sponsors, feel free

I would like to thank you my beautiful and lovely wife Inna Ivanova that have been always there for me as a wife, partners and sponsor. She is my best friend and I could not ask for a better person to be on my side all these years, supporting my love for BJJ and my lifestyle, I want to thank you my 2 kids Ethan and Elisha Eliaquim that are my motivation to keep fighting for a better world through Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Also, my students from Europe, Japan and USA that have been my family on and off the mats.