Gregório Thomaz Acosta
2nd Degree Black Belt
Gregório Thomaz Acosta was born in Caxias do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, to Edson Baeros Acosta and Elizabeth Thomaz Acosta. Gregório has a sister, Amanda Thomaz Acosta, and they were raised in Uruguaiana, a city located on the border with Argentina and 70km from Uruguay.
Early Jiu-Jitsu Journey
In 1999, at the age of 19, he discovered Jiu-jitsu through his first professor from Rio de Janeiro, Fábio Guilhermino Vassalo. Fábio, a Jiu-jitsu brown belt and Judo black belt and at that time a sergeant in the Brazilian army, developed a strict system of training, discipline, and physical preparation at Tiger Academy. This quickly led to the formation of one of the strongest teams in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul with the Judo support of sensei Eron Borges and Leonardo Dias, who was a member of the AMAN (Agulhas Negras Military Academy) Judo team.
In February 2001, Fábio Guilhermino Vassalo took two promising young men, Gregório and his best friend “Batatinha” (little potato), for a training season in the Jiu-jitsu capital of the world, Rio de Janeiro. They excelled in training at academies such as De La Riva Jiu-jitsu and Felipão Jiu-jitsu Clube, both earning blue belts from Felipão, a black belt under the renowned and legendary Master Ricardo De La Riva. Having graduated and affiliated with the FJJ-RIO (Rio de Janeiro State Jiu-jitsu Federation), they returned to the south of Brazil as the first two blue belts from that region.
Teaching and Competing
From 2001 onwards, while studying law at PUCRS (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul), Gregório followed his professor’s lessons in Jiu-jitsu and leadership. He began teaching classes with his best friend, ‘Batatinha’, and continued competing in the state with their friends and students until 2003, when they formed a very successful team. These were years of discovery and great growth for Jiu-jitsu in that region. This generation produced great champions who are now also professors in other teams, such as Bernardo Berbigier, Almansor ‘Mansa’ Vaz, and Antonio ‘Kapincho’ Dias, all responsible for the growth of Jiu-jitsu in the extreme south of Brazil.
In 2006, already a purple belt in Jiu-jitsu, he graduated in law and immediately passed the OAB (Brazilian Bar Association) exam. Working as a lawyer then made it impossible for him to continue training and teaching. In 2007, he moved to Porto Alegre, the capital of his state, to study at the prosecutor’s school (FMP). Coincidentally, he lived in an apartment above the gym of American professor and friend Sérgio Pimentel, a black belt under Master Ricardo de La Riva, who now runs Team Pimentel in Maryland, USA.
In 2008, still in Porto Alegre, he began alternating his training between Team Pimentel and the Guetho Jiu-jitsu academy, run by world champion Guto Campos. He spent years learning from these professors until, in 2010, he decided to return to his hometown. He began training Jiu-jitsu with his former student Fernando ‘Balaka’ Bermudez at the Clube Comercial in Uruguaiana. Due to a knee injury, ‘Balaka’ had to stop training, and Gregório took over the classes, restarting his work as a professor.
Founding Gorilla Jiu-Jitsu and Black Belt Promotion
As the number of students grew, in 2011, as a brown belt, Gregório founded what would become one of the greatest symbols of Jiu-jitsu in the region and also in northern Uruguay: the legendary Gorilla Jiu-Jitsu academy. Renowned champions such as Victoria Ulrich, Guilherme Vilhalba, Thaline Vidoto, Alice Silveira e Maria Eduarda Scremin have emerged from it.
In 2012, his path crossed again with that of his professor and friend Sergio Pimentel when they organised the first Jiu-jitsu seminar in Uruguaiana and the surrounding region. From then on, Jiu-jitsu began to gain significant momentum. Still in 2012, Sergio invited Gregório to Rio de Janeiro to meet and train with Master Eduardo ‘Brigadeiro’ Venancio. There, he was surprised with his black belt graduation at a seminar given by Sergio Bolão at his academy in Barra da Tijuca. ‘Brigadeiro’ now lives in the USA and runs Brigadeiro Jiu-jitsu Headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida.
Gregório returned home as the first black belt from that region of Brazil. In 2013, he began his career of competitions as a black belt, winning his first state championship in early 2014. At the end of 2014, together with another great friend and student, Anderson “Boneco” Paz, he started his project to expand Gorilla Jiu-jitsu to the borders of Brazil and Uruguay, and later to northern Uruguay itself. In 2015, his team achieved second place at the Uruguay National when black belts and athletes Magno Mota and Rafael Braga came from Rio de Janeiro to compete and support the team. Together, the network of professors affiliated with the team reached 10 representatives in Brazil and 5 in Uruguay, reaching thousands of people in places where Jiu-jitsu did not exist.
European Competitions and Expansion
With the support of friends such as Luiz Felipe Bermudez, Rodrigo Fialho, and the Freitas brothers, in 2016, he embarked on competitions in Europe. This included Portugal, where he competed in the IBJJF (International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation) European Championships, and Switzerland, where he had the opportunity to face renowned champions such as Gabriel Arges, Alan Finfou, and Luca Anacoreta in the Pro Neuchâtel Jiu-jitsu Challenger. This season of training, seminars, and competitions was enough to plant in his heart the permanent idea of one day returning and living on the continent.
Back in Brazil, and after receiving his first black belt degree from “Brigadeiro”, he graduated his first black belt, Luciano Machado. This marked the opening of his first large business academy, Gorilla School, a 140-square-metre space of mats where professional boxer Fabiano Camargo also taught boxing and Kru Gloria Goncalves taught Muay Thai. Two more academies followed, even surviving the crisis caused by the pandemic’s effects in 2020. At the end of that year, Gregório returned to the top of the main state competition organised by Prosports and achieved third place in the South American championship organised in the Brazilian capital, Brasília, by the FBJJ (Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Federation).
At the end of 2021, Gregório received his second-degree black belt directly from ‘Brigadeiro’ and the legend Joe Moreira, who fought in the early days of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) and was also one of the first black belts not belonging to the Gracie family who moved to the United States to spread Jiu-jitsu.
Acosta Jiu-Jitsu – Legacy and New Beginnings in England
It was within this beautiful story of pioneering spirit and great courage that a lineage of black belts was formed, including Paulo Ricardo ‘Vieira’, Eduardo ‘Negao’ de Freitas, Maurilho ‘Love’ Madeira, Eliandro ‘Batatinha’ Trindade, Walter “Waltinho” Fagundes, Fabiano ‘Camarguinho’ Camargo, Soloe ‘Pololo’ Junior, Homero ‘Homerinho’ de Freitas, Henrique Cardoso, Anderson “Boneco” Paz (in memoriam), and the last one to graduate by his hands, his friend Ronaldo ‘Alemão’ da Cunha. He also contributed to the formation of Uruguayan black belts Paulo Godoy and Gaspar Antalibian, and Brazilian black belts Alexandre “Inseto” Vieira, Marcio “Marcinho” Gallarreta, Eduardo “Caju” Moraes, and Pedro “Peruca” Silveira.
In 2023, after working as a lawyer for more than 16 years and realising he had done his best for Jiu-jitsu in that region of Brazil and northern Uruguay, and for the Brigadeiro Jiu-Jitsu flag he defended for exactly 13 years, he decided to put his dream and personal life project into practice: to export his Jiu-jitsu beyond the South American continent and raise a family. This is why he is in England today, teaching children and adults, competing nationally and internationally, and, most importantly, enjoying family life together with Danielle, Sabela, Rio, and Saphira—this being the driving force behind the creation of Acosta Jiu-jitsu in 2025.
Always grateful to Fabio Guilhermino Vassalo, who introduced him to Jiu-jitsu and developed him as a leader; to Sergio Pimentel, a friend and professor who took him to Eduardo “Brigadeiro” Venancio, who realised his dream of becoming a black belt and opened the door for him to be here today on the South Coast of England. It’s been a long, hard road, but the fact of being here today with his family, happy, doing what he loves, and transforming the lives of adults and children with this marvellous tool, Jiu-jitsu, makes all efforts worthwhile.
