Today we’d like to introduce you to Ulpiano Malachias.
Ulpiano was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil on the 28th of July, 1979. He started practicing Judo at the age of 6, and practiced throughout his childhood and teenage years. When he was 17, he decided to join a Jiu Jitsu class that was being taught by his good friend Erik Wanderlei, it was Wanderlei that got Malachias hooked to BJJ.
Malachias was tutored by Erik Wanderlei for a few years, and was graduated both as a blue and purple belt by his friend. In 2001 Malachias was invited to go and teach at a gym in Helsinki, Finland, for a year, an opportunity Ulpiano grabbed with both hands. After this he returned to Brazil but to a different city, Vitoria (State of Espirito Santo) where he trained under Alliance’s Bruno de Paula, from whom Ulpiano received his brown belt.
Ulpiano also spent some time in the United States, his master Carlos Gracie jr. was not in the US at the time, so Malachias sought some training with Royce Gracie, coincidently Royce was looking for good sparring partners and took a shine on the talented youngster from Belo Horizonte. He spent the next three years training regularly with the Gracie legend and even accompanied Royce on his trips to Japan to fight.
In 2006, Ulpiano received his black belt from the hands of master Carlinhos Gracie, he was helping with the classes at the Gracie Barra academy in Lake Forest and was going to compete within a week at the Asian Open as a brown belt, but his master Carlos Gracie jr surprised him with the responsibility of representing the team as a black belt, Malachias didn’t buckle and brought the gold home with him.
After spending some time helping settle the Gracie Barra Head Quarters in the US, Ulpiano Malachias opened his own franchise of the team in Santa Ana (California) with the support of Draculino Magalhaes, he has since opened another academy in Westchase.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Not really, I move to USA and at that time Brazilian jiu-jitsu was not a big as today so I have to challenge myself and do a different works like security, valet parking etc. to be able to peruse my dream but was worth and today I live the American dream.
Please tell us about Gracie Barra Westchase.
We are a martial arts school and we provide classes for the ages 3 and up. We offer Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, Wrestling, Cardio, Kickboxing, Capoeira, and Kali.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
No, I will do exactly the same. I’m proud of my past and my story.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2610 Fondren Rd, Houston, Texas 77063
- Website: Www.gbwestchase.com
- Phone: 713 977 7418
- Email: info@gbwestchase.com
- Instagram: Gracie Barra westchase
- Facebook: Gracie Barra westchase
