
Ulpiano Malachias is an authority on entrepreneurship in the Jiu-Jitsu community. Ulpiano is the owner of the Gracie Barra River Oaks and Westchase schools, based in Houston, Texas. He migrated to the business world after his career as an athlete and today stands out as one of the great leaders trained at Gracie Barra.
Texas is now a strong hub for GB outside Brazil and is home to several elite Jiu-Jitsu athletes, such as Pedro Marinho, the current WNO light heavyweight champion. Ulpiano manages the careers of Gracie Barra athletes and also works as a gym manager and professor.
Building champions
In recent years, Ulpiano has dedicated himself to building a high-level competitive team in Texas. In an interview with VF Comunica, the Gracie Barra black belt detailed what changes he made to achieve notorious results.
“I’ve been doing this work for many years. I’ve been trying to build a competition team since I moved to Houston. At first, I wanted to form a competition team so that I could train because I wanted to continue competing. There came a point when I couldn’t train, compete and manage my schools at the same time. I brought in a lot of athletes to invest my time in the chance of becoming champions. Many even stayed, but most didn’t believe in the project. Pedro Marinho embraced the idea and I promised him that I would do my utmost to help him become a champion. We started this project when Pedro was a purple belt and soon after he moved here. He started to do well at purple belt, and then other fighters noticed and started to believe. Nowadays, I have a project with nine other athletes who are making a name for themselves, as well as Pedro,” said Ulpiano.

Ulpiano develops Jiu-Jitsu talents
In addition to Pedro Marinho, Ulpiano works on polishing various Gracie Barra stars. He listed his main athletes who have stood out in the championships.
“We have a lot of athletes who are on the rise, like Bruno Matias, who is doing very well at black belt. Another very tough athlete that I work with is Hunter Newton, who is more distant from competitions these days. In the brown belt division, Henrique Camargo, leader of the lightweight no-gi ranking, is a great talent. I’d also like to mention Matheus Chedid, who is doing very well in competitions and came third in the Pan Nogi. I’d also like to mention Dylan Melton, runner-up in the world and runner-up in the Pan Nogi at purple belt this year. There’s also Josh Dawson, runner-up at the ADCC Open Chicago. We’ve got a good crowd and we’re going to dominate the Nogi Worlds in December,” said Ulpiano.
Fast-paced routine
Ulpiano Malachias maintains the standard of excellence in different areas of Jiu-Jitsu, both as a professor and as a gym owner. He explained how he manages to reconcile his roles even in the face of a busy routine due to his daily commitments.
“It’s not easy to divide my time between gym manager, professor and coach, but I lead a very regimented life and keep myself fit and healthy. I run my gyms to the highest possible standard of excellence. Today, my gym has around 800 students and the newest one has over 200. We have several qualified professionals with us to offer a great service. We also divide the classes between those who train as a hobby and those who compete. I push competition training with intensity to work the athletes’ minds. What makes the difference is having a mind that is armored and forged in the fight. The guy gets used to that environment and manages to get out of adverse positions. The champion always finds a way to win. My job is to strengthen these guys’ minds so that they develop a champion’s mentality,” Ulpiano guaranteed.
Identification as a leader in Jiu-Jitsu
Ulpiano was forged in a generation of outstanding Gracie Barra leaders, such as Vinicius Draculino and Carlos Gracie Jr. He was nourished by the knowledge to be a reference in entrepreneurship and as a professor, however, he developed his own style to be a mirror for his students.
“I’ve always been a follower of strong leaders, like Draculino and Carlinhos for example, so I could never see myself as a leader next to them. Over time, I realized that my students had developed my profile. I saw that they treated me as someone out of the ordinary and I began to value myself more and see that I could add to people’s lives. I began to see myself as a leader, but without comparing myself to others. Every leader has their own characteristics and mine are that I live intensely in the moment and try to get the most out of my athletes. It’s difficult to make the transition from student to leader, but it happened naturally and I trust that I have the gift of being a leader because we influence people,” said the GB professor.
Ulpiano debates the professionalization of Jiu-Jitsu
One of the most debated topics today is the professionalization of Jiu-Jitsu. Despite the increase in prize money and the growth of the sport, Ulpiano questioned this term – professionalization – and stressed that BJJ still has a long way to go to become as professional as other sports.
The sport is growing, but we need to put our feet on the ground. Jiu-Jitsu isn’t really becoming professional. Jiu-Jitsu pays the guy to fight. Many events don’t even have insurance to pay for the athlete’s surgery if he gets injured. So, in many cases, the athlete doesn’t train for months and doesn’t get paid because he can’t compete. How is it a professional sport if it depends 100% on competition to make money? This trend of hiring a team, like Fratres and Dream Art, is great. The athlete has the opportunity to travel, compete and have experiences he might not otherwise have had. But if they get injured or don’t perform well? Jiu-Jitsu is on a good path, but it’s important to be careful not to take it in the wrong direction and get too carried away.