Caio Almeida

Caio Almeida is a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt under Gabriel Vella, and a former student of illustrious coaches such as Rubens Charles (Cobrinha) and ‘Mestre Dan‘. Caio is also known as the co-founder of the Almeida Jiu Jitsu academy, one of the biggest grappling stables in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, which he built together with his brothers Diogo and Gustavo Almeida.

Caio Almeida Jiu Jitsu

Full Name: Caio Almeida Silva

Nickname: N/A

Lineage: Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie > Carlos Gracie Jr > Ryan Gracie > Gabriel Vella > Caio Almeida

Main Achievements:

IBJJF Gramado International Open Champion (2016)
IBJJF Manaus International Open Champion (2015)
IBJJF Manaus International Open Championship Runner-up (2014/2016**)
IBJJF São Paulo International Open Championship Runner-up (2015)
IBJJF South American Championship 3rd Place (2013/2014)
CBJJ South Brazil Championship 3rd Place (2014)
IBJJF São Paulo Pro Championship 3rd Place (2016)
IBJJF Gramado International Open Championship 3rd Place (2016*)
IBJJF Manaus International Open Championship 3rd Place (2014*)
IBJJF Rio International Open Championship 3rd Place (2014)
IBJJF Rio Winter International Open Championship 3rd Place (2015/2016)
IBJJF São Paulo International Open Championship 3rd Place (2014/2016)

* Absolute
** Weight and Absolute

Favorite Position/Technique: Open Guard

Weight Division: Peso Leve (76,00 kg / 168.0 lbs)

Team/Association: Almeida JJ

Caio Almeida Biography

Caio Almeida was born on February 2, 1986 in Itaquera – a district on the eastern side of São Paulo’s prefecture in Brazil.

Although the youngest of the Almeida brothers (Diogo, Gustavo being the eldest) Caio was also the rowdiest of the bunch, a characteristic that gave way to taekwondo lessons at the age of 10. Even though Caio had talent for the ancient Korean kicking art, earning a state title as a teenager, once Almeida started watching the first UFC’s he became fascinated by jiu jitsu.

Caio would rent UFC’s I to IV from his local video rental shop every week, becoming obsessed with Royce Gracie‘s work. This love for grappling coincided with a friend’s invitation to train at a local jiu jitsu school/social project named ‘Cohab 2’. A workgroup created by ‘Tony’ Carlos Bergamo, later taken over by one of his best students: Everdan Olegário (Mestre Dan).

Tony Bergamo and Mestre Dan were Caio’s first instructors at a time when Almeida was about 13 to 14 years of age. Caio would later bring his brother Diogo to class, someone who became one of Caio’s biggest supporters in the sport. On that same team as Caio and Diogo were other ‘soon to be’ grappling stars such as Sérgio Moraes, Marcelo Mafra (Lapela), Rafael Domingos and several others.

Everdan Olegário promoted Caio from white to purple belt, a time when Caio was a competing and winning regularly on a state and national level. Given Almeida’s attributes (and those of his training peers) Coach Olegário understood that he didn’t have the tools necessary to take his group of incredibly talented athletes to the next level – a group that included the Almeida brothers, Moraes, Lapela, etc. In uncommon act of altruism Olegário reached out to Rubens Charles and asked him to take care of this group. Cobrinha who was already one of the top athletes/coaches in the world, took Mestre Dan’s team with open arms.

Around 2007/2008 Rubens Cobrinha was invited to become part of the coaching staff at the Alliance headquarters in North America (Atlanta). Once he moved from Brazil, Caio was left without a coach, and although he wanted to remain in the Alliance team, the fees requested at Fabio Gurgel‘s academy (Alliance HQ in Sao Paulo) were too high for Almeida. Instead he found a home at Ryan Gracie’s academy, becoming a student of Gabriel Vella – from whom he earned his black belt on the 13th of December 2009.

While being a part of Ryan Gracie’s team, Caio and his brothers (Diogo, Gustavo) started developing their own grappling program, one that started bearing fruits at a very high rate with competitors such as Cleber Clandestino, Leonardo Teixeira Lara, Bianca Basilio, Eduardo Tinoco and many others spawning from their gym. The Almeida’s focus on competition wasn’t truly matched by the RGA vision for the martial art. The disagreement over which focus to follow would end in a friendly split between the two groups in 2016.

Caio Almeida vs Matheus Linhares