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Gabriel Rainho Fontes

“Biel”

Six weeks in London in 2011 turned into a career in Europe: the black belt GF Team calls its head coach for the continent.

Last updated: 20 September 2026

Biography

Gabriel Rainho Fontes flew to London in July 2011 to spend six weeks with his girlfriend. Seminars were already in the diary for those weeks: London and Manchester, then Ireland, Switzerland and Paris. But by his own telling he had no thought of making a living from jiu-jitsu there once they were done. He stayed. The six weeks turned into a teaching career on the other side of the Atlantic, and then into a role that took in a whole continent. He had been six years old when he started, in Marechal Hermes in the north of Rio de Janeiro, with a teacher he calls Master Laerte Barcelos. Three of his cousins were on the mat from the first day too — Felipe Tavares, João Alfredo and Vinicius Marinho — and he says it was their parents who encouraged all four of them, believing a child's upbringing had room for sport. Of the three he singles out Marinho as the one who became widely known. In 2003, a blue belt by then, he moved to the Gama Filho Team, later renamed GF Team. To his team-mates there he is Biel. What the sport gave back, he says, was an education: a private school and then a private university, where he studied as a representative of the sport. Much of the person he became, he says, came out of jiu-jitsu. The belt dates are his own, given to a magazine in May 2012. Julio Cesar promoted him to black belt in December 2009; his judo black belt came four years earlier, in 2005. The federation record agrees at least this far: from 2014 onward the IBJJF entered him in black belt divisions. By the spring of 2012 his week in London ran between two gyms, Combat Company in Richmond and Legions Fitness Centre in Leyton, where he taught judo as well as jiu-jitsu. He gave private lessons on top of that and traveled for seminars around Europe. The magazine that interviewed him introduced him as chief grappling coach at the Richmond gym and head of GF Team UK. In his thanks at the end of that interview he named one of his own students, Benny Sootho, for having helped him get his teaching going in the city. About eighteen months into that work he promoted a white belt of his own to blue for the first time, and the white belt was Sootho. It did not happen quietly in a gym. The academy filmed it: Sootho received the blue belt on the medal podium during the IBJJF London Open, 20 October 2012, from Rainho and GF Team's leader Julio Cesar together. The academy held its belt-whipping ceremony five days after that. One of his other students, Stefanos Siouzos, had taken the Abu Dhabi trial held in London and was heading for the World Pro. He built the London group partly by bringing Rio to it. Two training camps ran in 2012. Julio Cesar and Theodoro Canal came for the first; Jake Mackenzie and Vinicius Marinho for the second. He said he hoped to bring Igor Silva, Ricardo Evangelista and Rodolfo Vieira across as well. Then came 29 March 2014, when he and João Alfredo Tavares taught a seminar together at the London academy — one of the Marechal Hermes cousins, still teaching alongside him more than two decades on. That October he moved the center of the work to Berlin. GF Team Berlin opened in Kreuzberg that month, inside the Urban Gladiators gym, with him as head coach. The academy described itself as one of the youngest schools then working in the city's jiu-jitsu scene. By the academy's own account of those years, the teaching reached well past its own mats. At the Freie Universität Berlin he taught both jiu-jitsu and no-gi grappling, the same sport fought without the kimono. He also taught children's judo at the Nelson Mandela School and at Berlin British School. At the academy itself he ran self-defense courses and themed seminars, kept regular open mats going, and brought GF Team competitors in, which put his own students on the mat with them. Julio Cesar himself taught a seminar at the Berlin academy in November 2014. The European job was larger than the Berlin room. GF Team Germany presents him as head professor there with charge of the team's affiliates across the continent, and the London academy listed him separately from its own instructors as the head of GF Team Europe, based in Germany and coming over several times a year to teach. Four websites carry that description of the role. All four belong to the same organization, so they amount to one account of him rather than four. The team's own history goes further still, placing him among the fighters its international standing was built on and crediting him with opening its European affiliates from 2011 onward — a team's reading of its own coach, and best read as that. One judgment of him comes from outside it. Asked in a 2014 interview how jiu-jitsu was faring in Germany, the CheckMat co-founder Chico Mendes, who coaches for a rival team, named Rainho of GF Team among the professors he rated there, alongside Diogo Primo and Sergio Canudo. A second account comes from a student rather than a colleague: the head coach of GF Team's affiliate in Worms writes on his own gym's site that three professors took him to black belt, Rainho one of the three, and that he heads that gym today. He traces his taste for throws back to his years in judo. Asked in 2012 whether his judo and his jiu-jitsu fed one another, he said they did — and he was specific about where the benefit lands: knowing how to throw turns up in a fighter's base and in his top game, and leaves him quicker to go for a throw, and ahead on the exchange when he does. He likes the knee-slice and the jumping guard pass, a style he says moved outward through GF Team from Rodolfo Vieira. As a teacher he works on detail. He says he gives a student the reasons a technique works and the advantage it buys — what the movement is, why it is made that way, how to make it, and what to keep clear of. In the same interview he was put the point that a good many black belts were moving into mixed martial arts, and asked whether he would too. He said he could not see himself in a cage; he preferred preparing students for the ground. There was a context to the answer: his own team had been forced into a new name in 2007, because the university behind it wanted no association with the sport he was turning down. He went on competing. In 2014 he took bronze in the adult black belt light division at the London International Open. From 2015 the register puts him in Master 1, and there he won: gold at light in Zurich that year in both gi and no-gi, gold at the London Fall International Open, then gold at Munich in 2016 and at Berlin the same year, gi and no-gi again. In 2019 he was back on the Berlin mats and took two silvers, one in his weight class and one in the open class, which is fought without any weight limit at all — a lightweight standing on that podium got there against larger men. The titles he counted for himself in 2013, at twenty-seven, were mostly Brazilian and mostly won before he left: five national junior championships and four Rio state junior championships. He also counts a national teams title at purple belt and a national silver at the same grade, then as a black belt a CBJJO Brazilian title, the London Open, and second place at the British Open. That count is his. His academy's own record adds results the federation database does not carry: gold at NAGA Germany, gold at the East German championship, and a silver in the open class at a summer tournament in Rio. More than a decade on from the visit that was meant to last six weeks, he was the man GF Team still put forward to speak for Europe. In March 2024 the team's official channel put out a podcast episode built around him alone. Its billing: his own story in the sport, the way GF Team grew on this side of the Atlantic, and what the route across looks like for an athlete who wants to take it.

Sources for this profile

International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation, public results database: Berlin International Open IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2019.(opens in a new tab)
- The IBJJF registers him under the full name Gabriel Rainho Fontes, entered for GF Team. The same full name stands in the federation results for the London International Open 2014 and the Berlin International Open 2019, five years apart.
  Where in the source: Results list, division heading "Male / Master 1 / Black / Light (76.00kg)", the row "2 Gabriel Rainho Fontes GF Team"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- In the IBJJF public results for the Berlin International Open 2019, Gabriel Rainho Fontes of GF Team stands second in Male / Master 1 / Black / Light (76.00kg).
  Where in the source: Results list, division heading "Male / Master 1 / Black / Light (76.00kg)", the row "2 Gabriel Rainho Fontes GF Team"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- In the IBJJF public results for the Berlin International Open 2019, Gabriel Rainho Fontes of GF Team stands second in Male / Master 1 / Black / Open Class.
  Where in the source: Results list, division heading "Male / Master 1 / Black / Open Class", the row "2 Gabriel Rainho Fontes GF Team"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
BJJ Eastern Europe, "GFTeam UK’s Gabriel Rainho On GFTeam’s International Growth & Future Plans", interview, 5 April 2013.(opens in a new tab)
- His GF Team team-mates call him Biel, a nickname he gives himself when he introduces himself in a 2013 interview.
  Where in the source: Answer to question 1, "most of my GFTeam teammates call me Biel"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- In an interview published on 5 April 2013 he said he was 27 years old.
  Where in the source: Answer to question 1, "27 years old, from Rio de Janeiro"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- Of the three cousins he grew up training with, he singles out Vinicius Marinho as the well known one.
  Where in the source: Answer to question 2, "the very well known Vinicius Marinho"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He says jiu-jitsu opened doors that would otherwise have stayed shut: it carried him through a private school and a private university as a representative of the sport, and he says it played a large part in forming him as a person.
  Where in the source: Answer to question 2, "I studied at a private school and private university"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He traces his liking for throws to his judo background. He names knee-slice and jumping guard passes as his preference, and says that style spread through GF Team from Rodolfo Vieira.
  Where in the source: Answer to question 6, "Due to my Judo background, I like throws a lot"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- As a teacher he says he focuses on detail, and that he explains the reasons and the advantages behind a technique: why, what and how a movement should be made, and what to avoid.
  Where in the source: Answer to question 6, closing sentences, "I like to focus on the details"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He tells his team’s history himself: an academy opened at Universidade Gama Filho in Rio in 1996, Julio Cesar took it over, and in 2007 the university forced a name change because competitors from the team had moved into MMA. That is how Grappling Fight Team got its name.
  Where in the source: Answer to question 2, "thus giving birth to the name Grappling Fight Team"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- After about eighteen months of teaching in London he promoted his first white belt to blue, Benny Sootho. Another of his students, Stefanos Siouzos, had just won the Abu Dhabi trial in London and was going on to the World Pro.
  Where in the source: Answer to question 3, "first White Belt to a Blue Belt, Benny Sotho"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He built the London group around visits from Rio: two training camps in 2012, one with Julio Cesar and Theodoro Canal, another with Jake Mackenzie and Vinicius Marinho, and he said he wanted to bring over names such as Rodolfo Vieira, Ricardo Evangelista and Igor Silva.
  Where in the source: Answer to question 3, "one with our Leader Master Julio Cesar and Theodoro Canal"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- The titles he lists for himself in 2013 are mostly Brazilian and mostly from before he left: five Brazilian junior national titles and four Rio state junior titles, a Brazilian teams national title and a national silver as a purple belt, and at black belt a CBJJO Brazilian national title, a London Open title and a British Open silver.
  Where in the source: Answer to question 1, "5x Brazilian National Junior Champion, 4x Rio State Junior Champion"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
GFTeam London blog, "Martial Arts Illustrated Interview With Gabriel Rainho", 26 May 2012, reproducing an interview from the UK magazine Martial Arts Illustrated.(opens in a new tab)
- He is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and says so in interviews in both 2012 and 2013.
  Where in the source: First answer, "I'm from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He has held a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt since December 2009, promoted by Julio Cesar Pereira, and a judo black belt since 2005. Asked in May 2012 whether he held a degree on the jiu-jitsu belt, he said he had none yet.
  Where in the source: Answer on the two black belts, "BJJ Black Belt since December 2009" and "Judo Black Belt in 2005"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He was six when he began, in the northern Rio district of Marechal Hermes, under a teacher he names as Master Laerte Barcelos. Three cousins trained beside him from the start, Vinicius Marinho, Joao Alfredo and Felipe Tavares, and he says their parents encouraged all four, in the belief that sport had a place in bringing up a child.
  Where in the source: First answer, "with Master Laerte Barcelos in Marechal Hermes"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He joined the Gama Filho Team, later GF Team, in 2003 as a blue belt.
  Where in the source: First answer, "In 2003, as a blue belt I joined the Gama Filho Team"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He has ruled out fighting MMA. Asked in 2012 whether he would follow other black belts into the cage, he said he could not picture himself there, that he liked preparing students for the ground game instead, and that his priorities lay elsewhere.
  Where in the source: Answer on moving into MMA, "I can't see myself in a cage fight"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He arrived in London in July 2011 for what was meant to be a six-week visit to his girlfriend, with no intention of working in jiu-jitsu there. Teaching was already booked into those weeks at five places, London, Manchester, Ireland, Switzerland and Paris, and he stayed on.
  Where in the source: First answer, "came to London last year in July" and "to stay for 6 weeks only"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- By May 2012 he was teaching jiu-jitsu and judo at Combat Company in Richmond and at Legions Fitness Centre in Leyton, giving private classes and travelling around Europe for seminars. The magazine introduced him as chief grappling coach at Combat Company and head of GF Team UK.
  Where in the source: Introductory paragraph, "Chief Grappling coach at Combat Company Richmond and Head of GFT UK", and the answer describing an ordinary day, "in Richmond at Combat Company"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He credits Benny Sootho, one of his London students, with helping him get started teaching in the city.
  Where in the source: Closing answer, "Benny Sootho who has helped me to start teaching here"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- Asked in 2012 whether his two black belts fed each other, he said they did, and set out what the transfer consisted of: a working knowledge of throws shows up in the base and in the top game, and it leaves an athlete readier to attack with a throw and take the advantage that follows.
  Where in the source: Answer on the two black belts, closing sentences, "help in your BJJ game, with your base"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation, public results database: Zurich International Open IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2015.(opens in a new tab)
- He competes for GF Team. The IBJJF entered him as GF Team Berlin in 2015 and as GF Team in its other records.
  Where in the source: Results list, division heading "Male / Master 1 / Black / Light (73.50kg)", the row "1 Gabriel Rainho Fontes GF Team Berlin"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- In the IBJJF public results for the Zurich International Open 2015, Gabriel Rainho Fontes of GF Team stands first in Male / Master 1 / Black / Light (73.50kg).
  Where in the source: Results list, division heading "Male / Master 1 / Black / Light (73.50kg)", the row "1 Gabriel Rainho Fontes GF Team Berlin"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
YouTube, "Benny Sootho (GFTeam) receiving the blue belt on the podium at IBJJF London Open 2012", published by the channel gfteam london on 24 October 2012.(opens in a new tab)
- That first promotion happened in public. The academy filmed Benny Sootho receiving his blue belt on the podium at the IBJJF London Open on 20 October 2012, handed over by Rainho together with GF Team’s leader Julio Cesar, and a belt-whipping ceremony at the academy followed on 25 October.
  Where in the source: Video title, "receiving the blue belt on the podium at IBJJF London Open 2012"; second video, "Whipping the first Blue Belt Benny Sootho"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
GFTeam London blog, "Gabriel Rainho and Joao Alfredo Tavares seminar - 29/03/2014", 2 April 2014.(opens in a new tab)
- On 29 March 2014 he taught a seminar at GFTeam London together with Joao Alfredo Tavares, one of the cousins he had started training with as a six-year-old.
  Where in the source: Post title, "Gabriel Rainho and João Alfredo Tavares seminar - 29/03/2014"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
GF Team Berlin, "About" page, archived by the Internet Archive on 13 January 2022; page footer dated 2016.(opens in a new tab)
- GF Team Berlin opened in October 2014 in Berlin-Kreuzberg, at the Urban Gladiators gym, with Rainho as head coach. The academy called itself one of the youngest in the city’s jiu-jitsu scene.
  Where in the source: Section "GF Team Berlin", "is a GF Team affiliate based in Berlin-Kreuzberg"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- His teaching in Berlin reached beyond the academy: jiu-jitsu and no-gi grappling at the Freie Universitaet Berlin, and judo for children at the Nelson Mandela School and the Berlin British School. At the academy he also ran self-defence courses, open mats and themed seminars, and brought in GF Team competitors so his students could train with them. Julio Cesar gave a seminar there in November 2014.
  Where in the source: Trainer section, "Nelson Mandela School and Berlin British School", and section "GF Team Berlin", "Master Julio Cesar hosted a seminar at GF Team Berlin"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- GF Team’s own history of itself places him among the fighters it built its international standing on, alongside Rodolfo Vieira, Ricardo Evangelista, Italo Lins and Vinicius Marinho, and credits him with opening the team’s European affiliates from 2011 on.
  Where in the source: Section "GF Team History", "opened affiliates across Europe under the leadership of Gabriel Rainho"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
GF Team Germany, "Coach Gabriel Reinho" page.(opens in a new tab)
- He is head professor of GF Team Berlin and has charge of the team’s affiliates throughout Europe. The page gives him a black belt in judo as well as in jiu-jitsu, both earned within GF Team in Rio de Janeiro.
  Where in the source: Coach page, opening paragraph, "Rainho is the Head Professor of the Grappling Fight Team"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- Conflicting accounts
  His academy also credits him with a gold at NAGA Germany in 2013 and at the East German championship, and an open-class silver at a Rio summer tournament.
  Where in the source: Coach page, "Fight Portfolio" list, "Gold at NAGA Germany"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
GFTeam London blog, "Instructors" page.(opens in a new tab)
- The London academy listed him apart from its own instructors as head of GF Team Europe, based in Berlin, and said he came over several times a year to give classes and seminars there.
  Where in the source: Instructors list, "Head of GFTEAM Europe - Gabriel Rainho", and the section about him, "based in Berlin Germany but oversees the operations"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
BJJ Eastern Europe, "Chico Mendes on BJJ in Uk & Germany & Daniel Cormier’s Jiu-Jitsu Level", interview, 7 November 2014.(opens in a new tab)
- Asked about the state of jiu-jitsu in Germany, Chico Mendes — who introduces himself in the same interview as a co-founder of CheckMat and its head coach in Europe — named Rainho of GFTeam, alongside Diogo Primo and Sergio Canudo, among the teachers he rated there.
  Where in the source: Self-introduction, "I am CheckMat co-founder and head coach in Europe", and the answer on jiu-jitsu in Germany, "really good professors in Germany such as Diogo Primo"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
morilla Sports, "GFTEAM" page (GF Team Worms / Rhein-Neckar affiliate).(opens in a new tab)
- The head coach of the GF Team affiliate in Worms writes that he earned his own black belt under three teachers, Rainho among them, and now runs that gym himself.
  Where in the source: First-person paragraph, "Unter den Professoren Gabriel Rainho, Julio Cesar und Arno Spreen"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
GF Team Germany, "GF Team Headquarters Berlin" profile page.(opens in a new tab)
- GF Team Germany lists him as head coach at its Berlin headquarters, with a second coach beside him.
  Where in the source: Headquarters trainer list, "BJJ GRAPPLING HEAD COACH Arno Spreen"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
YouTube, "GABRIEL RAINHO - PODCAST #008", published by the channel GFTeam Oficial on 3 March 2024.(opens in a new tab)
- He was still the team’s voice on Europe more than ten years after he arrived. In March 2024 GF Team’s official channel published a podcast episode with him, described as covering his own history in the sport, how GF Team grew in Europe, and what the route to Europe looks like for an athlete.
  Where in the source: Video title, "GABRIEL RAINHO - PODCAST #008", channel GFTeam Oficial, and the description, "como se deu a evolução da Gfteam na Europa"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation, public results database: London International Open IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2014.(opens in a new tab)
- In the IBJJF public results for the London International Open 2014, Gabriel Rainho Fontes of GF Team stands third in Male / Adult / Black / Light (162.60lb).
  Where in the source: Results list, division heading "Male / Adult / Black / Light (162.60lb)", the row "3 Gabriel Rainho Fontes GF Team"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation, public results database: Zurich International Open IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship 2015.(opens in a new tab)
- In the IBJJF public results for the Zurich International Open No-Gi 2015, Gabriel Rainho Fontes of GF Team stands first in Male / Master 1 / Black / Light (73.50kg).
  Where in the source: Results list, division heading "Male / Master 1 / Black / Light (73.50kg)", the row "1 Gabriel Rainho Fontes GF Team Berlin"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation, public results database: London Fall International Open IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2015.(opens in a new tab)
- In the IBJJF public results for the London Fall International Open 2015, Gabriel Rainho Fontes of GF Team stands first in Male / Master 1 / Black / Light (73.50kg).
  Where in the source: Results list, division heading "Male / Master 1 / Black / Light (73.50kg)", the row "1 Gabriel Rainho Fontes GF Team"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation, public results database: Munich International Open IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2016.(opens in a new tab)
- In the IBJJF public results for the Munich International Open 2016, Gabriel Rainho Fontes of GF Team stands first in Male / Master 1 / Black / Light (73.50kg).
  Where in the source: Results list, division heading "Male / Master 1 / Black / Light (73.50kg)", the row "1 Gabriel Rainho Fontes GF Team"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation, public results database: Berlin International Open IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2016.(opens in a new tab)
- In the IBJJF public results for the Berlin International Open 2016, Gabriel Rainho Fontes of GF Team stands first in Male / Master 1 / Black / Light (76.00kg).
  Where in the source: Results list, division heading "Male / Master 1 / Black / Light (76.00kg)", the row "1 Gabriel Rainho Fontes GF Team"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation, public results database: Berlin International Open IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship 2016.(opens in a new tab)
- In the IBJJF public results for the Berlin International Open No-Gi 2016, Gabriel Rainho Fontes of GF Team stands first in Male / Master 1 / Black / Light (73.50kg).
  Where in the source: Results list, division heading "Male / Master 1 / Black / Light (73.50kg)", the row "1 Gabriel Rainho Fontes GF Team"
  Accessed: 2026-09-20

Lineage

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Trained under

Júlio César Pereira Source: gfteamlondon.blogspot.com