Joe Moreira was one of the first 'non Gracie' Jiu Jitsu black belts to move to the United States, before Royce Gracie brought the martial art to the limelight of the combat sports world, with his win at UFC 1-4. Moreira is also famed as an event organizer and for having handed one of the most controversial black belts in the history of the sport, to Marco Ruas who to many, a sworn enemy of Jiu Jitsu at the time. Joe (or Jose Carlos) Moreira was born on the back of a taxi cab in front of a Rio de Janeiro hospital on the 3rd of July 1961. Moreira started his training in martial arts by his older brother's influence when he was 6 years old through the fighting style of Judo. He began Jiu Jitsu 3 years later, training at the famous Gracie academy which at the time was shared by the brothers Carlson and Rolls Gracie, though his coaching was mainly done by Reyson Gracie and the legendary Fernando Guimaraes "Pinduka". Though surrounded by greatness, Moreira did not settle at the academy and instead moved to Reylson's gym, who was the nephew and student of grand master Helio Gracie. He stayed at Reylson's gym for well over a decade, competing in the scarce competitions available at the time, although he would receive his black belt from Francisco Mansure (1984). He would also receive his black belt in Judo in 1986 and a scholarship to Japan where he trained extensively in Judo, competing in the Judo World Cup there and placing second. He returned to Brazil after a few years in Japan, and started teaching Jiu Jitsu in a sports center in Barra da Tijuca. As the place had a very good infrastructure, Moreira was contacted by Ricielli Santos to make a Jiu Jitsu event there. Santos was famous in the Jiu Jitsu realm for organizing some of the biggest jiu jitsu tournaments in the 1980's (Copa Cantao and Copa Lightning Bolt). The pair agreed on a partnership and organized the very first Copa Atlantico Sul (called Atlantico Sul because that was the name of the sports centre). The organization's roster would change on the following years, but always with Moreira at the helm, and soon it became a reference of Jiu Jitsu in the 1990's, much like a national tournament where the most prestigious BJJ fighters would test their skills. In the early 90's Joe Moreira decided to move to the United States after an invitation from his master Reylson Gracie. He would stay at his masters gym for 4 months, but things didn't quite work out as planned and he decided to separate from Reylson. Luckily Moreira had established a friendship with one of the students at the academy, when the student (named Cab Garrett) heard that Joe was leaving he decided to help the Brazilian, taking the instructor and his wife in his own home. Moreira taught for about a year in Mr Garrett's garage while Mrs Moreira worked at a restaurant. At the time when Joe arrived in America, there were no tournaments, seeing a gap in a field that Moreira knew well, he decided to organize an event, thus emerged the very first Joe Moreira Cup. Joe was also responsible for the organization of the very first Jiu Jitsu Pan American, as Carlos Gracie Junior had few contacts in the states in the event industry, he asked Joe to be in charge of the preparations of the Pan American which occurred inside the Irvine University. Then in 1996 came the opportunity to compete in the UFC. The famous UFC referee "Big" John McCarthy was a student of Joe and got him in contact with the UFC management, but before they signed him on, they asked him to make a test. The test was a closed doors no holds barred fight in an academy against Zane Frazier. Moreira agreed and fought Zane, sweeping him and mounting before the clock stopped the fight. The UFC was impressed and signed him on. He went on to fight twice for the organization losing the first fight by decision against the gigantic Paul Varelans and winning his next fight against the russian Yuri Vaulin. During his time with the UFC Moreira met Marco Ruas, a luta livre (a form of Brazilian Wrestling) fighter who had grown up in the same neighborhood as Joe (Leme in Rio de Janeiro). Ruas asked moreira if he needed training partners and Moreira agreed, from that 28 day training camp, their friendship grew and never broke since. Marco Ruas also introduced another Luta Livre fighter to Joe Moreira, Eugenio Tadeu. Both Ruas and Tadeu had a long history of rivalry against Jiu Jitsu and it's fighters in the battle for the dominance of Martial Arts in Brazil in the late 80's and early 1990's. Even though that rivalry was still pretty much alive, Moreira (maybe recognizing his friend's technical hability) handed them their black belts in Jiu Jitsu, causing an uproar of criticism from the BJJ community at the time. Moreira also attributed Kimo (a famous MMA fighter from the early UFC days) his black belt in Jiu Jitsu. The two met on the backstage of UFC 8, in a day when Allan Goes and "Tank" Abbot fell out with each exchanging harsh words. The next day in the lobby of the hotel, Moreira and Goes were checking out and coincidently so was Kimo and his manager. Suddenly Tank Abbot comes in with Tito Ortiz and a group of 8 more men wanting to cause a fight with the pair of Brazilians. Kimo thought this was unfair and took Allan Goes's side together with his manager, making Abbot and his men back out. Kimo then asked Moreira if he could learn BJJ from him as he was very interested in the martial art, a request immediately accepted by Joe. The two maintained a student/instructor relationship for years. Today Joe Moreira lives is life giving seminars. Awesome stuff Andre. I never knew this about Joe Moreira. I love this site, great work as usual! Thanks for pointing that out Mie. I actually knew that, dunno why I wrote 1 (on two occastions!?) Joe Moreira était dans UFC 4,UFC 7,UFC 8, et 14 Went to a seminar with him years ago and he was awesome. He doesn't get enough credit for all he has done. Amazing article about my amazing father, teacher and amazing friend GM JOE Moreira, I've Been with this amazing human been since 1997 to present. And there's no were I rather be then to be in the best lineage of Moreieas,I'm honor and proud to be one of GM Moreira Black Belts. oss! Master Joe Moreira is a sweet heart of a man. Very kind & friendly. He is also extremely bad ass. I am proud to be in his organization. How is he an 8th degree blackbelt at 55 years of age? Has anyone been able to verify if Joe Moreira actually received his black belt from Francisco Mansur? I remember when I first heard about him, people said he was a Reylson Gracie black belt. After they had a falling out, Moreira stated he got his belt from Mansur because that's how much he wanted nothing to do with Reylson. It seems unusual he would train with Reylson all through even after receiving his black belt to get it during that time from Mansur. Thank you Joe for empowering me and giving me the a diploma as blue belt in 1996, it was an amazing time to meet such amazing hero's of the art and all of you made me a better person. I became an icu nurse and I am now becoming a. Nurse practitioner. The diploma is on the wall now right next to my BS degree and soon to be masters degree.... My path would have been quite different if I had not been part of this art Thank you for everything Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() );