Julio César Fernandez Nunes
“Foca”
Source: vermontbjj.comJulio “Foca” Fernandez built a Vermont teaching community, connecting Carlson Gracie’s lessons with students of different ages.
Biography
Sources for this profile
BJJ Revolution Team, Our Instructors(opens in a new tab)
BJJ Revolution Team lists Fernandez as a seventh-degree coral belt, with his black belt dated 1988 under Carlson Gracie Sr.
Where in the source: First named row below BJJ Revolution Team Black Belts.
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BJJ Heroes, Julio Foca Fernandez(opens in a new tab)
Julio César Fernandez Nunes was born on 3 March 1957 in Rio de Janeiro and grew up in Copacabana.
Where in the source: Full Name and first biography paragraph.
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Fernandez was among the Brazilians who moved to the United States in 1989 to teach jiu-jitsu.
Where in the source: Introduction.
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Before concentrating on jiu-jitsu, he tried judo from childhood, taekwondo and capoeira, while surfing remained his main interest.
Where in the source: Biography opening paragraph.
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He trained from white to black belt under Carlson Gracie, receiving black belt on 13 August 1988, Carlson’s birthday.
Where in the source: Biography fourth paragraph.
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Former training partners Fernandez and Rodrigo Medeiros founded BJJ Revolution Team together in 2000 after Medeiros moved to the United States.
Where in the source: Final biography paragraph.
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Vermont BJJ, About Us(opens in a new tab)
His academy identifies its head instructor as Julio Cesar “Foca” Fernandez Nunes.
Where in the source: ABOUT JULIO CESAR FOCA FERNANDEZ NUNES and HEAD INSTRUCTOR.
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Vermont BJJ identifies Fernandez as a seventh-degree coral belt under Carlson Gracie Sr.
Where in the source: Instructor biography certification paragraph.
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He is head instructor at Vermont Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Williston, Vermont.
Where in the source: Head Instructor section and academy address.
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He co-authored Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for Experts Only with Carlson Gracie.
Where in the source: Instructor biography final paragraph.
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BJJ Revolution Team, About Us(opens in a new tab)
Fernandez is a co-founder of BJJ Revolution Team.
Where in the source: Julio biography final paragraph.
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His team biography credits him with two Rio state surfing championships and three Brazilian college surfing championships, plus wins at Saquarema and Pier Ipanema Junior.
Where in the source: Julio biography opening paragraph.
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In his team biography, he describes surfing as an enduring passion but the challenges and lessons at Carlson’s academy as shaping his life.
Where in the source: Julio biography second paragraph.
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Ken Picard, Gi Force, Seven Days, 16 August 2022(opens in a new tab)
He told Seven Days that he learned to surf at five and was surfing professionally by sixteen.
Where in the source: Biographical section beginning Born and raised in Copacabana.
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He described jiu-jitsu as giving him confidence and changing how he carried himself.
Where in the source: Quotation beginning Jiu-jitsu gave me the confidence.
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He and his American wife moved to Vermont in 1989; her skiing family had a house in Stowe.
Where in the source: Fernandez moved to the U.S. paragraph.
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While learning English, he washed dishes at Trapp Family Lodge and taught a fellow kitchen worker, a sous-chef, his first American private lessons.
Where in the source: Trapp Family Lodge paragraph.
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Already an economics graduate in Brazil, he studied finance and accounting at Champlain College.
Where in the source: Trapp Family Lodge and following college paragraph.
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After local karate and taekwondo schools declined his teaching offers, he opened Vermont Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in 1993, according to Seven Days.
Where in the source: College paragraph and So Fernandez opened paragraph.
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In 2022, the school had ten instructors and 80–90 children attending weekly, roughly half its students.
Where in the source: Though Fernandez initially trained only adults and following paragraph.
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He emphasized self-control and humility; the gym’s first posted rule prohibited misusing jiu-jitsu outside appropriate training or necessary self-defence.
Where in the source: Final training-rules and self-control paragraphs.
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Meghan Dewald, Holding Patterns, Seven Days, 13 March 2007(opens in a new tab)
Fernandez said Carlson’s school was three blocks from his family home and that he wanted realistic self-defence skills.
Where in the source: Paragraph beginning Fernandez started studying BJJ partly because.
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Carlson Gracie gave annual workshops at Fernandez’s Vermont academy before his death.
Where in the source: Paragraph describing Carlson’s Vermont workshops.
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A 2007 report dates his private teaching in Vermont to 1990.
Where in the source: Fernandez and his wife moved paragraph.
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After nine years in Burlington, the academy moved to Leroy Road in Williston in March 2007.
Where in the source: Welcome to the beginners class paragraph.
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In 2007, he combined evening and Saturday teaching with work as a financial contracting analyst at GE Healthcare.
Where in the source: Paragraph ending by day he is a financial contracting analyst.
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He distinguished beginners’ repetition from advanced technical detail and encouraged students to train with partners of different experience levels.
Where in the source: Advanced class paragraph and lower-level partner explanation.
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He described considerate, controlled practice as compatible with competitive intensity and intervened when students trained too roughly.
Where in the source: Closing safety and train-like-a-lady discussion.
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Trish Van Vliet, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Seven Days, 1 April 2014(opens in a new tab)
A journalist attending a family class in 2014 observed handshake practice, ladder-footwork games and padded striking drills, with Fernandez combining encouragement and expectations of respect.
Where in the source: Full first-person class report.
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Fernandez explained that mixed-age children’s classes let younger students learn from older peers, with confidence and resilience as teaching goals.
Where in the source: Multiage-class paragraph and closing interview.
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Gillian English, Niche Try, Seven Days, 4 February 2025(opens in a new tab)
The academy began summer camps in 2023; a 2025 report describes fitness, self-defence and team games, including human chess for teamwork and strategic thinking.
Where in the source: Entire Vermont Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Half-Day Summer Camp section.
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His son Felipe also teaches at the academy and explained its playful, mixed-experience camp approach.
Where in the source: Vermont BJJ section, Felipe identification and explanation.
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Vermont BJJ, Programs(opens in a new tab)
The academy’s basics curriculum links positional hierarchy, escapes, takedowns and submissions with transitions between guard, side control, mount and back control.
Where in the source: Adults BJJ Basics complete section.
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Its advanced programme is for blue belts and above and combines guard systems, passing, submission sequences and live sparring, emphasizing timing and efficiency.
Where in the source: Adults BJJ Advanced Competition complete section.
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The no-gi programme combines grappling, takedowns, movement drills and controlled striking concepts, drawing on wrestling and judo as well as jiu-jitsu.
Where in the source: Adults No-Gi BJJ complete section.
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Vermont BJJ, Events and Camps(opens in a new tab)
The school also offers Fernandez’s corporate self-defence training with practical exercises and team-building aims.
Where in the source: Now Offering Corporate Self Defense Training section.
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Vermont BJJ announced an eighth-degree red-and-white coral-belt ceremony for Fernandez on 10 October 2026, following a Carlson Gracie Jr. seminar.
Where in the source: A Historic Day at VT BJJ announcement, complete paragraph and schedule.
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Open Library, edition OL3293692M(opens in a new tab)
The original edition of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: For Experts Only was published by Invisible Cities Press in 2004.
Where in the source: Publish Date, Publisher and edition ISBN1931229341.
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Will Jones, Inside the Craft of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, LA Weekly, 22 April 2026(opens in a new tab)
In a 2026 published conversation, Fernandez explained that the book addressed advanced students whose hard training no longer produced obvious improvement.
Where in the source: Opening interview answer about the book’s origin.
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He argued that advanced progress comes from refining fewer techniques under pressure rather than accumulating more moves, an emphasis he associated with Carlson.
Where in the source: Answer about misunderstandings of progress.
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He explained that linking movements and understanding transitions helps practitioners maintain control between positions, while careful image sequences make those connections easier to study.
Where in the source: Structure, visual presentation and transitions answers.
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He described balance, positioning and pressure as ways to reduce reliance on strength and preserve efficient training as physical attributes change.
Where in the source: Physical attributes answer.
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He advised studying one technique at a time, drilling and applying it, then revisiting failures; regular attendance, attention and adjustment mattered more than rushing.
Where in the source: Studying the book, discipline and hoped-for-change answers.
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He sees timing, control and balance as principles shared by sport jiu-jitsu, self-defence and MMA despite their different rules.
Where in the source: Question about separating sport, self-defence and MMA.
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IBJJF original Master International 2011 results(opens in a new tab)
IBJJF lists him first in Master 5 men’s black-belt featherweight and third in the open class at the 2011 Master International Championship.
Where in the source: Master5/Black/Male/Feather: only Julio Cezar Fernandez/BJJ Revolution listed; Open:1RolandoToroAcuna,2FabioMartinsNogueira,3CharlesWetmore and JulioCezarFernandez.
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IBJJF original World Master 2014 results(opens in a new tab)
He won Master 6 men’s black-belt featherweight at the 2014 World Master Championship, ahead of Igor Dominguez Andrade.
Where in the source: Male/Master6/Black/Feather149lb:1JulioCesarFernandezNunes/BJJRevolution,2IgorDominguezAndrade/GracieBarra; nextLight.
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Atlas Jiu Jitsu, Instructors(opens in a new tab)
Atlas Jiu Jitsu identifies its head professor and owner Edward Anthony as a black belt under Fernandez.
Where in the source: Edward Anthony first paragraph.
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Richmond Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, About Us(opens in a new tab)
Richmond Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu identifies head instructor Trey Martin as certified under Fernandez and describes itself as an early BJJ Revolution school.
Where in the source: Head Instructor and original Revolution schools paragraphs.
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