The story of Thiago Reinaldo
Built through
belief.
Before the black belt, the championships, and the academy in Virginia, there was a boy in Manaus wearing gi pants sewn by his mother.
With my mother · Abu Dhabi World Pro Trials · Manaus, 2013
01 · Before the first class
A VHS tape changed the direction of his life.
Thiago was born and raised in the Aparecida neighborhood of Manaus, Amazonas. He grew up playing in the streets with his cousins and began swimming at seven. Competition was already part of his nature, even before Jiu Jitsu gave that drive a purpose.
In 1994, before fight highlights could travel instantly around the world, a video rental store in Manaus became the setting for a life changing moment. The owner knew Thiago loved martial arts and called him over to recommend a newly arrived VHS recording of UFC 1.
That evening, Thiago watched Royce Gracie use Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to overcome larger opponents. Curiosity became a desire to understand how technique, control, and strategy could change the outcome of a fight.
02 · A beginning built by hand
The first mat came before the first academy.
Before he could take a formal class, Thiago and his friends created their own training space with a tarp and sawdust in a neighbor's yard. They also wrestled on the smooth tile outside a closed bakery, trying to recreate what they had seen and learning through pure determination.
In 1997, a friend from swimming invited him to a Jiu Jitsu class. Thiago could not afford a complete gi. A cousin gave him a jacket, and his mother sewed the pants. At fourteen, he finally stepped onto a real mat and began training under the lineage of Sensei Henrique Machado.
There is no miracle without sacrifice.
A motto carried from Sensei Henrique Machado's lineage in Manaus into Jiu Jitsu and into life.03 · The competitor
The loss that made him return on Monday.
Thiago began training in 1997 and entered his first Amazonense in 1998. He lost after spending four minutes under the pressure of an opponent's sprawl. The result did not push him away. It made him return to class on Monday determined to understand every mistake.
In the Jiu Jitsu community Thiago grew up in, Amazonas was known as a breeding ground for champions. He remembers the Amazonense being spoken of as one of Brazil's most fiercely contested championships. Winning there carried a special meaning.
In 1999, he returned to the Amazonense and became champion as a white belt. After that competition, he received his green belt. The defeat of the previous year had become a reason to seek knowledge, improve, and return better prepared.
In 2001, as a blue belt, Thiago won his division and the absolute at a local competition. The prizes included a gi and a plane ticket to compete at the Brazilian Nationals (IBJJF/CBJJ) in Rio de Janeiro. To him, they meant far more than two prizes. A gi was expensive, and he could not afford another one. Traveling to another state to compete at the Brazilian Nationals had seemed even further beyond his reach.
Thiago remembers a time when Jiu Jitsu had little visibility and was not always viewed favorably by the people around him. His mother did not yet support his dedication to the sport, a concern he understands today. At school, after he told his Portuguese teacher that he practiced Jiu Jitsu, she belittled him in front of his classmates, telling him that one day she would see him carrying boxes at the Port of Manaus. She was referring to physically demanding, low-status manual labor, implying that his dedication to the sport would lead him nowhere. The memory stayed with him.
On the night of that victory, Thiago came home and saw his mother. He tried to tell her what had happened, but emotion interrupted his words. Through his tears, he managed to say that he had won. They embraced and cried together.
That night marked a change. His mother began supporting him, and the opportunity to compete at the Brazilian Nationals was no longer a distant dream. In Rio de Janeiro, Thiago became Brazilian National Champion in the adult heavyweight blue belt division.
Black belt years · Amazonas
Winning where it all began.
Competing in the Amazonense was a constant throughout Thiago's journey. After his first appearance in 1998 and his white belt title in 1999, he competed in every edition through 2015, winning multiple titles as he progressed through the colored belts. These championships were part of his development year after year, long before he became a black belt.
In the black belt division alone, he won seven consecutive weight-division titles from 2009 through 2015, along with six absolute titles. His final Amazonense appearance was in 2015, closing a chapter of continuous participation in the championship that had helped shape him.
Competition became a laboratory for composure, preparation, and honest feedback. Those lessons still shape the way he coaches today.
Sensei Henrique Machado
More than
a professor.
After winning the Brazilian Nationals (IBJJF/CBJJ) as a blue belt, Thiago began drifting away from the training routine he loved. Sensei Henrique Machado noticed the change and did not let those absences go unnoticed.
Some mornings, Sensei would come to wake him up for training. He would wait while Thiago brushed his teeth and got ready to leave. When Thiago said he still needed breakfast, Sensei already had an answer: there was a sandwich waiting for him.
At the time, Thiago knew how firmly his professor believed in discipline. Years later, he came to understand the care behind that insistence. To him, this was more than a professor bringing a student back to training. It was the presence of a father at a time when he needed guidance.
Thiago believes God placed Sensei in his path to help him find his way again. He does not know what his life would have been without that intervention, but he remains deeply grateful for it, for their conversations, and for the years they shared. With Sensei Henrique, he learned far more than Jiu Jitsu.
04 · From Manaus to the United States
An opportunity, a difficult return, and a second call.
Thiago received his black belt from Sensei Henrique Machado in 2008. Four years later, after saving competition prize money for another visa attempt, he traveled to the United States to compete in Las Vegas and California.
During those trips he met Professor Alberto Crane at Gracie Barra Burbank. Alberto became an important influence and opened Thiago's eyes to a life teaching Jiu Jitsu in the United States. Thiago initially declined an opportunity to stay, returned to Manaus, and faced a period of financial uncertainty that made him consider leaving the art.
Then Alberto called again. A teaching opportunity with Gracie Barra Santa Barbara brought Thiago to the United States in 2015. What had once felt distant became the next chapter of his life.
05 · Built by families
Gracie Barra Stafford began before the first class.
In 2018, Jamie Leland and her family were searching for the right professor to help open a Gracie Barra school in Virginia. Their family met Thiago's family, and a shared vision began to take shape.
Thiago was part of the academy from construction onward. Carpet and tile were removed, interior walls were opened, paint went up, and mats went in. His wife and children worked alongside Jamie, her husband, and their children. Gracie Barra Stafford opened its first classes on December 15, 2018, built by two families who believed in what the academy could become.
Jamie, then a blue belt, became Professor Jamie and Thiago's first female black belt. Today they lead together as partners, helping the academy grow into a larger home for students of every age.
Professor Thiago and Professor Jamie · Pan American 2024
06 · More than technique
Teach with love. Lead with purpose.
Thiago sees his students as an extension of his family. He teaches precise technique, but he also teaches discipline, perseverance, resilience, honesty, and the confidence to keep moving through difficult moments.
His wife trains, coaches, and holds a purple belt. Their three children all train, and the two oldest serve as junior assistants. Jiu Jitsu is not only Thiago's profession. It is part of the family's daily life and the way they serve their community.
“Believe. The goal is to help every student discover that progress is possible when effort, discipline, and purpose stay together.
Selected milestones
A life measured in chapters, not medals.
The next chapter is still being written