UFC Veteran Demian Maia Opens Museum, Academy in Sao Paulo

Considered one of the biggest legends of jiu-jitsu in UFC history, Demian Maia has just inaugurated a new academy in Sao Paulo, where, besides learning new techniques, students will be able to study the whole history of the sport, from the founders through the great competitors that marked jiu-jitsu history in Brazil.

In the following video, Maia delivers an exclusive presentation of the new space to Sherdog.com, showing the museum area and introducing the three dojos named after three icons of the sport: Hélio e Carlos Gracie (dojo 1), Carlson Gracie (dojo 2) and Fábio Gurgel (dojo 3).

According to Maia, who has 32 fights in 12 years in UFC, the main focus of the new school will not be to produce MMA champions.

“We will have one Octagon where jiu-jitsu classes and MMA will take place, but our main focus is to give the best structure to the public who wants to learn jiu-jitsu to have a quality of life,” Maia said. “We will have kid’s and women’s only classes and also private classes.”

Maia last appeared at UFC Fight Night 170, where he suffered a first-round TKO loss to current welterweight No. 1 contender Gilbert Burns. Prior to that, Maia had earned successive triumphs over Ben Askren, Anthony Rocco Martin and Lyman Good in 2019.