HISTORY - The Companhia Paulista, commonly know as Cia Paulista, is a historical Brazilian Jiu Jitsu team enrooted in São Paulo, Brazil. Cia started as a small local team though it grew into one of the top Jiu Jitsu academies in the world since its birth in the 1980’s. Cia Paulista is famed for producing high caliber fighters such as Eduardo Santoro, Carlos Vieira, Roberto Godoi and for their strong links with MMA through fighters such as “Rampage” Jackson, Jorge Patino, Tito Ortiz and many others.
ABROAD - Though the name proudly shows the team’s roots, Cia Paulista outgrew Sao Paulo a long time ago. Carlos “Portugues” Vieira is the black belt that carried the torch outside Sao Paulo, forming a strong branch in the capital of Brazil, Brasilia. He went on to open other academies all over the world, namely in Iceland, Spain (Gran Canarias), Finland, Great Britain, Scotland and the Australian branch which has quickly become the number one team in the Australasian continent. Marcel Leteri leads the charge in Italy and Finland and is the current European champion. Rodrigo Resendes established four academies across Canada and continues to produce Canada's top talent. In Mexico, Gerardo Chaparro leads the charge in producing some of the countries most proficient MMA fighters as seen in the UFC. The US, where our team’s headquarters is based, is also a country where we established very strong base camps, and founder, Master Waldomiro Perez Junior, resides. He has established academies in Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Los Angeles, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Sacramento and Seattle. Today Cia Paulista has more than 40 main academies on almost every continent and is home to many of the champions in their respective continents.
MMA - Cia Paulista’s relationship with MMA started in the 1990’s. The academy’s first champions were Jorge Patino “Macaco” and Roberto Godoi, who became highly respected MMA fighters in the country in the early days of MMA, when the sport was still called Vale Tudo and the rules were far to brutal to be displayed on television. With Master Waldomiro Junior’s move to the United States of America, many American fighters requested his expertise to improve their ground skills. Fighters such as former UFC Champions Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson trained avidly at Cia Paulista. Today Cia Paulista Newport Beach, led by Johnny Mendoza, carries this rich history of success and passion into every class taught by it's certified instructors. Call today for your 2-WEEK FREE TRIAL and become part of our family. We offer MMA, Gi and NoGi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Self Defense and fitness instruction. If you are interested in competing in jiu-jitsu tournaments or MMA events, we have a place for you. We know that many are not interested in competing and we have a great family for you to learn from and refine your skills.
