Ramon Lemos

Ramon Lemos was born on April 25, 1979, and raised in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro — a city with a deep jiu-jitsu tradition that shaped his path from an early age. His introduction to the sport came through his father, Geraldo Fialho Lopes, a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu who began guiding Ramon on the mats when the future coach was just five years old.

Like many young grapplers from the Niterói region, Lemos built his foundational game at Associação Oriente, an academy widely respected for its commitment to developing young athletes. The association operated with a rotating group of coaches, and among those who left a lasting mark on Lemos were Welton Ribeiro, Ivanilson, and Alexandre "Zulu" Moura — figures he has consistently credited as formative inspirations. By his mid-teenage years, Associação Oriente had assembled a formidable juvenile squad, with Rafael Barros and the legendary Thiago Fernandes standing out as the team's leading lights.

Around the age of 16, Lemos watched teammates Rafael Barros and Thiago Fernandes make the commute from Niterói to Rio de Janeiro to train at Nova Uniao headquarters under André Pederneiras. Recognizing a significant opportunity to elevate his game, Lemos began joining them on those trips — a decision that proved transformative for both his competitive development and his emerging vision as an instructor.

Training under Pederneiras reshaped Lemos's understanding of jiu-jitsu instruction. Pederneiras's innovative and methodical approach to teaching opened new conceptual doors for Lemos, becoming the philosophical foundation upon which he would later build his own coaching identity. The experience clarified not only how to compete at a high level, but how to transmit jiu-jitsu knowledge effectively and creatively.

Around the year 2000, Vitor Ribeiro and Pederneiras invited Lemos to open a Nova Uniao academy in Rio Claro, São Paulo. He accepted without hesitation. In Rio Claro, Lemos developed a coaching program that extended well beyond technical instruction, placing strong emphasis on moral standards and incorporating a deep evangelical influence into the academy's culture. That environment would soon become a breeding ground for some of the sport's most accomplished competitors.

Over time, Lemos's affiliation gradually shifted from Nova Uniao toward Brasa, a team with stronger roots in the São Paulo grappling scene. The transition reflected both the geographic reality of his base in Rio Claro and the evolving relationships he was cultivating within the sport's competitive landscape.

In October 2008, a significant internal split within Brasa prompted Lemos to step away from that organization and chart an independent course. Alongside André Galvão and Gustavo Campos — men who shared his strong religious convictions — Lemos co-founded Atos Jiu Jitsu, a team built on both technical ambition and a unified set of values among its founders.

The new team's competitive strength drew heavily from the talent pipelines Lemos had cultivated in Rio Claro and that Campos had developed in Porto Alegre. Atos Jiu Jitsu made an immediate impact on the competition circuit from its very first year, with its reputation and reach continuing to grow from there. That gravitational pull eventually attracted Claudio Calasans — who had defeated Lemos in competition in 2006 — to join forces with the very man he had once beaten on the mat.

Ramon Lemos's most enduring contribution to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is his role as an architect of elite competitive talent. His Rio Claro academy served as the primary engine behind Atos Jiu Jitsu's early dominance, producing two of the most technically refined and decorated grapplers of the 2010s in Rafael Mendes and Guilherme Mendes. The Mendes brothers' mastery of the Berimbolo and their systematic approach to competition stand as a direct reflection of the technical culture Lemos fostered.

Beyond the Mendes brothers, Lemos played a meaningful role in the development of Gilbert Burns and Rodrigo Caporal, further cementing his standing as one of the most productive coaches in the sport's modern era. His influence extended into mixed martial arts as well, where he contributed to the jiu-jitsu preparation of former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and heavyweight legend Rodrigo Minotauro Nogueira.

The coaching philosophy Lemos developed — rooted in the innovative instructional methods he absorbed under André Pederneiras and refined through his own emphasis on moral character and discipline — produced a team culture at Atos Jiu Jitsu defined by technical precision, competitive hunger, and a cohesive identity that extends well beyond the mats.

Alongside his coaching work, Lemos maintained an active competition career, competing primarily in the Peso Pena (featherweight) and Leve (lightweight) divisions at the black belt level. His most notable competitive year was 2006, during which he claimed the São Paulo State Championship in dominant fashion — closing the brackets alongside teammate Lucas Leite — and reached the final of the World Black Belt Challenge, finishing as runner-up. That same year brought a notable defeat at the hands of Claudio Calasans, a loss that took on ironic significance years later when Calasans joined the Atos Jiu Jitsu team that Lemos co-founded.

In 2008, amid the organizational changes reshaping his career, Lemos added further titles to his record by capturing both the Circuito FJJRio Championship and the Natural Submission Fight Championship. His experience as a competitor gave him direct insight into the demands of high-level grappling, and that firsthand understanding informed his evolution into a coach capable of preparing athletes for the sport's most unforgiving environments.