Brendan Hefter

Faces of Massachusetts MMA: Roberto Maia

     While Mixed Martial Arts is synonymous with the legendary Gracie family, many have not heard of Roberto Maia, cousin to Carlos Gracie Jr.

Born in Brazil, Maia grew up surrounded by Jiu Jitsu with the likes of his cousin Carlos and Renzo Gracie, learning the art ever since he was little. After moving to Massachusetts, he was handed his black belt by Renzo Gracie on behalf of Carlos in 1988. Taking seven years off as a construction worker, Maia stopped his practice of Jiu Jitsu. He didn’t practice or train jiu jitsu in those seven years, but he never forgot about it. “I used to roll around with my construction workers and we would just roll around with construction boots in the dirt!” he said. His former practice of the martial art was almost completely behind him, until Renzo Gracie came up from Brazil in 1994 to do a seminar. After not seeing Renzo is seven years, Roberto went to the seminar, where Renzo told Maia he should start a school. Hesitant at first, Maia asked his cousin for permission, and ever since then he has been teaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He is currently a fourth degree black belt in Jiu Jitsu, making him the highest ranked black belt in New England.

     Widely popular UFC lightweight contender, Kenny Florian is next to fight BJ Penn for the UFC Lightweight Title. Ken-Flo is coming off an impressive win via rear-naked choke over Joe Stevenson. His ground game is considered one of the best aspects in his game, and is the reason for many of his key victories. His BJJ black belt was given to him in August 2003, under Roberto.

“I am very proud of getting my black belt in BJJ from Roberto. If I had to use one art to fight MMA, I would use BJJ.” Kenny told me.

“Roberto is just a great guy and from the beginning he opened up his academy to me and my brothers and treated us like family. He gave us a place to really explore and study the art of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He started us on the beautiful journey towards BJJ mastery. This is a journey that will never stop. Who knows where I would be if I never met Roberto Maia.”

  Kenny Florian is one of many who have received their black belt under Roberto. Many of his former students have opened up their own schools prior to receiving their black belt. Seven schools, including MASS BJJ Academy, Northshore BJJ, and Triumph Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are run by head instructors who have received their brown/black belts under Roberto.

     With the amazing growth of MMA around the world, the traditional Roberto has found himself a fan of the sport.

     “I think MMA has grown inside of me little by little. Right now I am more than I ever used to be.”

     MMA has also turned into a possible business opportunity. “Right now we are on the verge of putting an MMA program in the school.”

   As a fan and an instructor, Roberto believes that traditional BJJ is important to improving a fighter’s ground game in MMA.  “If you work out with the Gi [martial arts robe] it almost forces you to be technical. It slows things down and makes you practice a little more without getting hurt. My advice is to learn as much as you can of all the styles there is; it’s called MMA, a mix of all different kinds of Martial arts. Try to learn as much as you can. Don’t go out there and just train, learn.”

Roberto Maia owns and teaches Brazilian jiu jitsu at Boston Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Newton, MA.