Júlio dos Anjos is a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt under Master Júlio César Pereira. Photo: Ralfh Jigger

Julio dos Anjos, 28, is one of the main propagators of Jiu-Jitsu in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. An avid competitor, winner of titles from the IBJJF’s Pan and Euros, Julio now splits his time between his usual heavy schedule — teaching as many as six Jiu-Jitsu classes in a day — and the launch of his own gym, JDA Training Center.

The gym, located in Dubai, will provide bespoke training for students wishing to improve the quality of their lives or even becoming high-performance athletes, as Julio explained in a recent interview.

“JDA Training Center has a personalized training program for different needs,” he said. “If the practitioner just wants to train as a hobby, to have a healthy lifestyle, or compete also, this is the right place. I’m very excited to teach everything I know to my students and help them achieve their goals.”

JDA Training Center in Dubai. Photo: Ralfh Jigger

After five years — the time he’s been a black-belt — Julio is starting to reap the fruits of his decisions from when he was younger. If nowadays he’s starting his own business, previously he had tougher times, including financial troubles in 2017.

“In 2017, I had to leave Brazil with my family to seek out a better living standard, because we had lots of financial difficulty,” he said. “Thank God now is a new period; we are achieving our goals, and that makes us happy and motivated to carry on with our journey. My daughter will be turning two soon, and I’m able to give her a good quality of life. This country has taught me many things and made me grow a lot as a human being.”

A Jiu-Jitsu student since he was 14, he also plans to compete in the coming months — which means focusing on his physical preparation. “For a long time, it was hard focusing on the training,” said Julio, whose wife Enaile is a fellow black belt.

“Even when you are competing from time to time, it’s not the same as being 100% focused on the training like athletes today are. But I have plans now to train hard and, God willing, arrive better prepared at my next competitions.”