From a Mat in the Park to Amsterdam's Carlson Gracie Academy
Starring
Marcos "Flexa" Neves Mello is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Carlson Gracie Sr., promoted in 1997. Born and raised in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, he found jiu-jitsu at 14 and lived inside the Carlson Gracie Academy as Carlson's assistant, sleeping on the mat for over a year. He placed second in the world at purple belt in 1996 before back injuries ended his competitive career. Among the first Carlson Gracie black belts to teach seminars in Germany (1999), he immigrated to Amsterdam with no English, cleaned restaurant kitchens to survive, and began teaching jiu-jitsu on a deck in the city's parks in 2002. Twenty-five years later he runs a 150-square-meter Carlson Gracie academy and still teaches seminars internationally.
About the Gym
Carlson Gracie Amsterdam is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy in Amsterdam West, founded by Marcos "Flexa" Neves Mello in 2002—the first known BJJ in the city. It carries the Carlson Gracie lineage, with Marcos representing Carlson Gracie Holland, and trains roughly 106 members.
Programs span adult BJJ in gi and no-gi, a Friday women's-only class led by Professor Olga Lyashevska (a 3rd-degree black belt), kids' classes on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and Carlson Gracie self-defense and open-mat sessions. Marcos honors the Stadspas—Amsterdam's low-income discount card—on the mats, so members who couldn't otherwise afford it can still train.
📍 Address: Burgemeester de Vlugtlaan 125, 1063 BJ, Amsterdam (Amsterdam West), Netherlands
📞 Phone: +31 6 81911917
Summary
This is the story of a man who built Amsterdam's first jiu-jitsu academy from a piece of mat on park grass. Marcos "Flexa" Neves Mello found the art at 14 in Carlson Gracie's Copacabana academy, slept on the mat for over a year as Carlson's assistant, and earned his black belt in 1997.
He arrived in Amsterdam with no English and no money, cleaned restaurant kitchens to survive, and started teaching in the parks in 2002—"one guy brings a beer, the other guy the sounds, and you train."
Twenty-five years later he runs a 150-square-meter Carlson Gracie academy he calls a family, not a fight club—and still lives by the line the black belt gave him: "everywhere I go, the door is open for me."
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