The Forge Martial Arts
The home of Gracie Barra Jiu-jitsu in Sheffield UK
About us
The Intructors
Black Belt
Lucio "Lagarto" Rodrigues
Lucio "Lagarto" Rodrigues has been competing and winning in national and international competitions for almost a decade now. "Lagarto" began practising Jiu-Jitsu at the age of 15, and quickly discovered that it was what he wanted do for the rest of his life - refusing to start drinking or smoking like many young people of that age, instead focusing on what he could do to improve himself as an athlete and as a Jiu-Jitsu fighter.
A world Champion in 2002, Lagarto has been teaching at the forge for a few years, having awarded the great majority of belts and insuring that we keep to the higher standards.
Black Belt
John Goldson
A true Sheffield son, John Goldson has been involved in Martial arts for over 23 years. Time in which he obtained his black belt in Wadoryu Karate and also a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Much more than a fan of martial arts John has been on the forefront of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu in Sheffield for over 7 years, training initially with Andy Roberts (brown belt under Roger Gracie) at the Club 393.
At the beginning John and the early BJJ students in Sheffield had to travel to seminars around the country to get tuition with the few visiting black belts from Brazil, training with people like Braulio Estima, Roger Gracie, Royce Gracie and Lucio Lagarto Rodriguez.
His determination paid off when BJJ started to take over a bigger space on the UK's martial arts scene and Submission grappling and BJJ competitions started to happen in this country. A gold medal at the prestigious Urban Gorillaz competition saw his promotion to purple belt in 2006.
John has been training with Lagarto for the past 4 years and their friendship helped shape the Forge and set it in its path to become the home of Gracie Barra in Sheffield. After getting his brown belt earlier this year, John is looking forward to become Sheffield's first Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Black Belt
Lucio Sergio dos Santos
Brazilian from Rio, Lucio Sergio started training Jiu-jitsu "a bit late, in 2000" as he says but quickly showed his talent training for Gracie Barra in Barra da Tijuca. Soon he started competing in various local competitions and soon began to show his true potential, winning the Rio de Janeiro State Championships in 2001, 02, 03, 04 and becoming national Champion in 2001 as well.
He was given his Black Belt in 2006 by Joelson Souza, one of the leading teachers in Rio, winning the State championships as a black belt in both 2007 and 2009. He also is part of the Gracie Combat Team training with Roberto Correia "Gordo" in one of the world's foremost MMA fighting teams.
One of the nicest guys in and out of the mat, Lucio is a visiting teacher coming from Preston, his training ground in England. Get in touch to see when he's around for the next sunday session.