Miranda displays his tattoos and the logo of his jiu-jitsu team. (China Daily/Yin Di) |
The trio, Norwegian Fred Thomassen and Agusto Miranda and Queiroz, both from Brazil, met as they pursued their sport by training and competing internationally over a number of years.
They are all impressively tall and well built, athletes with years of training behind them.
But their imposing physical presence has little relation to their friendly demeanor as they chat about trying to encourage more female fighters and the challenges of adjusting to a different language and culture.
They established Big King BJJ gym in Beijing 18 months ago, renting out rooms in Wangjing's KOO Gym to start taking students.
While China has a long history of martial arts, commonly known as kung fu, Queiroz says they want to "introduce a wider spectrum of martial arts to China, in particular jiu-jitsu".
Thomassen, Miranda and Queiroz teach a variety of disciplines with a focus on Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Thai boxing and reality based self-defense, a pragmatic form of martial arts that focuses on modern conflicts and crime situations.
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