Marcio “Gracinha” Cesar is the head coach of MMA and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at Lions MMA Club Phuket. His career spans more than fifty professional MMA bouts and a fifth-degree black belt earned through decades on the mats in Brazil’s most respected academies — more than 19 years as a black belt and a lifetime in the sport.
Gracinha was forged at Chute Boxe Academy and Nova União Brazil, schools that produced champions across MMA and BJJ. He competed internationally in Shooto and Pancrase before bringing that experience to Phuket, where he now coaches beginners, holiday athletes, and fighters preparing for regional and global cards.
At Lions on Soi Ta-iad, Marcio runs structured BJJ classes (gi and no-gi), anchors the amateur and pro MMA curriculum, and sets the technical standard for the gym. Students get corrections from someone who has lived high-level grappling and MMA — not theory from a part-time instructor.
COACHING AT LIONSMarcio’s coaching style is direct and technical: positional detail first, then pressure and fight application. White belts learn safe falling and fundamentals; colored belts get competition-ready refinements; MMA athletes work gi and no-gi with cage-transfer in mind.
If you are visiting Phuket and searching for a BJJ black belt coach or MMA trainer with real fight mileage, Gracinha is why grapplers and mixed-rules athletes choose Lions over generic holiday mats.
