Luca Atalla

Luca Atalla is the founder of Gracie Magazine. He is a black belt of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu under Master Carlos “Carlinhos” Gracie Jr. and won the title of champion and most technical blue belt athlete in the inaugural Jiu-Jitsu World Championship in 1996, in Rio de Janeiro Brazil. He is the brother of another former Jiu-Jitsu world champion, Roberto “Risada” Atalla, and is married to Maria Guillobel Atalla, a veterinarian and sister of Jiu-Jitsu teacher Paulo Guillobel. Now residing in New Jersey, USA, Luca makes regular posts regarding his life in his new home on his blog,
Early life
Born on October 9, 1973, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, son of the economist Roberto Salim Atalla and teacher Sheila de Moraes Santos Atalla, Luis Carlos “Luca" de Moraes Atalla is the founder of the Jiu-Jitsu news and training publication GRACIE Magazine. Introduced to the martial art by his brother, Roberto “Risada” Atalla, after finishing the technician school, Luca was taken with it and flourished within the ranks of the Gávea Jiu-Jitsu academy, under instructors Helio “Soneca” Moreira, Roberto “Gordo” Correia and José Henrique Leão Teixeira Filho, before his training was interrupted by his engineering studies at university. During the following summer vacation (December 1993), Luca took up the sport again, this time at Gracie, the Gracie Ipanema Academy, under Renzo Gracie with whom he immediately developed strong ties.
After starting training again with Renzo Gracie, Luca would continue his practice of Jiu-Jitsu at the Gracie Barra Academy, where Renzo had received his own instruction, as Renzo was actively fighting in Jiu-Jitsu and, eventually, at the mixed martial arts and carried out his preparations there. Luca had at this point (August 1994) decided to drop out of engineering school and quit his internship as a systems analyst to devote himself to Jiu-Jitsu, as a competitor and journalist.
GRACIE Magazine
At Gracie Barra, Luca was in his element. He successfully competed in Jiu-Jitsu events, winning the title of world champion as a blue belt, and subsequently winning major titles in the other belt classes, between the years 1995 and 2001, when he left competition behind him. Master Carlos Gracie Jr, leader of the Gracie Barra team, before Luca excelled as an athlete under his tutelage, convinced Luca to drop his job and help him in administering the fledgling Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Confederation (CBJJ), as well as the Jornal Gracie newspaper, which would later metamorphose into GRACIE Magazine, of which Luca is CEO .
Less than two years after re-establishing Jornal Gracie, Luca took his journalistic endeavors a step further by quitting the post he held at the CBJJ and launching GRACIE Magazine. He had taken the scathing criticism he received from Ricardo Azoury, a Jiu-Jitsu black belt and founder of Brazil's first independent photography agency (F-4), regarding the issue of Jornal Gracie he produced for the inaugural Jiu-Jitsu World Championships, as a challenge. With the experienced Ricardo Azoury offering guidance, GRACIE Magazine quickly became a credible source of information, bringing news and training material to Jiu-Jitsu fans and practitioners, and sold in newsstands across Brazil, as well as reaching the entire globe via the Graciemag.com website.
In 2002, with a great deal of experience in publishing magazines, Luca and the GRACIEMAG team would launch NOCAUTE magazine, to cover the growing market of mixed martial arts, so that GRACIE Magazine could devote greater space to Jiu-Jitsu instruction and news.
A few months after Luca earned his degree in Journalism with honors at Estácio de Sá University, he saw his long-time dream for his magazine come true, as, in March 2006, the first bilingual issue of GRACIE Magazine was printed with all articles displayed in English and Portuguese, and later the GRACIEMAG.com website was, too.
On April 20 of 2007, Luca married Maria Guillobel Atalla in a ceremony that took place in Rio de Janeiro. They currently live in Hazlet, New Jersey and Luca teaches at Renzo Gracie Holmdel in his spare time.
Competitive Record
• Blue belt
Silver medalist Pan American Championship 1995
World Champion 1996
Most technical athlete World Championship 1996
• Purple belt
Brazilian Interstate Champion 1996
Bronze medalist Brazilian Team Championship 1996
Champion Pan-American 1997
Second place Pan-American 1997
Second place Brazilian Team Championship 1997
Champion Pan-American 1998
• Brown/black belt
Second place Brazilian Team Championship 2001

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