Jose Gomes

Jose was born and raised in Curitiba, Brazil where he started his Jiu Jitsu journey in 1996 under Rodrigo Zanon. In 2005, Jose decided to make a decision to move to New Zealand which started off as a visit and never left since. Jose spent two months in the North Island of New Zealand until he finally settled in Queenstown where he started teaching once a week at Queenstown Gym where he started to build and attract people to the sport of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. In 2010, Fight Science opened its gym doors and Jose began to teach there twice a week and build more and more followers into the sport which was fairly new to the area and New Zealand itself. Gradually more and more people started turning up to classes and Jose continued to coach and compete in New Zealand. In 2012, when Jose finally went back to his home town in Brazil, he received his black belt under Carlson Gracie Curitiba. It was at that time when Alexandre Penao asked if he wanted to represent Carlson Gracie New Zealand. In 2014, Jose opened its doors to Carlson Gracie New Zealand Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy in Queenstown, where the club grew from 15 people to over 200 members.

The success has allowed Jose to open affiliate academies including Carlson Gracie Wanaka, Carlson Gracie Invercargill and most recently in 2020, Carlson Gracie South Canterbury. Jose currently holds a second degree black belt under Carlson Gracie Jr.