Professor Marcio Carvalho
A black belt under Professor Deivid Dias — and a homegrown one. Marcio earned every belt from white to black right here at WDC BJJ, then went out and proved it as a multiple-time IBJJF champion. Your first class is free.
White to black, right here at home
Marcio Carvalho
Some academies import their black belts. WDC BJJ builds its own — and Professor Marcio Carvalho is the proof. He walked into this academy as a white belt beginner and earned every single belt, white to black, on these mats in DC, under Professor Deivid Dias of GFTeam.
Along the way he became a multiple-time IBJJF champion — a competitor who tested the game he learned at home against the sport's biggest stages, and brought every lesson back to the students he now teaches. As the academy's morning coach, Marcio is the professor who opens WDC BJJ's day.
The path, walked in full
Every black belt has a beginning, and Marcio's was exactly where his students stand now: a first class, a white belt, and a room full of people who knew more than he did. What he did next is the whole story — he stayed. Class after class, belt after belt, through the years of work that separate a beginner from a professor.
His black belt came from Professor Deivid Dias, the founder of WDC BJJ — a direct line from the head coach of GFTeam DC to one of his own students. That lineage matters here, because it means the jiu-jitsu Marcio teaches is the academy's jiu-jitsu, learned the way every student in the room is learning it: from the source, one detail at a time.
Competition sharpened him. A multiple-time IBJJF champion, Marcio has stood on the podium of the sport's biggest federation more than once — and competitors who come up through a single academy carry something extra onto the podium: they represent a room, a coach, and a standard, not just themselves.
Today, as a coach, he is the person in the building who best understands what a new student is feeling — because he has felt every stage of it here. The white belt's confusion, the blue belt's grind, the long road through purple and brown: he has lived all of it on these mats, and he teaches like it.
Off the mats, Marcio's energy goes to two loves: soccer, and the DJ booth. The same feel for rhythm, timing, and reading a room that makes a good DJ makes a good jiu-jitsu player — and if the music at the academy ever sounds better than it should, you know who to thank.
His story is the academy's promise, kept: start here, stay here, and the belts take care of themselves.
What he teaches
Adult gi & no-gi classes
Professor Marcio — the academy's morning coach — coaches in the adult program at Takoma Park alongside Professor Deivid; morning and evening gi and no-gi classes run all week, with open mat on Saturday. Check the schedule page for the full week, and tap any class to book your free trial at that exact day and time.
Claim Your Free TrialCoached by someone who walked it
Because Marcio earned every belt here, new students get a professor who remembers exactly what each stage feels like — and what it takes to get through it. Beginner classes focus on fundamentals, steady drilling, and progress you can measure belt by belt.
See the Beginner ProgramYour first class is free.
Start your own white-belt story in a real group class. No experience needed, and no contracts or long-term commitment — just come train. Enrollment includes a free uniform for kids, youth, and adults.
1. Send the free-trial request or call us.
2. We confirm the right class for your age and schedule.
3. Arrive 15 minutes early in athletic clothes.
4. Train in a real group class — then decide with zero pressure.