1935 to 2013
Grand Master Francisco Sá gave his life to Jiu-Jitsu. On the morning of September 10th, 2013, he passed away in Fortaleza at 77, after melanoma. The mats in Columbia still move because he taught his sons. Spartan Academy MMA is proud to keep his name on the wall and his art on the floor.
He was born December 17th, 1935, in Senador Pompeu, Ceará.
In Ceará, December 17, his birthday, is recognized as Jiu-Jitsu Day in honor of Grand Master Francisco Sá under State Law No. 16,967/2019.
He found Jiu-Jitsu in the pages of O Cruzeiro, in photographs of Helio Gracie, and he did not let go. He trained with Nilo Veloso.
In Recife, serving in the Brazilian Air Force, he found Takeo Iano, a Japanese instructor, a Kodokan standout, and gave him six years, white belt to instructor.
He went home. He opened Central Ringue Club, later Academia Professor Sá. He received his black belt in 1959 from Nilo Veloso. He rose to red belt, Grand Master: the highest rank in the Gentle Art, the work of a lifetime after black belt. As of 2013 he had worn that black belt for 54 years.
The Northeast of Brazil still speaks his name the way other places speak of the Gracies. Pioneer. Teacher. Father of a family that would not let the art die with him.
Guybson. Sazinho. Robson. Three sons, one promise: keep the work alive through SAS Team BJJ.
Head Professor Guybson Sá brought that promise to Columbia, South Carolina, in 2009. Spartan Academy MMA is the academy where this lineage is taught: the same Jiu-Jitsu, on these mats, under the same family name.
Read the family’s story on History. Read the team on SAS Team BJJ.
We honor him when a beginner bows in Columbia. When a child ties a belt. When Guybson teaches the way his father taught: discipline, respect, a life larger than the fight.
Grand Master Francisco Sá, 1935 to 2013. The art remains. The family remains. SAS Team remains. And in Columbia, Spartan Academy MMA remains, proud to be his son’s academy.