Pedro Sauer - Personal History

Personal History

Pedro Sauer was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where from an early age, he began training in the martial arts. At age five, he began boxing and later took up judo and taekwondo. At age fifteen, however, his friend, Rickson Gracie, invited him to practice jiu-jitsu with his younger brother, Royler, who at the time was only nine years old. The outcome of this experience convinced him that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was the most effective of all the martial arts, and he began official training the next day.

Sauer worked towards a double major (Economics and Business Administration) in college, and took post-graduation course at Fundacao Getulio Vargas. He worked in Brazil as a stockbroker for eleven years before deciding to move to the United States and pursue a career teaching Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In 1990, he moved to California with the original wave of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructors. He lived in California with Rickson Gracie and trained daily with the Gracie brothers (Rickson, Rorion, Relson, and Royce), their father, Helio Gracie, their cousin, Renzo Gracie, and the Machado Brothers, as well as many others. In December of that same year, he moved to Utah, where he lived for sixteen years, pioneering Brazilian jiu-jitsu in the Southwestern United States.

In the fall of 2006, Pedro Sauer and his family relocated to the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area where he currently teaches at the Pedro Sauer Total Self Defense Academy in Sterling, Virginia As well as at over eighty affiliate schools throughout the world. To date he has promoted around 40 people to the rank of black belt in Gracie jiu-jitsu which include UFC fighters Jeff Curran and Eric Schafer, as well as MMA coach Greg Nelson.

On February 24, 2010, Professor Sauer was promoted to an 8th degree red black belt by Relson Gracie.