Lucas Sachs is a jiu-jitsu black belt under Walter Mattos, José Mario Sperry, and Fernando Paradeda as well as a former representative of the Sul Jiu-Jitsu Academy, one of the most iconic grappling teams from the Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Sul. Sachs was the president of his state’s federation, the FGJJ (Federação Gaúcha de Jiu-Jitsu) for 5 years (2013-2017) and was later praised for his work as a grappling coach for some of Australia’s biggest mixed martial arts fighters, namely Robert Whittaker, Jacob Malkoun and Isi Fitikefu.Lucas Sachs was born on April 19, 1981, in Porto Alegre, the capital city of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.During his childhood, Lucas was an avid football (soccer) player, being part of Grêmio’s (Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense) soccer program – one of the state’s top football clubs – where he played up until the juvenile division.Sach’s first steps into martial arts were taken through judo, a short-lived experience when he was a child. When Lucas was 14 years old, his school schedule was not compatible with football practice. Finding himself unable to train at Grêmio as much as he wanted to, Sach’s decided to return to the world of combat sports finding in jiu-jitsu his martial art of choice.Although Lucas trained both football and BJJ training simultaneously for the first couple of years, once he conquered a silver medal at the 1998 World Championships, the young athlete decided to leave his ball-playing days behind to dedicate all his attention towards grappling.Lucas’s first instructors were Walter Mattos and José Mario Sperry at the legendary Sul Jiu-Jitsu Academy. Later in Sachs’ life, his tuition was also greatly influenced by another well-known face of Porto Alegre’s jiu-jitsu scene, Mr. Fernando Paradeda. All three instructors helped in the development of Sachs over the years, being all there when Sachs was promoted to black belt, in 2006.At the age of 18, Lucas Sachs started his law degree, yet, the young athlete never lost track of jiu-jitsu and continued to train and compete regularly with solid performances, which included a run, up to the quarter-finals of the IBJJF World Championships in 2009, losing to a future star of the sport, then making his debut in the black belt division – Bernardo Faria.From 2013 until 2017, Lucas Sachs presided over the Federação Gaúcha de Jiu-Jitsu (FGJJ), the sport’s governing body in Sachs’ home state. A time when Lucas helped, through the federation, sponsor many high-end athletes to compete internationally. During this period, Rio Grande do Sul athletes brought home over 60 medals from the IBJJF World Championships. Quite a deed for a region with lesser numbers of athletes – when compared to juggernauts such as Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Amazonas.In 2018 Lucas visited Sydney, Australia for his honeymoon. During his stay, Sachs’ visited the local Gracie Humaitá academy, a gym led by Bruno Panno. After class, both Lucas and Panno spent some time talking, and during this conversation, Bruno mentioned he was looking for an instructor with Lucas’ profile. It had been a life-long dream of Lucas to move out of Brazil and seek a different lifestyle, and this was the perfect opportunity to fulfill that goal. In December that year, Sachs moved to his new Australian home.It was through a former training partner at Sul Jiu-Jitsu and good friend, Mr. Alex Prates, that Lucas Sachs was invited to coach at the former UFC middleweight’s champion, Robert Whittaker’s academy. Whittaker was Prate’s gym business partner and through their academy, Lucas Sachs worked with several of Australia’s top mixed martial artists, including Jacob Malkoun and Isi Fitikefu.