By Rhett Butler for MMAPayout.com
Ever head the term, “Respect the architect?” It is a modern day colloquialism explaining the reverence one should innately have for society’s builders. Builder’s come in many forms not only in the cad drawing diagram crew but within every clique, faction and organization there lies at the center the great conjoiner. MMA Fighter talent manager, Jorge Guimaraes is this foundation for his mixed martial arts powerhouse, Tough Media/Joia Entertainment. Surprisingly enough his first career endeavors actually went the way of architecture; a bit of early foreshadowing? Perhaps.
“I wasn’t too happy going to an architecture school; I was almost ready to become an architect. Then I got tired of it, I wasn’t really happy with it and it wasn’t good to me. I was like yearning to go to Bali, Indonesia and stay there to surf and chill and decide what I was going to do with my life.”
As the critical turning point in any collegiate life, Guimaraes was conflicted with his current studies, which prepared him for a life of scaling and infrastructure planning, and the search for something that might be more freeing. As usual the solution is never readily available within however a stroke of good advice shifted the course of Guimaraes life.
“Then Rorion Gracie, the guy who created the UFC and brought jiu-jitsu to America and all over the world, when I told him I was going to Indonesia he said, ‘man no way dude go to California; it’s beautiful, there’s surf, there’s everything it’s a great place and I have all the infrastructure I can help you out.” So two weeks later I was flying to L.A. and that was in 1979 so that’s how everything started.”
Having grown up between Rio De Janeiro and Copacabana, Brazil, Guimaraes lived amongst the Gracie family as a neighbors his whole early life. Training and relationships paid off as Guimaraes rode the Gracie jiu-jitsu wave into American and across the world.
“In 1990, I saw the opportunity to have a show and a media company. They started airing the old UFC and Japan fights and they had a couple of events in Holland, you know, right from the beginning like Pancrase and Shooto all were starting to be shown on a Brazilian T.V. channel. I saw the opportunity, you know, I had all the connections and I kind of put a show together, I went to the channel, they loved the idea. My show which used to be a half-hour monthly show that aired once a week, they used to do a lot of reruns, but now it’s a 1-hour weekly show and we show the top fighters but everything came together.”
Passing the Guard, the name of the show is the biggest and first MMA related television show ever to grace the country of Brazil and it has been a major factor in building successful MMA promotion brands in the country.
“Basically, I show a lot of training all over Brazil. Like when Lyoto (Machida) was about to fight Rashad (Evans) I went to Belem, where he was training and I go to both of those guys training and show it. It’s basically like a countdown type of thing right before the fight so that people get excited and want to buy the pay-per-view.”
Starting in 1997, Guimaraes began managing fighters staring with Vitor Belfort and growing into a staple that houses Anderson Silva, the Nogueira Brothers, Lyoto Machida and Paulo Filho amongst others.
“I have a great partner in Ed Soares, we have a great thing going. The other thing is I have a great eye; I can see when a guy has a great future. I’ve been around with this sport before it even started and I have a good eye to pick the talent. And of course through my show and my reputation that I’ve created throughout this universe they all come to me; the best fighters in Brazil they come to me first.”
Like any great builder, Guimaraes understands that relationships, teamwork and a strategy are the building blocks to successful planning. As the future progressed, the reluctant architect left the career of a structural builder and instead used those skills to erect a worldwide sport phenomenon.
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