Raul Jimenez
Address
Las Vegas, Nevada
Phone
About Us
Raul Jimenez was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador on March 14, 1976.
Growing up, Jimenez was an avid swimmer, a sport he played for over a decade before finding his love for martial arts.
During the 2000s Raul discovered mixed martial arts and became a fan of this sport. Through a friend of his, Jimenez found a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu school led by Roberto Bitar, a black belt under Royce Gracie with whom Gacho initiated his jiu-jitsu journey in 2005.
Although Roberto Bitar was Jimenez’s first instructor, Gacho had different influences while developing as a grappler. Among the many essential figures in Raul’s evolution are Freddy Sukata (promoted Gacho to blue belt), Chad Robbo (purple belt), and “Macaco” Patino (brown belt). Also, last but certainly not least, Romero “Jacare” Cavalcanti, who promoted Jimenez to black belt in 2014.
Unhappy with where his motherland was heading, politically, Raul opted to move with his family to the United States where he opened an affiliate of the Alliance Academy in Las Vegas which withstood for many years.
Gacho was a faithful Alliance representative up until the COVID-19 pandemic, back in 2019, when he was forced to close his academy for a few months due to the local government’s restrictions. During this period, the burden of the affiliation fees became too deer to maintain and Jimenez opted to follow his own path and start his brand, Studio 76.
