São Paulo – Martial arts champions Nogueira brothers are building a professional and business story in the United Arab Emirates and plan on expanding their operations in the country and region. A Team Nogueira gym is already operating in Dubai, and the duo plans on opening three more units in the emirate. The projects with the Arab world also include exporting the Minotauro Energy Drink and sending young Brazilian fighters to have experiences in the region as part of their Sport Beyond Borders initiative.
So said MMA world champion Rodrigo Nogueira, also known as Minotauro (pictured above), who visited the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) in São Paulo, Brazil, on Wednesday (4). According to him, the Team Nogueira gym opened in Dubai in 2021 by Sharjah sheikh Tari Alqassimi. Together with other units in Switzerland and the United States, it is one of the three gyms of the brand overseas. In Brazil, the Team Nogueira network consists of eight units. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, they were 28.
The fighter says that the gym in Dubai is attended by people seeking for a healthy lifestyle and quality of life. The kids’ area alone is 400 square meters. There is also a space for athletes seeking for a high performance. Although the Team Nogueira brand is focused on jiu-jitsu, it offers different classes like Muay Thai, judo, capoeira, yoga, and weight training. Minotauro sees the multiculturality in Dubai, with a large foreign-born population, as a reason to plan for more units. He is also interested in opening gyms in Saudi Arabia.
Another plan of the Nogueira brothers is selling the MInotauro Energy Drink in the UAE, thus capitalizing on the worldwide notoriety of the duo in martial arts. The beverage started being produced in 2011 in Rio de Janeiro, and now 200,000 liters are manufactured a month. Right now, though, Minotauro explains that they are studying the market rules in the UAE and packaging issues to go along with the plan to start exporting by 2023.
Beyond borders
The Nogueira brothers are also involved in a large educational project called Sport Beyond Borders. It is an editorial collection to be used in physical education classes in schools, a project that the Nogueiras are partners of and that is carried out by the content producing company Inteligência Educational. The material has been adopted by the city schools of Maceió, Alagoas, and Várzea Grande, Mato Grosso.
Minotauro says that the material includes content for teachers, students and family members and bring information on the rules of sports, the history of each sport, sport champions as well as English for sports. There is a 90-page issue developed by the Nogueira brothers on Marial arts. Minotauro says it is also a behavioral book – due to the values the sport activities involve – and believes the project is a way to implant the sport culture in Brazil.
The material aims for students to have experiences “beyond borders” and go international with access to scholarships that other countries offer athletes. “The US offers 30,000 scholarships for students,” Minotauro says about the benefits of standing out in some sports. This international exchange includes participating in competitions or even get a job overseas. In the UAE, for example, many Brazilians give jiu-jitsu classes, which is something that Minotauro aims for the youth supported by the project.
Now between 700 to 800 Brazilians give jiu-jitsu classes in the UAE. The sport is part of the curriculum of local schools and is practiced in the Army and other public agencies in the country. UAE-based company called Palm Sports focuses on spreading jiu-jiutsu and martial art training in the country. Palm Sports will donate kimonos to students from the social project developed by Minotauro and his brother Rogério Nogueira, aka Minotouro, the Nogueira Brothers Institute.
Minotauro believes the jiu-jitsu teaching in the UAE is a job opportunity for Brazilians and that the competitions held in the Arab country is another possibility for the country to excel. “They like the fight. The matches are streamed on the broadcast TV in Abu Dhabi, and they really respect and value martial arts,” he said. The first in-person events in the field during the pandemic took place in the UAE, and Minotauro sees this as a reflex of the organization and the advanced stage in the health department.
Minotauro
A global celebrity, Minotauro won MAMA, UFC Pride and Rings championships. Born in Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, he is considered one of the best fighters of all times. His brother Minotouro build a successful boxing career and won a bronze medal in the 2007 Pan American Games. Rogério Nogueira is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and made a successful career in MMA as well.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
