Glayton Luiz do Passos Melo

Glayton Melo is the founder and head instructor of IRONGRIP Jiu Jitsu in downtown Raleigh, which he opened in 2020. A third-degree black belt and world champion in the Nova União lineage, he began Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in 2000 at Nova União in Pernambuco, Brazil, and has trained and competed at every belt level for more than 24 years. Before moving to the United States, Melo served as a SWAT officer with the CHOQUE unit of the Pernambuco Police Force, where he applied submission techniques in real self-defense situations, an experience that shaped his view that technique must work outside the academy as well as inside it. His teaching emphasizes transitions, sweeps and quick submissions, with particular focus on butterfly guard, x-guard, back control, and choke and arm lock finishes, adapted to students from beginners to competitors.