Master Alexandre “Soca” Freitas is a 7th-degree coral belt, 1998 ADCC world champion, and the founder of the Soca BJJ academy network our Glen Cove school proudly belongs to. A black belt under Master Carlos Gracie Jr., he has taught jiu-jitsu since 1993 and has promoted more than 90 black belts.
- 7°Coral Belt
promoted 2025 - ADCCWorld Champion
1998, −66 kg - 10×World Master
Champion - 6×Pan-American
Champion - 2×Abu Dhabi
World Legend - 90+Black belts
promoted
From Gracie Barra to the world stage
Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1972, Alexandre took his first jiu-jitsu class in 1988 at Gracie Barra in Barra da Tijuca under Jean Jacques Machado. The nickname “Soca” — from socador, “puncher” — was hung on him by Renzo Gracie and Carlos Gracie Jr. after he took up boxing on the side. When Jean Jacques moved to the United States, Carlos Gracie Jr. took over his training and awarded him his black belt in 1994 — a year after he had already begun teaching, the origin of the “Est. 1993” on the Soca BJJ crest.
As a competitor he reached the sport’s summit: ADCC world champion in 1998 (voted the event’s most technical athlete), twice ADCC silver medalist behind Royler Gracie, IBJJF Worlds medalist, Pan-American champion, ten-time World Master champion, and two-time Abu Dhabi World Pro Legends champion.
Building Soca BJJ on Long Island
In 2005, offered his pick of coaching destinations, he chose Long Island and opened the Soca BJJ Academy in Wantagh, NY — today the headquarters of a network that includes our Glen Cove academy and a West Coast branch in San Diego. Every Soca school teaches his curriculum: technical, structured, ego-free jiu-jitsu for kids and adults. On August 9, 2025, in front of his students in Wantagh, Renzo Gracie and Jean Jacques Machado promoted him to 7th-degree coral belt — a rank held by only a few dozen people in the world.
Timeline
- 1972 Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 1988 First class at Gracie Barra under Jean Jacques Machado
- 1993 Begins teaching jiu-jitsu — the Soca BJJ “Est. 1993”
- 1994 Black belt from Carlos Gracie Jr.
- 1998 ADCC World Champion (−66 kg), Most Technical Athlete
- 2005 Moves to Long Island; opens Soca BJJ in Wantagh, NY
- 2016–17 Back-to-back Abu Dhabi World Pro Legends titles
- 2025 Promoted to 7th-degree coral belt by Renzo Gracie & Jean Jacques Machado
With Master Soca in Glen Cove
Master Soca is a regular presence on our mats — running seminars, overseeing curriculum, and tying on new belts himself. These photos are from promotion day at Soca BJJ Glen Cove, December 2025.
Master Soca in competition
Long before he was tying belts on our students, Soca was the man to beat in the sport’s lightest divisions — ADCC world champion in 1998 and still stepping onto the World Master mats decades later. A few frames from a competition career that is still going.
Competition photos courtesy of the Soca BJJ network (socabjj.com). A licensed ADCC 1998 archival photo can drop into the placeholder tile above.
Watch Master Soca compete
See the jiu-jitsu that built the Soca curriculum — from an ADCC world final against a Gracie to a World Master title and, in 2025, his coral-belt promotion.
Looking for the original 1998 ADCC run, where Soca submitted every opponent to the gold? Search the ADCC 1998 footage on YouTube →
Master Carlos Gracie → Master Carlos Gracie Jr. → Master Alexandre “Soca” Freitas → Professors Ron & Cristian on our Glen Cove mats. See our full lineage →