Daniel Mola discovered Brazilian jiu jitsu at 12, and it never let go. He now owns and operates Atom Jiu Jitsu & Science at 118 Needham Street, where he teaches multiple classes a day – demonstrating positions, watching as students work through them, and stepping in with small corrections or using a grappling dummy to showcase the mechanics.
Across the country and around the world, Brazilian jiu jitsu has surged from a niche martial art into a mainstream sport. Mola discovered it before that boom.
His first exposure to martial arts came through kung fu movies. As a child, he tried to recreate the movements he saw on screen. He then trained in kung fu for several years before his family moved to a new neighborhood in São Paulo, Brazil. Unable to find a nearby kung fu school, he walked into a jiu jitsu gym instead.
“I didn’t know what jiu jitsu was,” Mola said. “But on the first day, I realized how jiu jitsu was efficient against all the martial arts.”
Competition
“I’ve always been very competitive with everything I’ve ever done,” Mola said.
He began competing soon after he started training. At his first tournament – the São Paulo State championship – he remembers feeling nervous. He advanced all the way to the final.
“The first lesson was realizing, ‘I got to the final match, so I’m actually good. If I put in the effort, I can make it,’” Mola said.
In the final, he faced a training partner from his own gym – someone he usually beat in practice.
“The second lesson was to never underestimate your opponent,” Mola said.
He lost by a few points, finishing second.
‘Shoemaker’
Mola went on to compete at a high level across Brazil, earning the nickname “Sapateiro” – Portuguese for “shoemaker.”
As a brown belt, he was newly allowed to use foot locks, techniques previously restricted because of their potential danger. The added freedom became part of his identity.
At one tournament, he faced the favored competitor. The crowd chanted his opponent’s name.
“When I got the foot lock,” Mola said, “the whole place went dead silent.”
He would go on to become a second-degree black belt and a world champion, and later compete in mixed martial arts as well. His final fight came in 2022 at the Cage Titans Fighting Championship, where he secured a quick submission victory.
Only after stepping away did he begin to understand how it affected him each time he entered the cage.
“It’s all black past the cage,” Mola said. “I don’t hear anything. I don’t see anyone.”
As a competitor, Mola learned directly from his coaches. When they traveled, he was often asked to step in and teach competition teams, which included athletes with higher belts than him.
The experience forced him to think beyond his own training and focus on the needs of the group as a whole.
Still, he delayed the full transition from fighter to coach.
“When you’re competing, you don’t really care if you’re going too hard, even in sparring, or training,” Mola said. “But when you’re a coach, you have to be more cognizant of those things.”
He studied physical education in college. His coursework focused on sports performance, with an emphasis on physiology and biomechanics.
“Knowledge permeates everything,” he said.
At Atom, he adjusts his teaching based on belt level, emphasizing fundamentals for beginners and finer details for advanced students as they work to integrate techniques into their overall game.
A dream of his own
Mola moved to Boston in 2018, choosing it over Lisbon, Portugal. After a year of traveling back and forth while securing his visa, he settled full-time and began working at UFC Gym Boston while continuing to compete.
Mola had dreamed of opening his own academy since he first started jiu jitsu. In his spare time as a kid, he sketched ideas in his notebook, imagining what the space might look like. Back then, he assumed the gym would simply be called “Daniel Jiu Jitsu,” following the tradition he saw in many academies named after their head instructors.
“Their name was the flag,” he said.
Over time, Mola noticed that gyms began moving away from being named after individuals. Giving a place a name separate from a single person, he said, allows it to stand for something larger that people can rally behind.
“Atom” had long resonated with him because of his interest in science. When it came time to name his gym, the choice felt natural.
He opened Atom in December 2024.
Fighter to teacher
In the early days of Atom, Mola said he sometimes turned people away because he felt he needed to openly signal his disappointment when he saw reckless behavior on the mat. If someone gets injured, he said, it can sour their experience with jiu jitsu altogether.
Now, maintaining that culture is easier. Regulars help set expectations.
Amanda McQuade, a brown belt who primarily trains at a gym in Norwood, began stopping at Atom because it sits along her commute through Newton.
“I felt like it was just what the area needed, and I couldn’t not go in,” she said. “The location helps me train more. With work and everything, it’s hard to get training in, so it’s just a prime spot for me.”
She also appreciated that Mola did not require students to purchase a gym-specific gi (uniform) – a practice common at some academies.
McQuade used to live in Norwood and started at the gym there 13 years ago. She said she loves training at Atom and appreciates Mola’s instruction.
“I feel like he speaks the language of jiu jitsu. He’s also patient and fun,” she said. “You can tell that he really knows it inside and out, and he loves it.”
Arek Kaya, a Waltham firefighter who has trained at Atom for about six months, said there can be a steep learning curve for beginners, but Mola helps ease the transition.
“He really knows his stuff. He has a solution for everything in jiu jitsu, all your problems, all your questions,” he said.
Kaya said he enjoys Mola’s scientific approach – including breaking down balance and center of gravity.
“It seems like it would be a little complicated, but actually for me it simplifies everything because it helps me maneuver my body and use science to position myself and sweep my opponent,” he said.
On the mat, Mola encourages newcomers not to worry about whether they feel ready.
“You’re not going to feel capable before coming here. You feel capable once you come here,” he says.
