Utøvere

Kazuo Yoshida

Nick Rodriguez

Mitsuyo Maeda

"Otávio Maeda"

Josh Hinger

Vinicius de Magalhaes

""Vinny" is a name that first came about in 2004 when Magalhães moved to America. He started being called that by Cesar Gracie and he embraced it as it was an easy solution for the frequent miss-spelling of his first name by the locals."

Jonathan Torres

"JT"

Vinicius Gazola

"Vinícius is often referred to as "Trator" (the Portuguese word for a tractor vehicle), though his nickname was initially "Motor" (the Portuguese word for "engine"). Ferreira started being called Motor among his hometown's BJJ competitive community, early on in his grappling career due to the work-rate imposed by Vinícius on the mats. The name would later change to Trator, once he joined the Alliance team in São Paulo, after a teammate jokingly said "you're not just an engine, you are a tractor" - which are engines more commonly known for their torquing power, seemingly implying a relationship between Vinícius' grappling style and the unstoppable force of the tractor. A joke that soon caught on by the workgroup."

Mitsuyo Maeda

Mauro Sergio Chueng da Silva

Takeo Iano

Leo Vieira

Kaynan Duarte

Nick Ryan

"Nicky"

Matheus Diniz

"Growing up Mathias had different nicknames, but "Gorilla" is the one that stood for longest. The name is used jokingly due to Diniz's posture as he walks."

Lucas Barbosa

""Hulk". When Lucas moved to Rio de Janeiro to follow his dream of becoming a professional jiu-jitsu competitor, his training partners called him Hulk, due to his exceptional physical abilities. Particularly his throwing and pressure passing prowess."

Antonio Ricardo Jardim Liborio

Francisco Sa

""Sázinho" which means "little Sá" or "Sá Junior"."

Evaldo Luiz

Carlos Gracie Senior

"Pai Branco"

Carlos Gracie

""Nanico" which means 'small/short person' an indicator of Master Robson's small frame."

Luiz França

"Luiz França Filho"

Luiz Franca

Marcio Simas

Helio Gracie

Oswaldo Fadda

"Mestre Fadda"

Reyson Gracie

Rillion Gracie

Hélio Gracie

"" Caxinguelê " ("Squirrel"), "O Caçula" ("The Youngest")"

Reyson Gracie

Daniel Beleza

Robson Gracie

Carlos Pinto Sa

Luiz Franco

Hélio Gomes

George Gracie

""Gato Ruivo" which means red cat, a name given because of his tenacity when fighting and of course because of his hair color."

João Barreto

"-"

Crolin Gracie

Oswaldo Gracie

Jorge Gracie

Reylson Gracie

Oswaldo Fadda

Sérgio Barreto

Gastao Gracie

Humberto Silverio

Jorge Popovitch

Anthony Tolone

Beto Ferrao

Carlos Gracie Junior

"Carlinhos"

Pedro Hemeterio

Todd Broadway

Sebastiao Ricardo

Hank Vaughn

João Barreto (Hélio)

Rolker Gracie

Ken Gabrielson

Ademir Oliveira

Carlos Elias

""Caique" is a combination of his names, Carlos Henrique."

Alexandre Ceconi

Fransisco Mansor

Rickson Gracie

"Urso"

Orlando Araujo

Daniel Taveras

Donald Lee

Kevin Stenger

Rolls Gracie

Royler Gracie

Relson Gracie

Fabrizio de Santo

Flavio Behring

Monir Salomao

Aloisio Silva

Carlson Gracie

"Champion"

Charles Allen

Paulo Strauch

Alvaro de Melo Barreto

Rorion Gracie

Robin Gracie

Joe Moreira (Hélio)

Luís Barao

Oswaldo Alves

Pedro Castro

Carlos Shines

Álvaro Barreto (Hélio)

José Moura

Mike Busby

William Murphy

Luís Facanha

Ryron Gracie

Brad Thompson

Rolls Gracie

Ronald Bauer

Deoclecio Paulo

""Deo" which is short for Deoclecio."

Sérgio Amarel

Neury Gomes

Antonio de Melo

""Toninho" which is a different way of saying Antonio."

Monir Salomao

Guillherme Valente

Carlos Augusto

Rener Gracie

Royce Gracie

Carlson Gracie

Álvaro Barreto

Reginaldo de Almeida

""Jedi" because he has always been known as a patient and assertive person that is hard to upset. Reginaldo also has a Jedi tattoo on his ankle to commemorate his nickname."

Charles Gracie

Aloisio Silva Jr.

Osvaldo Alves de Albuquerque

Royler Gracie

Rolles Gracie

Armando Wridt

Wilson Mattos

""Shihan" means Master in Japanese, the name started being said by his students after Wilson Mattos received his red belt."

Cesar Gracie

Pedro Valente

Rickson Gracie

Paula Pessoa

Cristiano Xavier

Paulo Conde

Sérgio Lisboa

Walter Mattas

Henrique Machado

Luiz Cláudio

Carlos Valente

Chris Smith

Julio Pereira

Vinicius Cruz

""Vinicinho" which is a friendly way of saying Vinícius."

Marcus Norat

Nilton da Conceicao

Romolo Barros

Pedro Sauer

Luís Heredia

"Luis earned his nickname of Limão (translates to lemon) when he was about 16 years old. He lived in Copacabana, one of the more famous areas in Rio de Janeiro at the time, and he had a close group of friends with whom he usually hanged with, at the famous 'Miguel Lemos' street. It was one of those friends who would give him the nickname, after he saw Luis kiss a girl, the girl being kissed (allegedly) made a screw up face, like she had just tasted a lemon, this is what gave Heredia the name."

Fabio Santos

Edward O'Neill

Marcos da Matta

"According to Rafael Dias (a fellow fighter, ATT member and long time friend) at an internet chat room of Portal do Vale Tudo's website, "Parrumpinha" came about because there was a famous figure in Copacabana (where Marcos spent most his childhood days) which had Parrumpa as a family name and looked a lot like Marcos, for that reason his friends started calling him Parrumpinha (small Parrumpa)."

Bruno Panno

Elcio Figueiredo

Orlando Saraiva

Marcelo Ferreira

Guttenberg Melo

Luís Dagmar

Franco de Camargo

Renato Tavares

Craig Kukuk

Mauricio Pereira

""Russo" which is the Portuguese word for Russian. The nickname caught on from an early age due to Mauricio's complexion (blonde with blue eyes), which is uncommon in a South American country such as Brazil."

Oswaldo da Rosa

""Paquetá" is the name of the place where Master Oswaldo used to live. When he started training at the Gracie Academy not many people knew his name, so people would say "The Fighter from Paquetá", in no time the name spread and the shortened version was plain "Paquetá"."

Marco Alvan

Laerte Barcelos

Otavio de Oliveria

Roberto Barao

Kron Gracie

Renne Mazzoni

Cassio Cardoso

"Cássinho, which is a friendly way of saying Cassio."

Pat Hardy

Elcio Figueiredo

Jorge Pereira

Aaron Lapointe

Jorge Pereira

Rigan Machado

Rey Diogo

Scott Devine

Ricardo Pires

Roberto Pereira

Marcelo Filho

Nicin Azulay

Joshua Lauber

David Adiv

Leka de Souza

João Vasconcellos

Rani Yahya

Val Cubales

José Sperry

"He is often called "Zé" Mario, Zé is short for José in Portuguese. Sperry was also named "Zé Maquina" (Zé Machine) for his fighting skills."

Ronn Shiraki

Victor da Costa

Omar Salum

Antionio Collares

Fernando Guimaraes

"In his own words - "I got that nickname when I was eight years old. Because of a comic book character, his name was Pinduka. He was very active, and always doing sports and was always doing something he shouldn't be doing. For that I was nicknamed Pinkuda"."

Jason Izaguirre

Andre Pederneiras

Mário Sukata

Milton Regis de Almeida

"Miltao, which translates to big Milton."

Vinicious Amaral

Cláudio Franca

Marcelo Behring

Celso Cunha

Roberto Bebeo

Pat Miletich

Sergio Souza

"Bolao"

Saulo Ribeiro

Carlos Henrique

Louis Vintaloro

Henry Akins

Romero Cavalcanti

"Jacaré means Alligator in Portuguese. The name was given to him by his beach soccer buddies, although it is unclear why the name was given."

David Gonzalez

Rodrigo Vaghi

Luis Dagmar

Marcos Barreto

"Juruna is the name of an Indian tribe that inhabits the Mato Grosso area of Brazil. It is not clear why Marcos is called Juruna. It might be because he had fringed hair at the time the name was given to him (that style of hair and is usually associated with the nickname)."

Fredson Paixao

Fabiano Santos

Marcelo Machado

Leandro Almeida

Denys Darzi

Faustino Neto

"Master Faustino is commonly known as Pina, which is likely a diminutive of a word. The nickname was given by a family member when Neto was an infant, and since the origin of the name dated back to his early childhood, there is no record regarding the root of the name."

Romero Cavalcanti

Rinaldo Ribeiro dos Santos

João Fario

Jake Shields

Luís Dias

""Manimal" was the name given to Luis Carlos at the Carlson Gracie gym as a way to describe his wildness when fighting. This wildness he has carried to his coaching style, always extremely vocal and not afraid to display his emotions."

Rob Handley

David Terry

Wallid Ismail

""Paraíba" was a name given to him by his Carlson Gracie Team pears. It is a name often applied to those who come from outside Rio de Janeiro, a similar adjective to "Red Neck" in America."

Ricardo Juca

Mário Cerezo

Victor Hubert

Mauricio Reis

Amin Touati

""Camelinho" which means Small Camel in English, the name was given by friends when Amin was in his teens, they used to call him Camel because of his Arabic roots and because (they said) he looked like a Camel. As Amin started practicing BJJ, and with the proximity of Brazilians, the name became Camelinho."

Mauricio Costa

Fabio Napolitano

Anibal Braga

Thiago Veiga

Fabio Monteiro

Roberto Mazzoni

Fransisco Albuquerque

Luiz Rodriques

Allan Goes

Cláudio Pires

Octavio Almeida

Mário Aiello

Murilo Bustamante

Mário D'Hoker

Carlos Gracie Jr.

"Carlinhos"

Rob Kahn

Fernando Cancela

Vini Aieta

Christian Derval

Luiz Palhares

Mauricio Villardo

Amaury Bitetti

Kid Peligro

Douglas Silva

Fabio Santos

Sidney Batista

Marcelo Cardosa

Oscar Neves

Luiz Augusto

Jordan Collins

Daniel Valverde

Marcus Soares

Cleber Costa

Ricardo Liborio

Patricia Silva

Braulio de Oliveira Estima

"Carcará is the name of a bird that habits the region where Braulio was raised. It was also the name of a brand of jiu-jitsu kimono's that Braulio used to wear (now extinct), which is the reason why his teammates started calling him "Carcara""

Jon Burke

Andrew Correa

Charles dos Anjos

Sylvio da Matta Behring

Mark Baumeister

Nilson Liboni

Buddy Clinton

Carley Gracie

"Carley is sometimes referred to as "The lion of the Gracie family", as at the time of his departure to the United States Carley was regarded as the main representative of the Gracie family."

João Costa

Marcus Silveira

Edson Carvalho

Walter Guimaraes

Sidney Silva

Luís Duarte

""Bebeo" is short for Roberto."

Peter Iacavazzi

Patrick Bittan

Kendall Goo

Marcos Barreto (Royler)

Shawn Chitwood

Marcio Macarrao

Saulo Ribeiro

Mike Mrkulic

Augusto Monteiro

Paul Abel

Ricardo de la Riva

Sylvio Behring

Renato Barreto

Marcelo Saporito

Marcio Corletta

José Moreira

""Joe" became Moreira's first name when he moved to the USA. This was because of a hint given by Moreira's English coach who believed Jose Carlos resembled a Mexican name and was comercially frowned upon. "Joe" Moreira was also nicknamed "Macaco" (monkey or macaque) when he was a child due to his facial features."

Paulo Filho

"'Paulão' which means Big Paul, due to Paulo Filho's athletic ability, a naturally gifted fighter often praised by his team mates and coaches. He is also named 'Ely', the reason for this has been mentioned to be a misread of his initial "L" (Leite) which in the Brazilian accent is said "Ely"."

Patrick Chaput

Vitor Belfort

Marcos Lucia

Alexander Dantas

Octavio Neto

Marcelo Alonso

Sergio Bolao

Francisco Hemeterio

Sérgio Penha

Jerel Hallert

Clint Gerona

Daniel Moraes

Luiz Goncalves

Antonio Cavalcanti

Marcelo Behring

Sérgio Souza

Antonio Alves

Chris Savarese

Francisco Herondino

Rocian Gracie

David Arnebeck

Caio Terra

Cleiber Maia

Rodrigo Medeiros (Carlson)

Artur Ignarra

Chad King

Henrique Machado

Kai Garcia

Rosendo Diaz

Chris Saunders

David Terrell

""Dave" short for David, and in MMA he used the name "The Soul Assassin"."

João Silva

Luís Amorim

Luís Renato

Maucicio Gomes

"'Maurição' - which means big Mauricio, due to the stature of Gomes."

Paulo Fernando

Marianna Garcia

Alexandre Carneiros

Luís Mateus

Jason Fox

Crezio de Souza

JW Wright

Andre Assuncao

Carlson Gracie Jr.

Beau Hershberger

Laurence Fouillat

Luís Lopes

Ricardo Marques (Carlson)

Fabricio Martins

Newton Pinto

Manuel Rey

Tevor Lewis

Nate Diaz

Wellington Dias

""Megaton" was a name given to Mr Dias because of his take-down slam prowess. The slams were often so loud they resembled a megaton bomb."

Victor de Oliveira Estima

Julio Fernandez

Tony Torres-Aponte

Luís Santiago

Álvaro Romano

Tadeu Botelho

Julio Cesar Pereira

Sérgio de Souza

Vini Aieta

Ricardo Murgel

Alexandre Santos

""Baiano" which is a term attributed to people native of the state of Bahia in Brazil but also to people with a laid back nature."

Vinicius Bittencourt Almeida Magalhaes

Carlos Lima

Shane Rice

Takamasa Watanabe

Luiz Gomes

Wendell Alexander

"Wendell is often called by "Del" which is short for Wendell"

Marcello Clemente

David Kama

Eduardo Rocha

Marcos Flexa

Cristiano Marcello

Leandro Sotero

Joe Castellano

Pedro Schmall

Renam Pitangui

Ricardo Liborio

Greg Thompson

Alberto dos Santos

Eduardo Mano

Andre Pederneiras

"Dede"

John Crouch

Anderson Goncalves

Fredson Alves

Fabiano Silva

""Frota", this is short for Alexandre Frota a famous Brazilian actor. The name was given by Marcel Ferreira and Ricardo Liborio because they thought Fabiano resembled the celebrity."

Carlion Gracie

Dinno Cherem

Pitoco Jordon

Ricardo Viera

Aran Doyle

Marcello Grosso

Ronnie Melo

Pericles Laudier

Ryan Young

Banni Cavalcanti

Clint Allert

Bull Shaw

Aron Roichman

Marc Kompaneyets

Jeff Olsen

John Machado

Vinicios Campelo

Eric Schafer

Rodolfo Srour

Ronaldo dos Santos

Eduardo Fraga

Jim Kelly

Romi Aran

João Pierini

Murilo Rupp

Ed Shobe

Sérgio Monteiro

Patricia Hing

Jake Whitfield

Anderson Leal

Morgan Patnode

Paulo Santos

""Paulinho" which stands for "little Paulo" in Portuguese slang."

James Cassas

Ricardo Brandao

José Olimpio

Roberto Da Silva

Dave Bancroft

Cláudio Coelho

Mauricio Mariano

Jared Emfield

Mário Reis

Antonio Nogueira

"Minotauro literally means Minotaur (the legendary beast from Minos in Greek mythology). The name was given by a cousin as a joke due to Nogueira's size and strength. Rodrigo is also called "Big Nog"."

Fabio Holanda

Rafael Correa

Andre Luís Santos

Brad Hatcher

Pedro Fernandes

Adam Arebalo

Sérgio Santos

Javier Vazquez

"During the early stages of Vazquez' MMA career back in 1998-1999 a fight promoter asked Javier for a nickname. As Javier didn't have one so a friend came up with "Showtime", a reference to what happened every time Javier entered the cage."

Tommy Wales

Ricardo Herriot

Anibal Lobo

Joe Baize

Celso Cavallini

Alexandre Paiva

Cláudio Fontes

Kazeka Muniz

Leonadro Branco

Antonio Nogueira (delaRiva)

Vinny di Lucia

Daniel Vianna

Eduardo Rios

"The word "Teta" literally means "teat" in Portuguese, and according to an old interview given to the Connection Rio podcast (now extinct), it started being referenced early on in Rios' grappling career due to his body shape. Eduardo was overweight and had bigger breasts than the average kid and for that he became "baptized" as Teta."

Fernando Yamasaki (Octavio)

Roni Rustico

James Nilsen

Eduardo Brigadeiro

Eduardo Telles

Vinny Magalhaes

Penny Thomas

Fernando Costa

Ricardo Arona (Liborio)

Todd Fox

Cesar Paredes

Kyra Gracie

Gisele Braga

Adilson Lima Jr.

David Krstic

Denis Kang

Alexandre Ribeiro

"Xande"

Rudy Jimenez

João Bosco

Jeremy Adkins

Bruno Bastos

Joel Tudor

Michel Pofilio

Fabricio Werdum (Corletta)

Ron Neagle

James Hill

Colin Morrison

Marcelo Silveira

Bruno Fernandes

""Molenga" meaning lazy boy in Portuguese. The name started in the late 1990's at the gym. Bruno was always known for his laid back approach to jiu jitsu, always looking to use leverage and minimum athleticism. Because if his grappling style Bruno started being known as lazy boy, the nickname being attributed by his friend and team mate Leonardo "Plic"."

Marco Villela

""Gigante" translates to Giant in english. The name was given on the mats of Gracie Barra and was awarded by Eduardo de Lima "Veio". The reason for the nickname is obvious after one glance at Marco's 6 foot 7 stature."

Frank Cucci

Nelson Solari

Otto Clark

Mahinder Singh

Andrei Agostinho

Marcus Bello

""Boquinha" which translates roughly to Small Mouth. This childhood nickname was given because of Bello's older brother, who used to be called "Bocão" (Big Mouth). As Marcus was smaller and looked like his older brother the kids started calling him "Boquinha"."

Gerson Sanginitto

Jean Jacques Machado

Leandro Lora

Mário Lemos

Marcelo Riberio

John Blunschi

Bruno Ferreira

""Brunão" - short for big Bruno in Portuguese."

Eduardo Carvalho

"Eduardo is referenced as "Zero Nove" by his training partners, which means "09" in Portuguese, a reference to a character of the Brazilian movie Elite Squad. The character had a stoic disposition, much like Avelar, who, even as a young competitor, never celebrated his wins, a trait that earned him the nickname as an orange belt."

Vinicius Magalhaes

Eduardo Lerne

Nakapan Phungephorn

"Often referenced as the "The Sly Thai" which is not a traditional jiu jitsu style epithet, and more of a promotional nickname in line with boxing/mixed martial arts."

Andre Raizama

Alexy Cruz

Robert Lovi

Leo Negao

Thales Leites

BJ Penn

Fabio Gurgel

"General"

Rob Billington

Bibiano Fernandes

Eddie Redzovic

Tony Rinaldi

Rodrigo Feijao

Ryan Gracie

"Fera"

Rodrigo Cavaca

Daniel de Lima

Pete Regland

Mike Horihan

Matthew Godden

Paulo Guimaraes

Matt Strack

Bryan Guidry

Adam Kayoom

Omar Salvosa

Dave Phillips

Ricardo Sodre

Renato Magno Jr.

Peter de Been

Roberto Matsumoto

Jonothon Menke

João Carlos Pereira

Ana Cordeiro

Jeff Joslin

Richard Cohen

Franco Vacirca

Leo Branco

Rodolfo Vieira Srour

"Caçador dos Faixas Pretas which translates to "Black Belt Hunter". The nickname was given after Rodolfo won the World Pro Cup Trials in the brown/black mixed belt division, winning several matches against distinguished black belts while being a rising brown belt."

Greg Nelson

Marcelo Andrade

Brian McLaughlin

Carlos Liberi

Rodrigo Guimaraes

Dennis Dombrow

Alexandre de Freitas

"When Alexandre was 18 years old, he decided to start training boxing to break his BJJ routine. Renzo Gracie and Carlos Gracie Junior started calling him "Socador"or "Soca" (puncher/striker) because of this. With time everybody at the Gracie Barra academy started calling him by the nickname "Soca"."

Cristiano Carioca

Ricky Lundell

Mário Yamasaki

João Luís

Justin Garcia

Fredson Alves (Saulo)

Jason Sullins

Mark Stables

Allen Hopkins

Álvaro Bobadilla

""Cabeção" which translates to "Big Head" (not to be mistaken with the term big headedness, the character attribute)."

Garth Taylor (Pires)

Rob Lewis

Ramon Lemos

Nelson Monteiro

Vernie Inocencio

Josh Johnson

Vinicius Marinho

""Esquisito" which means weird. The name was given due to Marinho's penchant to put himself in strange positions while sparring."

Leonardo Dalla

Ricardo Evangelista

"'Jegue' (working donkey), name circled around his friends and training partners as a joke due to Ricardo's strength and endurance while making a hint at donkey's lack of whit."

Travis Tooke

Jonatas Loure

Bruno Ximenes

Ben Baxter

Armando Slack

Alfredo Barum

Jorge Jimenez

Hermes Franca

James Davilla

Rodrigo Medeiros

Rousimar Palhares

""Toquinho" means little tree stomp, which is in accordance with Mr Palhares' physique, as he is 5'7″ and walks around at almost 200lbs."

Jeff Higgs

Scott Hewitt

Kayron Gracie

Shawn Weaver

Cleiton de Souza

Patrick Tenore

Stephan Kesting

Leticia Riberio

Paulo Bezera

Carlos Barreto

John Carlquist

Miguel Torres

Erivaldo Junior

Oliver Reich

Fernando Gurgel

Tim Shears

Gustavo Correa

Stephan Goyne

Jeff Neal

Emerson Vidor

Vinicius de Magalhaes

Luiz Vicente da Silva

"Bocão which means "big mouth" - as in a size attribute not the adjective for indiscretion. A nickname Felipe has carried since primary school."

Fabio Prado

""Pateta" means Goofy, the Disney character. It is unclear how he got the nickname."

John McKean

Vitor Ribeiro

"Shaolin is a nickname that came up when Vitor started training BJJ. He used to rest in the lotus flower position pretending to meditate like a Buddhist monk, just goofing around with his fellow training partners. As a joke the guys started calling him Shaolin. The name stuck to him and still stands to this date."

Stefano Aguiar

Colin Cannon

David Koda

Don Whitefield

Mike Hong

Garth Taylor

Alexandre Paiva (Rickson)

Anderson Xavier

Bill Dowey

Bill Krieg

Vlado Skrepnik

Otavio Couto

Jair Lourenço

Guilherme Gascon

Crolin Gracie

Alan Moraes

Mauro da Silva

Mario Sergio Names Reis

Octavio Duarte

Andre Linhares

Andre Anderson

Jack McVicker

Renato Viera

Paulo Guillobel

Paulo Procopio

Fernando Faustino

"the word "boi" means bull in Portuguese, the name started because of a friend and sparring partner of Fernando when he used to train boxing and full contact. Fernando started very young and was very strong for his age. For that reason his friend started saying "this kid is a bull", after a while everyone at the gym was calling him Boi (bull). Understandably, Fernando didn't appreciate the nickname at first, but it soon became his trademark."

Ricardo Arona

""Brazilian Tiger" was a nickname he received during his Pride Fc days. This is due to his tiger tattoos, and also because of Arona's combat philosophy, were he often mentioned that "you need to be the Tiger [predator] and never fear your prey". This chain of thought first came out when he gave an interview to Tatame Magazine."

Randy Bloom

Roberto Traven

Chet Quint

Phillip Wyman

Brandon Powell

João Roque

Clark Gracie

Roberto de Lima

""Gordo" means Fat in Portuguese, the name was probably given to Roberto because he was a little overweight when he first started, although the reason has not been confirmed."

Eddie Edmunds

Ricardo Reis (Martins)

Leonardo Vieira

Mark Gampe

Eduardo Teta Rios

Yuki Nakai

Ryo Ominami

Leandro Nyza

Pedro Vianna

Steve Menke

Vinicius Campelo

Demetrio Vacirca

Dave McMaster

Marcelo Cohen

Tim Credeur

Vinicius Aieta

""Vini" which is short for Vinicius."

Eddie Camden

Caroline de Lazzer

Rosaro Gracie

Ramon Lemos

Peter Richardson

Jason Keaton

Wander Costa

""The Crusher". The name started because of the way Wander used to steamroll through his opposition, both in competition and in class. His coach used to say he looked like a tractor when he rolled, and his students started calling him Crusher, particularly one by the name of Kostas, who first "baptised" Braga with the nickname."

Benson Henderson

Ary Ribeiro

Rodrigo Henriques Cavaca

Kevin Casey

Carlos Lemos Jr.

Regis Lebre

Shah Franco

Jeff Rozovics

Mário Ramos

Andre Terencio

""Negão" means "Big Black Man" in Portuguese, Andre got it as there were only two black students at his Jiu Jitsu school. He didn't like the nickname at first, but the more he would refute his nick, the more people liked to use it, so the name stuck, with time André got accustomed to the name, and now it is part of him"

Rodrigo Cabral

""Brucutu" is the name of a character in a famous cartoon in Brazil. The name was given by Leonardo Vieira, Rodrigo's former coach due to Rodrigo's resemblance with the character."

Igor Gracie

Alexy Felipao

Guilherme Teixeira

Marcos Aurelio

Josh Russell

TJ Burke

Nathan Marquardt

Eduardo Velho

Carlos Holanda

""Esquisito" means "weird" in Portuguese. It was given to Carlos after he spent a weekend with a cousin who had the nickname. Because Carlos was a small kid and was always with his cousin, people started calling him "esquisito", though Mr. Holanda prefers to be called by Carlos."

Rogerio Miranda

Paulo Streckert

Otavio de Sousa

John Marsh

Aldo Januario

John Castillo

Leticia Ribeiro

Felipe Cranivata

Eduardo Barros

Ailson Jucao Brites

""Jucão", meaning "Big Juca" in Portuguese. The name started through their cousin (and coach) Cirillo Azevedo who named Ailson's younger brother Admilson after a cartoon character named "Juca Bala" (in English named Motormouse after the Hanna & Barbera show: Motormouse and Autocat). Admilson Brites was very small and fast, usually ending his matches quickly, so Cirillo nicknamed him after the speedy mouse. As Ailson was the older and the bigger of the two brothers, he soon became nicknamed Jucão."

Andre Leite

Flavio Almeida

""Cachorrinho", which translates to "small dog", or "puppy". The name derives from his older brother, Ricardo Almeida, who is called "Cachorrão" (big dog) - for more details regarding Ricardo's nickname, check his page."

Toni Emanuel

Roger Machado

Fabio Brandao

Mauro Chueng

Marcus Larrieu

Denis Machado

Pete Grymkowski

Denilson Pimenta

Roberto Lage

Dean Heileman

Flavio dos Santos

Sérgio Ferrari

Adilson Souza

Jeffrey Higgs

Richard Colavin

Keith Owen

Paul Sizemore

Sérgio Gasparelli

""Babu" is short for Babuino (meaning Baboon in Portuguese), the name was given to Sergio when he was around 6 years old, according to Sergio himself. He started being called "Babu" around the estate where he grew up because of an incident with a ferocious dog which cut loose as him and his friends were playing in the estate's park. Sergio was very quick and jumped on a high wall to avoid the dog, while his friends were less agile and ended bitten by the animal. Because of his climbing abilities he started being called Babu."

Theodoro Canal

James Boran

""Jim" and "Jimmy"."

Warren Grace

Brian Farrell

Ian McPherson

James Peterson

Dassio Silvia

Benito Segura

Deon Thompson

Andre Monteiro

""Tim" which is short for Tim Maia a famous Brazilian musician. The name started as a joke amongst his BJJ colleagues because he was short and chubby when he started training (much like Tim Maia)."

Andre Madiz

Rigan Machado

Pablo Fragata

Hélio Moreira

""Soneca" means "Sleepy" in Portuguese. As a youngster Helio Moreira played Roller Hoquei (Quad) as a keeper at the "Casa de Portugal" club in Teresópolis, Brazil. He played alongside another BJJ legend, Jean Jacques Machado. One day while defending a ball, he was hit in the head, the impact of the ball made a dent in the helmet and knocked Helio Moreira out. Because Helio passed out his team mates started calling him "Soneca" (Sleepy)."

Ney Cunha

Alex Britto

Lucio Lagarto

Patrick Delgado

Matt Arroyo

Helvecio Neto

Kevin Fialko

José Filho

Fernando Paradeda

Francisco Garritano

Josh Kemper

Kentrick Coleman

Isreal de Oliveira

Lucio Rodrigues

"Lucio's nickname is "Lagarto" which means Lizard in Portuguese. The nickname was given by Marcio Feitosa at Gracie Barra because he used to joke saying that Lucio resembled a reptile."

Perry Hauck

Jean-Jacques Machado

Jeff Curran

Mark Daley

José Aldo

Pascoal Duarte

Leonardo Dalla

Muzio de Angelis

Scott Morton

Luís Nunes

"Coringa which for Brazilians stands for means Joker, Batman's enemy in the DC Comics series. Fabio is called Coringa/Joker because of his characteristic smile and jaw line."

Nick Albin

Reryckson Gracie

Jon Freidland

Moises Bormac

Romulo Carvalho

Jack Taufer

Adelson Brittes

Cesar Guimaraes

Allen Mohler

Guilherme Rocha

Marcelo Rezende

Marcelo Vanusa

JD Shelley

John Lewis

Kenny Tenny

Álvaro Ramos

Emerson Souza

Moacir Oliveira

Raoni Barcelos

Felipe Neto

Ben Hall

Huanderson Pavao

Helder Menezes

Mike Yackulic

Dylan Dearborn

Pedro Carvalho

Robson Moura

"Robinho is a friendly way of saying robson in Portuguese, kind of like "Little Robson""

Rodrigo Antunes

Ricardo Alcantara Vieira

Robert Wilson

Lauro Fontes

Jason Parry

Jair Medeiros

Andre Galvao

"Deco"

Benjamin Caldas

Thales Blaso

Mike Moses

Rod Samuel

Banni Cavalcanti (Hemeterio)

Moises Murad

José Eugenio Bobadilha

Eduardo de Lima

""Dudu" which is a short form of saying Eduardo in Portuguese."

Mazi Heydary

Richie Guerriero

Ricardo Miller

Matthew Smith

Israel Reyes

Waldomiro Perez

Joe Hoffer

Fernando Maccachero

James Clark

Andre Candido

Kim Marquardt

João Amaral

Marcio Feitosa

Alexis Velazquez

Jefferson Moura

Roberto Maia

Lonnie Foster

Justin Christopher

Ulpiano Neto

Alexandre Paiva Genovesi

""Gigi" which is short for Geovanesi."

Ronaldo Souza dos Santos

""Jacaré" means alligator which is the symbol of the ASLE jiu-jitsu and judo team, a team where Ronaldo first started competing in combat sports. Souza was ASLE's most prolific competitor, living inside the gym for a big part of his life while also helping the coaching of others. Due to his strong ties with the academy, some started calling him Jacaré. Many also call him "Jaca" which is short for Jacaré."

Chuck Wagner

Ethan Day

Marcelo Cazuza

Roberto Atalla (Souza)

Rafael Costa

Walter Matos

Marcelo Hertz

Rodrigo Munduruca

Adilson de Souza

Corey Edwards

Mauro Chueng

Marcelo Mendes

Italo Lins

Victor Estima

Ricardo Camargo Marques

Leonardo Alcantara Vieira

""Leozinho" which means little Leonardo, or just Leo."

Doug Frazier

Renato Verissimo

Guilherme Brafman

Pedro Brandao

Adam Zugec

Tony Williams

Stan Kendrick

Rodrigo Guimaraes (Sperry)

Dennis Kelly

Mike Rogers

Joe Modica

Marcio Galvao

Luís Guilherme

Jon Garfield

Breno Angelo

Walter Vital

Scott Oates

Chet Blalock

José Marcello

Michael O'Donnell

Pedro Duarte

João Bandeira

Daniel Christoph

Ralph Gracie

"The Pitbull"

Roger Brooking

Eduardo Leitao

Wagnney Fabiano

Mauricao Gomes

Guaraci Pereira

Carlos Machado

"Carlos was called "Soneca" (Sleepy) by many in his early days at the Gracie Academy. This was because of his disposition to take long naps in between training sessions."

Leonardo Xavier

Leonardo dos Santos

"Leonardo is often mentioned as Leo which is short for Leonardo."

Steven Adornato

Alex Martins

Marcelo Santos Azevedo

"The name Uirapuru carried over to Jiu Jitsu and MMA from Marcelo's Capoeira days. When Marcelo Azevedo trained capoeira at the age of 10, his instructor used to have a book with him named "1001 Animals from All Over the World". Anyone who started classes at this gym was told to open the book on a random page, and whichever page they landed on they would be nicknamed the animal on that page. Marcelo opened on the Uirapuru ( Musician Wren in English)."

Rylan Lizares

Murat Karadenizli

Steve Hall

Marcelo Perdomo

Ailton dos Santos

Jason Culbreth

Ricardo Grasso

Romulo Claudio Barral

"Rominho. The suffix "inho" in Portuguese is used as an endearing way of saying someone's name."

Eduardo da Conceicao

""Jamelão" is the name of a very dark fruit, in Brazil often associated with people of darker skin."

Sarah Carlquist

Tom Montes

Hélio Soneca

Renzo Gracie

Filipe Barbosa

Michi Moriuchi

Mike Budnik

Lauro Figueiroa

Brian Jones

Erik Lund

Nino Schembri

Ron Hill

Marcel Ferreira

Daniel Simoes

Alessandro Barreto

Mike Rethmeyer

Joe Gray

Ronaldo Jacare

Eric Boutilier

Curtis Hill

John Ramierz

Fabio Novaes

Roberto Magalhaes

"Roleta translates to Roulette from Portuguese. There is no data regarding the origin of this nickname."

Kyle Cannon

Joe Diamond

Alfred Tompkins

Bruce Corrigan

Gezary Matuda Kubis Bandeira

"Gezary is often called 'Ge', a nickname that has followed her since childhood which is short for Gezary."

Tom Schmitz

Andre Galvao (Dagmar)

Daniel Carneiro

Maurice Parry

Marcelo Voloch

Steve Campbell

Marcelo Bergo

Braulio Estima

Roger Xuxa

Rafael Carino

Fabricio Werdum

"Vai Cavalo"

Aziz Cherigui

Roberto de Alencar

""Tussa" is short for "dentuça" (the letter "ç" is read out as "ss" in Portuguese), which means "Big Teeth". The nickname was given by his friends as a child because of his grill."

João Paulo

Garrett Erickson

Marcio da Cruz

Marcello Monteiro

Bill Jones

Andre Almeida

Mickey Swafford

Ricardo Marques

Gabriel de Farias

Gustavo Dantas

Renzo Gracie

Cláudio Dutra

Rafael de Freitas

""Barata" means cockroach, the name comes from his youth when he used to play football/soccer and it was given due to his quickness and frenetic pace."

Roberto Abreu

Emily Wetzel