Amaury Bitetti

Amaury Bitetti started training with Carlson Gracie at age five and grew up inside one of Rio’s most competitive academies. At the first Worlds, in 1996, he beat Fabio Gurgel in the open class semifinal and took the title, closing out the final with teammate Ricardo Libório.

In 1997 he defended the crown through a tough bracket. He got past Alexandre “Gigi” Paiva and Royler Gracie and beat Fabio Gurgel again, this time in the final. In 1999 he returned to the Worlds podium at medium-heavyweight, taking bronze.

He also took jiu-jitsu into MMA. He lost to Don Frye at UFC 9 in 1996, won at UFC 26 in 2000 and finished his career with five wins and two losses. In 2002 he founded Bitetti Combat, the team that helped prepare brothers Rodrigo “Minotauro” and Rogério “Minotouro” Nogueira.

In 2017, at Legends, he beat Roberto Traven to take the middleweight belt. He received his coral belt from Osvaldo Alves in May 2020 and now teaches at Gym Jitsu in Allen, Texas. He says he has always emphasized the basic teachings of jiu-jitsu, which he considers fundamental.