Márcio Feitosa

Márcio Feitosa received his black belt from Carlos Gracie Jr. at 19 and was a world champion the following year. In 1997 he won the lightweight division at the Worlds, getting past Leonardo Vieira. From 1998 to 2000 he reached three straight finals and took silver each time, first against Leonardo Vieira and then twice against Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro.

He returned to the top in 2001, beating Leonardo Santos on advantage in the final, and won again in 2002, with an Ezekiel choke on Crezio Souza and a win over teammate Marcelo Pupo in the final. In 2003 he was runner-up to Daniel Moraes, and in 2006, now at featherweight, he took silver behind Rubens Cobrinha. He totaled eight black belt Worlds podiums.

He also shone at ADCC. In 2000 he took bronze after losing the semifinal to Renzo Gracie, and in 2001 he won the title by beating Rodrigo Gracie in the semifinal and Matt Serra in the final. In 2005 he returned to the podium with bronze, after getting past Urijah Faber.

Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1976, he represented Gracie Barra throughout his career and was the team’s main coach at international events. At the end of 2009 he moved to the United States with Carlos Gracie Jr., and he is a co-founder of Gracie Barra headquarters in Irvine, California.