Cristiano Lazzarini

Cristiano Lazzarini — widely known as "Titi" — was born and raised in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Regular visits to his family's farm in Conceição do Mato Dentro, in the state of Mato Grosso, kept him rooted in Brazil's interior throughout his life, a contrast that shaped his grounded, disciplined character.

Lazzarini's martial arts path began at age seven with Judo, a discipline he pursued seriously enough to reach brown belt. Alongside Judo, he trained Capoeira under Master "Mão Branca," absorbing the rhythmic movement and cultural richness of that traditional Brazilian art. His appetite for contact sports eventually led him to Muay Thai under Olímpio Cunha, where he deepened his commitment to striking to the point of earning his instructor's degree from Master Cunha — a significant credential that marked the breadth of his martial foundation before BJJ entered the picture.

The Arrival of Draculino

The pivotal shift in Lazzarini's career came in 1996, when Vinicius Draculino — a Gracie Barra black belt — relocated from Rio de Janeiro to Belo Horizonte and began teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the very gym where Lazzarini was already training Muay Thai. The timing proved fortuitous. Lazzarini had followed the early UFC events closely, and Royce Gracie's dominant performances against opponents from varied martial arts backgrounds had made a lasting impression. Motivated by both opportunity and inspiration, he stepped onto the BJJ mats under Draculino's instruction — and took to it immediately.

From his first training session in 1996, Lazzarini committed fully to Vinicius Draculino as his sole instructor, maintaining that unbroken coach-student relationship across every belt level. That continuity proved enormously productive, driving both his technical development and competitive output.

A Championship Record Across Every Belt

His results through the lower belt divisions reflected a competitor who arrived at tournaments prepared and dangerous. He claimed the Brazilian National Championship at blue belt in 1997, then added the Pan American Championship at purple belt in 1998 — the same year he earned a silver medal at the Pan Americans at blue belt. A bronze at the Brazilian Nationals followed at purple belt in 1999. His strongest stretch came at brown belt: Pan American Champion in 2000, followed by the World Championship title in 2001. That brown belt world title, earned under Gracie Barra's banner, stood as the pinnacle of his colored belt career and confirmed him as one of the most accomplished competitors to emerge from Minas Gerais during that era.

In October 2001, Vinicius Draculino promoted Lazzarini to black belt — completing a journey that had begun five years earlier when Draculino first arrived in Belo Horizonte. The unbroken lineage from white to black belt under a single instructor remains a defining feature of Lazzarini's development and speaks to the consistency and quality of Draculino's program in the region.

Rather than easing his competitive output after receiving his black belt, Lazzarini expanded it. In 2002, he entered Mixed Martial Arts competition, running an MMA career in parallel with his ongoing BJJ schedule — a dual commitment that demonstrated both his physical conditioning and his confidence in applying grappling skills across rulesets.

Submission Grappling Results

On the submission grappling circuit, his black belt results were consistently strong. In 2007, he won the ADCC Brazilian Trials in the 99kg division, earning qualification to the ADCC World Championship. That same year, he captured a bronze medal at the World No-Gi Championship in the black belt absolute division — a result he matched again in 2008, giving him back-to-back No-Gi World bronze medals at the sport's most respected gi-free event. In 2011, he returned to the ADCC Brazilian Trials and placed third, reaffirming his standing among Brazil's elite submission grapplers.

The 2013 ADCC Semi-Final Run

The high-water mark of his ADCC career came at the 2013 ADCC World Championship, where Lazzarini advanced all the way to the semi-finals — an exceptional result at the most prestigious submission grappling competition in the world. His run brought his name to a global audience and underlined the sustained quality of his grappling well over a decade after receiving his black belt, marking him as one of the most durable competitors of his generation in the heavier weight divisions.

Taken as a whole, Lazzarini's black belt competition career spans gi, no-gi, submission grappling, and MMA — a breadth that few competitors at his level have managed with comparable success.

Alongside his competition career, Lazzarini built a reputation as a coach and instructor in Belo Horizonte, establishing himself as a central figure in the development of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Minas Gerais. His transition into coaching was a natural extension of the qualities that defined his competitive career: discipline, technical depth, and a long-term view of martial arts development.

His work as an instructor contributed to the continued growth of Gracie Barra's presence in the region — a lineage that traces directly back to Vinicius Draculino's decision to bring BJJ to Belo Horizonte in 1996. Lazzarini represents an important generation of Brazilian black belts who helped establish the sport in cities and states beyond the traditional hubs of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, building legitimate competitive programs in regions that had previously lacked access to high-level instruction.

His background — Judo from childhood, Capoeira, Muay Thai to instructor level, BJJ from white to black belt, and professional MMA — gives him an unusually broad platform from which to develop well-rounded students. The depth of his own formation, and the competitive record he accumulated across multiple disciplines, form the foundation of his credibility as a coach and his lasting contribution to the BJJ community in Minas Gerais.