Mauro Chueng

Mauro Chueng was born on 17 August 1978 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and raised in the Favela do Cantagalo — a tight-knit community nestled near the iconic Copacabana beach. The neighbourhood carries a distinguished reputation within Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu circles, having produced a disproportionate number of accomplished fighters and serving as fertile ground for the martial art's grassroots development.

Chueng's upbringing was shaped in large part by his family's devout evangelical Christian faith. Raised in a household defined by its religious convictions, he became a persistent target of bullying from peers at school and within the broader neighbourhood. His older brother responded with a practical solution: encouraging Mauro to take up martial arts as a means of self-defence and personal development.

Heeding that advice, Chueng began training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the age of 13 under the well-regarded Maurício Strauch. The decision proved to be a defining turning point, channelling the pressures of his environment into a discipline that would come to define his life.

Chueng's time under Maurício Strauch was brief before he made his first significant transition, moving to train under Ricardo Velloso — a black belt under the legendary Carlson Gracie and known within the community as "Kiko." Velloso oversaw the core of Chueng's competitive development, awarding him his blue, purple, and brown belts across a formative stretch on the mats.

His black belt came from another respected figure in Rio de Janeiro's BJJ landscape. On 10 August 1999, Sérgio Bolão — a name synonymous with technical excellence and the production of high-level competitors — awarded Chueng his black belt, cementing an association that would anchor his career through its most significant years. Bolão's Rio Jiu-Jitsu Academy, co-run alongside Murilo Bustamante, became Chueng's primary training base during his competitive prime. Over the decades since, Chueng has continued to grow within the art and is recognised as holding a 4th or 5th degree black belt — a reflection of his long years of service and contribution to the sport.

Chueng's competitive career in Brazil produced a record of consistent achievement across multiple levels of the sport. At purple belt, he established himself as one of the more formidable competitors of his generation. His performance at the 1996 Mundial proved particularly consequential — not only as a sporting milestone, but as the occasion on which he first faced Roberto Atalla, a meeting that would give rise to one of the most enduring partnerships in European BJJ.

In 1997, Chueng earned a silver medal representing the Brazilian National Team at purple belt, underlining his standing among the country's elite grapplers at that level. Two Copa Rio de Janeiro titles, claimed on separate occasions during his competitive years in Brazil, further reinforced his reputation as a consistent performer on the domestic circuit.

By 1999, the year he received his black belt from Sérgio Bolão, Chueng added a bronze medal at the Brazilian National Championship to his record. His competitive relevance extended well beyond his relocation to Europe; in 2005, he claimed a silver medal at the European Championship, demonstrating that his grappling remained of the highest standard long after leaving Brazil.

Chueng's transition from Brazil to Europe came through a personal invitation rather than a formal career move. A friend offered him the opportunity to participate in opening a BJJ academy in Albufeira — a popular tourist city situated in the sun-drenched Algarve region of southern Portugal. The prospect of building a martial arts presence in that setting appealed to Chueng, and he made the move to the Portuguese coast.

His relocation mirrored that of his close friend and training partner Roberto Atalla, who had also moved to Europe during this period. With the Rio Jiu-Jitsu Academy having dissolved in the interim, the circumstances created both the need and the opportunity for the two to formalise a new organisational structure for their continued work in the sport.

Chueng established himself in Albufeira as the leading BJJ instructor in the south of Portugal, building an academy that served as the base for his teaching and competitor development work in the Algarve. His presence gave the region a credible and experienced black belt at a time when BJJ infrastructure across Portugal was still taking shape.

Mauro Chueng stands as one of the founding members of Rio Grappling Club, the pan-European BJJ organisation that grew to develop affiliates across the continent. The team was named in homage to the Rio Jiu-Jitsu Academy under Sérgio Bolão and Murilo Bustamante — the academy that had served as the formative training home for both founders.

The partnership between Chueng and Roberto Atalla that underpins Rio Grappling Club traces its origins to their first meeting at the 1996 IBJJF World Championship at purple belt. Following that encounter, the two developed a strong mutual regard, which deepened considerably from 1998 onwards when Atalla — a former Gracie Barra student who had departed that organisation in search of a new training home — accepted Chueng's invitation to join Bolão's Rio Jiu-Jitsu Academy. Training together daily in that environment, the two forged the close friendship and professional alignment that would eventually underpin their shared leadership of Rio Grappling Club.

Under the co-leadership of Chueng and Atalla, Rio Grappling Club grew into one of the more prominent BJJ organisations in Europe, with affiliated academies spread across multiple countries on the continent. Chueng's role within the organisation reflects both his technical standing and his long-term commitment to developing the sport in his adopted home of Portugal and beyond.

In 2009, after building an extensive career in pure grappling, Chueng stepped into Mixed Martial Arts competition for the first time. He entered the Dynamite Fight Night event held in Portugal and won his debut MMA bout by unanimous decision against a Gracie Barra representative — a clean introduction to a new competitive format that demonstrated his skills translated effectively into the broader ruleset of MMA.

Chueng went on to claim the Dynamite Fight Night title on three separate occasions, building a record of consistent success in that competition that complemented his long-standing achievements on the grappling circuit. His MMA career ran alongside his continued responsibilities as a BJJ instructor and team leader, reflecting the breadth of his engagement with combat sports development in Portugal. The transition into MMA highlighted Chueng's versatility as an athlete and his willingness, even at a mature stage of his career, to test his abilities across disciplines.