# Mário Sperry

José Mário Sperry (born 28 September 1966) is a Brazilian heavyweight mixed martial artist. His specialty is Brazilian jiu-jitsu, grappling and ground fighting. He is also one of the founders of the Brazilian Top Team, where he trained fighters such as Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, Antônio Rogério Nogueira, Ricardo Arona, and Paulo Filho, among others.

## Career

Born into a wealthy family, he attended military college where he practised sports like Waterpolo, Volleyball, and Soccer, Sperry started his martial arts career learning Kodokan Judo under master Georges Mehdi. At brown belt level, he expanded his training to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with Carlson Gracie, becoming one of his main apprentices. Mario earned his black belt in this art at the 1995 World BJJ Championships, where he entered to win the heavyweight black belt division, and it was popularly said that until that point he had not lost a single point in his earlier competition career. He gained the nickname "Zé Maquina" ("José Machine") for his relentless performance, which later changed to "Zen Machine" in his introduction to United States.
Having had his mixed martial arts debut in 1995, Sperry debuted in United States as part of the Extreme Fighting event, where he was billed as having a 272-0 fight record. The first round of the tournament saw him face Ecuadorian fighter and Rudyard Moncayo, whom Sperry defeated by ground and pound, but the second one would see a different outcome in Igor Zinoviev vs Mario Sperry.
Although Sperry was able to take him down and assume dominant position in several occasions, Zinoviev kept escaping to his feet every time. After ten minutes, Sperry tried to leap into a rear naked choke while Zinoviev was giving his back and holding the fence, but he slipped and fell in front of the Russian, receiving a kick to the face. Sperry took Zinoviev down anyway, but the kick had opened a deep cut and Sperry tapped, so the match was stopped to give the win to Igor.

### ADCC

At the first edition of the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championships in 1998, Sperry won the -99 kg division by beating Ricardo Almeida, and the absolute division by beating Ricardo Morais. The following year Sperry beat Enson Inoue to become the first Superfight Champion, and successfully defended against Roberto Traven at the 2000 edition, before being beaten by Mark Kerr for the championship in 2001. In January 2022, Sperry was announced as a member of the inaugural class of the ADCC Hall of Fame.

### PRIDE

In 2001, Sperry debuted in Pride Fighting Championships, where the Brazilian Top Team was competing. His first match would be an important victory against Igor Vovchanchyn, who was taken down and submitted by arm triangle choke by Sperry. He then went to fought Murilo Rua from Chute Boxe, a team that would get in a rivalry with BTT after this match. Beginning the fight, Rua landed multiple hits in Sperry both standing and on the ground, but Sperry countered with a triangle armbar attempt and tried to get position; however, Rua escaped and landed more strikes, including a soccer kick to the face. At the second round, Sperry came near of the finish with a rolling kneebar and a Kimura lock, but Murilo was able to avoid them and threw several knees to the head. Finally, Rua punished Sperry for most of the third round for a unanimous decision.
Mario rebounded back from his loss by defeating Russian Top Team's counterpart Andrei Kopylov, a former world sambo champion. As Kopylov played defensive on the mat, Sperry threw kicks and strikes, cutting him in the mouth for a doctor stoppage while Kopylov was trying a kneebar. Later, in PRIDE Shockwave 2003, Mario faced Pancrase's rising star Yuki Kondo in a back and forth match. They exchanged leglocks on the mat, and later Sperry scored a spectacular takedown, but damage to his eye caused by earlier punches forced the referee to stop the bout.
In 2004, Sperry returned to PRIDE as part of the PRIDE Bushido series, where he knocked out Mike Bencic with a single punch. The next year, he fought Judoka Hirotaka Yokoi in a one-sided affair, with Sperry punishing a turtled up Yokoi with knees and soccer kicks for the win. Mario's last fight in the promotion would be against Yokoi's trainer, the renowned Tsuyoshi "TK" Kohsaka, in 2006. The bout was short, with the two fighters trading punches before Kohsaka landed a right hand for the KO.

## Personal life

Mario has a daughter who was born in March 2005. Sperry is also an avid competitive surfer. Aside from his fighting career, he has a degree in economics.

## Championships and accomplishments
### Grappling

* ADCC World Submission Wrestling Championships
** 2022: Hall of Fame (inaugural class)
** 2000: Superfight championship: defeated Roberto Traven
** 1999: Superfight championship: defeated Enson Inoue
** 1998: -99 kg: 1st place, Absolute: 1st place
* CBJJ World Championships
** 1999: Black Belt Absolute: =3rd place, Black Belt Super Pesado = 2nd place
** 1998: Black Belt Absolute: =1st place
** 1997: Black Belt Super-Pesado: 1st place, Black Belt Absolute: =3rd place
** 1996: Black Belt Pesadissimo: 1st place
** Voted Best Brown Belt in Brazil in 1992.
** Voted Best Purple Belt in Brazil in 1990.
* IBJJF World Championships
** 2017: Black Best Master 5 Super Heavy Weight: 1st place
** 2017: Black Belt Master 5 Absolute: 2nd place
* Other
** Black Belt World Mundial Champion 1996, 1997, and 1998.
** Brazilian National Black Belt Heavyweight Champion 1994 and 1995.

### Mixed Martial Arts

* Coliseum 2000
** Coliseum 2000 Heavyweight Championship (One time)
* Extreme Fighting
** Extreme Fighting Middleweight Tournament Runner Up
* Martial Arts Reality Super Fight
** Martial Arts Reality Super Fight Championship (One time)
* Ultimate Caged Combat
** 1997 Ultimate Caged Combat Overall Championship Tournament Winner
* Other
** 1995 Vale Tudo Super Fight Champion at the Titanic Duel in Brazil

## Mixed martial arts record

Professional record breakdown :
| 17 matches | 13 wins | 4 losses |
| By knockout | 7 | 3 |
| By submission | 3 | 0 |
| By decision | 3 | 1 |
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
| Win | 13–4 | Lee Hasdell | Submission (rear-naked choke) | Cage Rage 22 | July 14, 2007 | 1 | 1:39 | London, England | |
| Loss | 12–4 | Tsuyoshi Kohsaka | TKO (punches) | PRIDE 31: Dreamers | February 26, 2006 | 1 | 1:20 | Saitama, Japan | |
| Win | 12–3 | Hirotaka Yokoi | TKO (knees) | PRIDE 29 | February 20, 2005 | 1 | 9:08 | Saitama, Japan | |
| Win | 11–3 | Mike Bencic | KO (punch) | PRIDE Bushido 2 | February 15, 2004 | 1 | 0:11 | Yokohama, Japan | |
| Loss | 10–3 | Yuki Kondo | TKO (doctor stoppage) | PRIDE Shockwave 2003 | December 31, 2003 | 1 | 3:27 | Saitama, Japan | |
| Win | 10–2 | Andrei Kopylov | TKO (cut) | PRIDE 22 | September 29, 2002 | 1 | 6:02 | Japan | |
| Win | 9–2 | Wataru Sakata | Decision (unanimous) | UFO: Legend | August 8, 2002 | 3 | 5:00 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| Loss | 8–2 | Murilo Rua | Decision (unanimous) | PRIDE 20 | April 28, 2002 | 3 | 5:00 | Yokohama, Japan | |
| Win | 8–1 | Igor Vovchanchyn | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | PRIDE 17 | November 3, 2001 | 1 | 2:52 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| Win | 7–1 | Hiromitsu Kanehara | Decision (majority) | C2K Colosseum 2000 | May 26, 2000 | 3 | 5:00 | Japan | Won Coliseum 2000 Heavyweight Championship |
| Win | 6–1 | Chris Haseman | TKO (submission to punches) | Caged Combat 1: Australian Ultimate Fighting | March 22, 1997 | 1 | 1:12 | Sydney, Australia | Won Caged Combat 1 Tournament |
| Win | 5–1 | Neil Bodycote | TKO (submission to punches) | Caged Combat 1: Australian Ultimate Fighting | March 22, 1997 | 1 | 0:47 | Sydney, Australia | Caged Combat 1 Semifinals |
| Win | 4–1 | Vernon White | Decision (unanimous) | Caged Combat 1: Australian Ultimate Fighting | March 13, 1997 | 3 | 5:00 | Sydney, Australia | Caged Combat 1 First Round |
| Win | 3–1 | Andrey Dudko | Submission(kimura) | MARS: Martial Arts Reality Superfighting | November 22, 1996 | 1 | 4:15 | Alabama, United States | Won MARS Superfight Championship |
| Loss | 2–1 | Igor Zinoviev | TKO (doctor stoppage) | Extreme Fighting 1 | November 18, 1995 | 1 | 11:39 | North Carolina, United States | EDC Middleweight Tournament finals |
| Win | 2–0 | Rudyard Moncayo | TKO (submission to punches) | Extreme Fighting 1 | November 18, 1995 | 1 | 2:42 | North Carolina, United States | EFC Middleweight Tournament Semifinal |
| Win | 1–0 | Jose Balduino | TKO (submission to strikes) | Duelo de Titas 1 | September 1, 1995 | N/A | N/A | Brazil | |

## Submission grappling record

| Result | Opponent | Method | Event | Date |
| Loss | Ricardo Liborio | Decision | ADCC 2015 Superfight | 2015 |
| Win | Fabio Gurgel | Decision | ADCC 2013 Absolute | 2013 |
| Win | Renzo Gracie | Points | ADCC 2011 Absolute | 2011 |
| Loss | Roger Gracie | Points | ADCC 2003 –99 kg | 2003 |
| Loss | Mark Kerr | Penalty | ADCC 1999 Absolute | 2001 |
| Win | Enson Inoue | Points | ADCC 1999 Absolute | 1999 |
| Loss | Rodrigo Comprido | Advantage | World Championship | 1999 |
| Loss | Leonardo Leite | Points | World Championship | 1999 |
| Win | Roberto Roleta | Advantage | World Championship | 1998 |
| Win | Royler Gracie | Submission (clock choke) | World Championship | 1998 |
| Loss | Roberto Roleta | Points | World Championship | 1998 |
| Win | Simon Siasi | Submission (kneebar) | ADCC 1998 Absolute | 1998 |
| Win | Oleg Taktarov | Points | ADCC 1998 Absolute | 1998 |
| Win | Ricardo Alves | Submission (choke) | ADCC 1998 –99 kg | 1998 |
| Win | Renato Verissimo | Submission (choke) | ADCC 1998 –99 kg | 1998 |
| Win | Larry Parker | Submission (armbar) | ADCC 1998 –99 kg | 1998 |
| Win | Muhammad Saleh | Points | ADCC 1998 –99 kg | 1998 |
| Win | Roberto Correa | Submission (wrist lock) | World Championship | 1997 |
| Win | Saulo Ribeiro | Points | World Championship | 1997 |
| Win | Francisco Bueno | Submission (wrist lock) | Atlantico Sul | 1994 |

## Notable students

* Carlão Santos
* Marcello Salazar