caption website birth_place teacher martial_art rank residence article_title name
mauricio villardo . http://www.brjj.com bra rio de janeiro , brazil royler gracie , gracie jiu-jitsu 4th degree black belt wellington , florida , united states mauricio villardo
 mauricio villardo
mauricio villardo

mauricio villardo reis -lrb- born january 14 , 1975 -rrb- best known as mauricio villardo is a fourth-degree black belt in brazilian jiu-jitsu under royler gracie , head instructor of gracie humaitá and he is also a former world champion of the world jiu-jitsu championship of the international brazilian jiu-jitsu federation -lrb- ibjjf -rrb- .
living close to the beautiful beaches in brazil , mauricio 's hobby was surfing , but once he experienced jiu-jitsu , he fell in love with the sport .
mauricio 's first experience with the martial arts was not jiu-jitsu .
when he was seven , he began practicing judo at clube do flamengo , in rio de janeiro .
at the age of fifteen , mauricio began to practice muay thai .
a few months later , a friend invited him to visit a brazilian jiu-jitsu academy and for mauricio , it began a lifelong journey studying the worlds most effective fighting and self-defense system .
almost immediately after becoming a jiu-jitsu student , mauricio began to compete at local and regional tournaments in brazil .
later , he began to assist professor royler gracie with classes , developing his passion for teaching .
he won many major tournaments including the 1996 world jiu-jitsu championship .
in 1997 , mauricio accomplished a lifelong dream receiving his black belt from the hands of his professor royler gracie .
in 2002 mauricio moved to south florida .
recognizing the opportunity to build a small business in the united states , he decided to continue teaching his style of jiu-jitsu in the palm beach county , florida area .
since 2002 , mauricio has been developing and expanding brazilian jiu-jitsu in the west palm beach area where he lives and operates an academy in wellington .
with an expanding academy professor villardo has also continued his success in competition .
in 2009 he won a silver medal at the ibjjf pan championships in california .
he also won gold medals at the ibjjf 2009 and 2010 pan no-gi championships in new york city .
