Bruno Malfacine - Rooster Weight BJJ King

Bruno Malfacine was born on August 28, 1986, in Duque de Caxias in the state of Rio de Janeiro State Brazil. He started training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in 1998 at the age of 11 under Carlos Santana. Malfacine was influenced by his uncle and started learning BJJ. Even when Malfacine was at the rank of an orange belt, he temporarily halted training because his coach Carlos Santana left the profession of training.

He started training again under new coach Vinicius Amaral, who is the founder of Academia Game Fight (that was an affiliate of Gama Filho Team) GFT, with great courage and new determination. Under the training of Vinicius Amaral, Bruno received his blue, purple, brown, and black belts. Bruno Malfacine is considered among the few athletes in jiu-jitsu who have secured 10 wins in IBJJF World Championships.

Bruno Malfacine had a challenging childhood. His parents got divorced when he was a baby.   He didn't have his parents to support him when he needed the motivation and support the most, at the very start of his career. He lost his mother at the age of 16. In those uncertain circumstances, he has to relocate to another state to make his dreams come true.

After receiving his early training in BJJ from Carlos Santana, Mafacine completed his advanced training and received his belts from Vinicius Amaral. Meanwhile, he decided to move out of state and that's exactly what he did and eventually received his training from Fabio in São Paulo.

Malfacine said in an interview:
“I always wanted to have Jiu-Jitsu as a job and I would not be able to make it in Rio”.
Bruno also said;
“ I kind of had to make a decision that would change my life”.

The duration of Bruno’s training with Sao Paulo was from 2008 to 2012.

Bruno said,
“For me, it was something really incredible to move to Sao Paulo and be surrounded by so many World Champions, I think it's a kind of motivation. You can always think if they can make it, I can make it”.

He expressed,
“I received my back belt from Vinicius Amaral when I was nineteen years old. He promoted me to blue belt first and after winning so many titles in second year competing, he awarded me with a black belt. He made me a world champion.”

By the end of 2018, Malfacine grabbed the opportunity to train with Fabio Gurgel aka, “The General” who is one of the most prestigious coaches of BJJ and was the leader of the Alliance Team in Brazil. Malfacine knew that he had to seize the opportunity, so he relocated to Sao Paulo and started his training at the headquarters of Alliance.

Under the coaching of Fabio Gurgel, Malfacine excelled at his skills and fighting techniques. In no time he has managed to prove himself as the best rooster weight champion of all time in the history of the sport of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. His name is included in the BJJ hall of fame fighters.

It is said that luck is when opportunity meets preparation. In the career of Bruno Malfacine, he grabbed the opportunity to train under the guidance of Fabio aka “The General” in the headquarters of Alliance. During that time Malfacine trained with all the big names and champions of the sport including middleweights, middle-heavy, and even heavyweight players.

Malfacine trained with players bigger than him and as the saying of BJJ goes, if you can't fight with guys bigger than you, then there is something wrong with your jiu-jitsu training. Bruno explained, “For me it was something really incredible to move to Sao Paulo and be surrounded by so many World Champions, I think it's a kind of motivation. You can always think if they can make it, I can make it”. 

Bruno Malfacine broke the World Championship record of Omar Salum which was set in 2000.

Bruno was an alpha fighter who disliked the taste of defeat and likes to train for the win. This is the reason he rarely lost in competitions. Despite his continuous winning streak, he lost against Caio Terra in the 2008 World Championship via rear naked choke. Although the loss motivated him to train harder with reincarnated sheer determination.

Despite the defeat, Bruno believed that Terra was a skilled athlete and this defeat led him to more focused and dedicated training. In a way, this defeat motivated Bruno to level up his skills. After so many years, he was not a winning champ. The taste of defeat and aspiration to win made him complete his haul of 10 times BJJ World Champion. In 2016 Bruno finally faced Terra in the finals of the World Championship and won the fight. Although they are rivals, they made each other a better athlete. This is the real beauty of jiu-jitsu.

According to Bruno Malfacine,

Bruno’s World Championship Record Against Caio Terra

 Bruno had a professional upbringing of a champion. He has whatever it takes to be the best. With so many expectations, hard work, and continuous winning streaks, Bruno has secured his place among the BJJ hallmark heroes with 10 titles in World Jiu-Jitsu Championships. In 2018, Bruno reached the 10th title mark and continues to be a living legend.

According to Bruno Malfacine;

Rooster Weight King and IBJJF Hall of Famer, Professor Bruno Malfacine shared his insights with students who were enthusiastic to learn from the best competitor of BJJ.

After an undefeated run in a competitive jiu-jitsu career, Bruno crossed over to MMA making his debut in Brazil. Bruno started his MMA career and his current professional fight record is 3 wins and 0 losses. In 2018, Bruno reigned from brave CF 11 for his pro-MMA combat against Rafael Vinicius. Bruno is considered a fierce fighter in MMA.

After setting an unprecedented and legendary record of ten titles in the World Jiu-Jitsu Championships in a fashion that has only been achieved by Marcus Almeida, Roger Gracie, and Beatriz Mesquita. But in the Roosterweight category, Bruno Malfacine is the only bearer of this hallmark. 2018 he achieved that double-digit hallmark by defeating (submitting) every single opponent and grabbed the gold medal on the 3rd of June in Long Beach, USA. He left his belt on the Jiu-Jitsu mat, a traditional gesture to show his retirement from the tournament.

He said in an interview;

Round 1:

The sound of the bell was heard across the Mubadala Arena. It was a highly anticipated and tense fight. It was a purely technical and opponent-oriented bout with initially no takedown attempts by Malfacine. It seemed that Rodriguez finally succeeded in getting into the skin of Malfacine. Rodriguez was constantly trying to throw Bruno off the balance. Right after the 90-second mark, Malfacine skillfully cornered Rodriguez and tried his first takedown attempt.

He managed to hold back Rodriguez on the ground and the spectators saw the class of the 10 times Jiu-Jitsu World Champion proving himself in the MMA arena. After three minutes and eighteen seconds of the first round, Bruno Malfacine locked his arm around the neck of Rodriguez. In the next two seconds, the crowd saw three taps and the rest is history. Malfacine extended his MMA record to 3-0 and remained undefeated in his professional MMA career.

This historic bout took place in the 11th event of the Bravo Combat Federation at the Mineirao Stadium Terrace in Belo Horizonte, Brazil on April 13, 2018. It was the third Bahrain-based mixed martial arts event that took place in Brazil.

Round 1:

The bout started after the magical sound of the bell. Both fighters took their positions and touched their fists. Right after 10 seconds Bruno launched himself at the opponent and tried to land punches on the face but Rafael dodged all the jabs. Both fighters were cautious of giving any weak or uncalculated move to the opponent.

After almost 30 seconds of the nerve-racking tussle from both fighters, finally, Bruno landed a half punch and grabbed Rafael from behind, and took him down near the fence. He strangled his legs around his hips of Rafael and continued landing the punches on the side of his face. Rafael tried to free himself from the grip of 10 times jiu-jitsu Champion but struggled. Meanwhile, Bruno put an Armbar and strangled Rafael. After 3 minutes and 18 seconds of round 1,  Bruno was declared the winner.

This highly anticipated bout was held on 13 April 2018 at the Arena Mineirinho, Belo Horizonte in Brazil.

Round 1:

The fight started and not only was Malfacine’s reputation high, but his fighting style was also elite. He grabbed the opponent and put him down on his back. While sitting on him Bruno continued punching Romario while sitting in the mount position.

While the opponent tried to control his right arm. Suddenly Romario reversed from the bottom mount and put himself on top of Bruno. Bruno applied a closed guard and locked his legs around the opponent. Right after the leg triangle grip, Bruno puts Romario in an Armbar, and Romario submitted by tapping out at 1:34 of the first round.

In 2012, Bruno was inducted into the IBJJF Hall of Fame. This refers to an acknowledgment from the governing body of IBJJF for the accomplishments of the fighter. Bruno set a record of 10 times winning gold in the IBJJF World Championships and set the bar very high.

Bruno Malfacine vs Tomoyuki Hashimoto / World Championship 2018

2014 World Jiu Jitsu - Bruno Malfacine vs Joao Miyao - Black Belt FINALS

Bruno Malfacine VS Caio Terra / World Championship 2019

Bruno Malfacine Behind The Scenes Look

Bruno Malfacine / European Championship 2011

Bruno "Bad Boy" Malfacine

Photo credit: @bmalfacine