Mario: My father was a graduate in sport and he was one of the first surfers in Brazil and we were always doing something sports oriented. When I was four I started doing Judo and even though I quit after six months I was always interested in and looking for martial arts so when I was twelve I restarted Judo.

I practiced Judo for a year and then some friends of mine started doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and they invited me to train and said "Jiu-Jitsu is kind of like Judo do you want to try it?" I said "Yah, sure, lets go" and after the first class I was amazed. I quit Judo and started Jiu-Jitsu.

Jiu-Jitsu is my passion now; I am addicted to Jiu-Jitsu.

Mario: Jiu-jitsu fighters always like to have a healthy life and that means eat healthy food, try not to get stressed and do exercises everyday. We like to do our exercises in some nature environment like forest, mountains and beaches and BJJ grew up in Rio de Janeiro witch is a hot place and has a lot of different beautiful beaches. So I think that's the link between BJJ and surf.

Mario: I started as a Gracie Barra student; I think Gracie Barra is the best academy in the world so I always trained with Gracie Barra students. When I was young I was from a middle class family so I couldn't afford to train at the main school so I was always looking to train with Gracie Barra students. I was very dedicated and always winning championships so I always had scholarships, so I trained for free.

I was training with Gordo and Draculino but then Gordo left for São Paulo and I kept training with Draculino. Then Mamazinho came to teach and I kept training with Draculino until 1995 when he moved to a different state and Momazinho took over. After that I started training with Gordo, and his brother Gordinho, again. And then in 2003 I moved to the Gracie Barra main school to train under Carlos Gracie Jr. and Marcio Feitosa. I started there as a purple belt and got my brown and black belts there

Mario: I enjoy playing both. I really like to pass the guard but I have to admit that I am better at working my guard than I am at passing guard. Its funny because my life in Jiu-Jitsu is changing all the time because when I started I was always training on the top but having good closed guard teachers I started doing closed guard and then when I was brown belt I thought "I'm not good at passing guard" so I spent a whole year training on top because I wanted to be a complete black belt. I really improved my top game during that time and I think I became a complete Jiu-Jitsu fighter.

Mario: I think that what happened to me . . . When I started in Jiu-Jitsu I was the youngest, smallest, weakest guy in the gym so when I sparred I couldn't use strength, I had to really learn the technique. That helped me a lot. I'm still one of the weakest guys at Gracie Barra so I need the technique to compete against those big guys.

A lot of people try to use too much strength because they have a lot of ego and they don't want to lose and that is bad when you are trying to learn a technique. You need to forget about your ego and forget about losing.

When you instructor teaches you a technique, if you really want to learn, keep trying even if it doesn't work at first. Keep trying and pretty soon you will begin to learn the technique and forget about the strength, forget about winning, and think more about learning than winning.

Mario: Yes, definitely but it also depends on your level. If you are already graduated, like a black belt, and you're competing you still want to learn new techniques because you don't want to have your game stuck in the same place all of the time. But at the same time you want to train the positions you already know so that you perfect those positions for competition. I think that, for a black belt, when you are close to competitions you have to train harder at the positions you already know and learn a few positions that are close to what you already do but don't add completely new things. There is always a part of the year when you don't have any competitions that is a good time to learn new techniques and try to change a little part of your game.

Now, if you're a brand new student you don't know much but if you're a purple belt or a brown belt, or a black belt you already know a lot of technique so you should let your schedule help you decide whether or not you should be learning new techniques or working on and perfecting what you already know.

Mario: It's not normal for someone who has been winning to suddenly start to lose without anything else changing. Something changed, either the way they are training, maybe they're not training enough, or maybe they are over training. They have to think about what they changed.

One thing that helps a lot is to compete. When I was 16-17 I was fighting all the time, at least once a month, and I was always winning. After that I started studying engineering and I couldn't train as hard so when I did compete I wasn't as successful.

Mario: I like to take a whole week to train one position and each day I'll teach one technique from the bottom and one from the top. This way I can show as many details as I can. I have taught in Brazil and Europe and here in America and everywhere you go you have to teach differently. Some places need beginner level techniques, some places need advanced techniques, but its different everywhere. When you are at an academy where beginners and advanced students are in the same class and you teach advanced techniques to the beginners then they won't get it and if you teach basic techniques to the advanced students then they get bored. I like to teach basic moves, because the basic moves are really important, and if you teach them full of details then it will be good for the beginners and the advanced guys might think they know the position but then you show them the small details and they start to think "oh, that's why that wasn't working for me" I have heard a lot of people saying that.

I remember the first time I taught a class in Europe, I was teaching a combination where you go for the arm bar, and then you go for the omoplata, and then you go for the triangle. And all of the advanced guys were going "I know how to do the arm bar, triangle, and omoplata, what is this guy teaching?" And then I showed the small details that really make the positions work and then everyone was saying "oh, that's why I never tap anyone with the triangle" and "that's why they always escape from my arm bar." It was good because I was teaching basic techniques for the beginners and showing the small details that make the positions work for the advanced students so everyone was able to learn.

You have to adapt the way you teach depending on where you are teaching.

Another thing I don't like is that some academies you go to will teach three techniques a day and like fifteen techniques over one week. The student is not going to learn all of that. That is why I like to focus on one position each week and teaching one technique from the bottom and one technique from the top each day.

When I first started Jiu-Jitsu we would learn two or three techniques per week. We would train each technique like a hundred times a day and I think I learned a lot like that.

I think that when you are a beginner you should learn a few basic techniques and really practice them until you really know them. Later, when you are advanced you can learn lots of techniques and try to find which ones fit your game. If you are a black belt you already know a lot of different positions and it is easier to learn new techniques but for beginners it is really important to focus on the basics and spend the time to learn them very, very well. That is why, at my academy, we train each position until you learn it.

Many students learn advanced positions from their friends at the academy. You'll hear them "oh, I learned this new position from this DVD" or "I saw this in a magazine" or something like that, and this is good but it makes it even more important for the instructor to focus on the basic moves.

Mario: I don't know because I am addicted to Jiu-Jitsu. I don't worry about staying motivated. My whole life I was involved in sports and it was a healthy way of life and Jiu-Jitsu is good because you not only get in shape, it also is good for your mind.

I think sometimes some people start Jiu-Jitsu and then quit because they get frustrated. Jiu-Jitsu is difficult in the beginning but when you get to blue belt and purple belt then very few people quit after that. They are already addicted.

Mario: Yes [with the tough guys] it really depend s on their personality. Some of them let it hurt their ego and they end up quitting. Some of them may say "hey, this little guy keeps tapping me! I have to learn this incredible technique" and they can become the best students.

Mario: That's why I say in the beginning Jiu-Jitsu is very hard. You train with everybody and everybody makes you tap but if you can stay dedicated and keep training then you will begin to tap others.

When I started I was the youngest, smallest, and weakest so everybody used to make me tap and it was very frustrating. The girls made me tap, everyone made me tap but I kept training and training and training and I remember it was like December, January, or February in Brazil and people don't really train because it is so hot and you don't have school so I would go to the gym to train and when I got there it was only me and Draculino and we would train for like two hours and we did that for like a month or a month and a half and when everybody came back I was on their level and I was beating everybody.

Mario: Well, it's kind of a funny story. I met Amal [Easton] in Brazil a couple of years ago and everyone told him that I was good in closed guard so he asked me "can I train with you in your closed Guard? And I'm known for my closed guard but Amal is a smart guy and he was opening my closed guard really easily but he was having a lot of trouble passing my open guard. Later when he was leaving Brazil I got his number and when I came to the USA I called him and he invited me out to do a seminar.

I went out to Colorado, to his school, where I taught some classes and did a seminar and I think he really liked the way I teach and really liked sparring with me. I REALLY [speaker's emphasis] liked the way he teaches, his system.

[I went back to California and] one day he called me and said "I need somebody, do you want to come and teach for me." And I was like "yah, sure."

I really like his system, it is very dynamic and the students are very happy with it and that is one of the major reasons that I am moving there. Amal is very professional and always worried about the academy and trying to make it and them, his students, successful.

[ Editor's note: check out Amal's school at: http://www.bjjboulder.com/adult/index.php ]

Mario: I always watch BJJ videos on youtube and one day I thought "Why not post some videos of myself teaching? It's free marketing!"

I've been training BJJ for 15 years and teaching for 10 years and, even when I wasn't competing in tournaments I kept training with the best fighters in the world. I just came to America to teach and I was looking for some way to show everybody my skills in BJJ.

I'm very satisfied with the results! The videos have almost 4,000 views already and the numbers are increasing every day! Whoever wants to check it out, go to http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=mcbusy and don't forget to rate and leave a comment!!!

Mario: I would really like to thank all my team mates, all of my teachers. I always had great teachers, and not just in Jiu-Jitsu. My teachers always taught me to be a good person. I remember Draculino was always like "just because you're good in Jiu-Jitsu doesn't mean that you have to use it on other people" he was always teaching. I also want to thank Carlinhos and Marcio Feitosa; they have always supported me, helped me, and taught me a lot. And I am very grateful and honored to be a black belt under Carlos Gracie Junior. And I want to thank Amal for giving me the opportunity to teach with him.

Mario: Yes, thank you for the interview.