Amaury Bitetti

Amaury Bitetti is a Brazilian mixed martial arts former fighter and promoter holding the rank of 7th degree black and red coral belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ). Considered by many as one of the best BJJ competitors of all time,[2][3] Bitetti is a two-time world jiu-jitsu champion in open weight, the first-ever to win the category, and a two-time Brazilian national champion. After competing in Vale Tudo / MMA Bitetti founded the MMA fight organization Bitetti Combate.

Amaury Bitetti
BornBrazil
NationalityBrazilian
Height5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb)
DivisionMiddleweight
StyleBrazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Fighting out ofRio de Janeiro, Brazil
TeamCarlson Gracie Team
Rank7th deg. BJJ coral belt
Years active1995-2001 (MMA)[1]
Mixed martial arts record
Total7
Wins5
By submission3
By decision1
By disqualification1
Losses2
By knockout2
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
Medal record
Representing
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
World Championship
Gold medal – first place 1996 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Open class
Gold medal – first place 1997 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Open class
Bronze medal – third place 1999 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil -88.3 kg
Brazilian National Championship
Gold medal – first place 1998 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil -94 kg
Gold medal – first place 2000 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil -94 kg

Brazilian jiu-jitsu career

Bitetti trained under the late Carlson Gracie starting at age five at the Carlson Gracie Academy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[4]

He won the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship in the Absolute division in 1996 and 1997.[5][6][7]

Bitetti went on to win the Brazilian National Jiu-Jitsu Championship in 1998 and 2000 in the -94 kg division, as well as a bronze medal at the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship in 1999.[4]

Mixed martial arts career

Desafio

Bitetti's first fight was going to be in the Desafio – Jiu Jitsu vs Luta Livre event in 1991, a challenge between Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Luta Livre fighters. He was originally escalated to face Luta Livre expert Marco Ruas, but Ruas ended up cancelling his participation and Bitetti was declared the winner by W.O.[8]

Amaury had his debut in 1995 for the Desafio: International Vale Tudo tournament. Entering the competition representing the art of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, he was pitted at the first round against karate stylist Francisco Nonato, but he defeated him by taking the fight to the mat and raining punches on him.

Bitetti next defeated kickboxer James Adler the same way, and he advanced to the finals, where he faced capoeira fighter Mestre Hulk. The grappler waited after some spinning kicks and tried to shoot, but he was suddenly caught by a right hook from the capoeirista and fell to the ground, where he received fourteen unanswered punches until referee Joao Alberto Barreto stopped the match.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

In 1996, Bitetti debuted in Ultimate Fighting Championship at its event UFC 9, replacing an injured Marco Ruas in his fight against Don Frye. The match would become infamous for the amount of punishment Amaury received, as Frye stopped his early takedowns and started landing punches, knees and elbows on the Brazilian, both standing and on the ground. After a hard series of elbows to the spine and head, the referee stopped the match to declare Frye winner.[9]

Amaury returned to UFC in UFC 26, where he faced Ken Shamrock trainee Alex Andrade. This time Bitetti started aggressively, but Andrade answered and followed with a kick to the face, which gained him a yellow card as he was wearing wrestling shoes and thus he couldn't legally kick. The Brazilian continued landing several combinations through the match, but he ended winning by disqualification instead, as at the second round he was kicked in the head again, which got Andrade out of the match.[10]

After retirement

Bitetti was also in Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira's corner when Nogueira submitted Tim Sylvia to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 81.[11] He also holds a win over UFC veteran Dennis Hallman.

He founded his own mixed martial arts organization called Bitetti Combat in 2002.[4] The company hosted its 14th event on 9 March 2013.[12]

Bitetti stated that he wished to compete against Roberto Traven at the 2013 ADCC.[13][14]

Bitetti was awarded his coral belt in May 2020 by master Osvaldo Alves after 31 years as a black belt [15]

Championships and accomplishments

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
  • 2 x IBJJF World Champion (1996 / 1997)
  • 3rd place IBJJF World Championship (1999[16])
  • CBJJ Brazilian Nationals Championship (1998 / 2000)

Mixed martial arts
  • Desafio
    • International Vale Tudo Tournament Finalist (1995)

Mixed martial arts record
Professional record breakdown
7 matches 5 wins 2 losses
By knockout 0 2
By submission 3 0
By decision 1 0
By disqualification 1 0
Res. Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes
Win 5-2 Dennis Hallman Decision (split) Shogun 1 December 15, 2001 3 5:00 Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
Win 4-2 Alex Andrade DQ (kicking with shoes) UFC 26 June 9, 2000 2 0:43 Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States
Win 3–2 Maurice Travis Submission (rear-naked choke) Vale Tudo O Lutador December 19, 1996 1 3:17 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Loss 2-2 Don Frye TKO (punches) UFC 9 May 17, 1996 1 9:22 Detroit, Michigan, United States
Loss 2-1 Mestre Hulk KO (punches) Desafio: International Vale Tudo January 5, 1995 1 0:23 Brazil Tournament finals
Win 2–0 James Adler Submission (punches) Desafio: International Vale Tudo January 5, 1995 1 1:51 Brazil Tournament semifinals
Win 1–0 Nonato Nonato Submission (punches) Desafio: International Vale Tudo January 5, 1995 1 3:57 Brazil Tournament quarterfinals

References
  1. "Amaury Bitetti Fight News". MMA Fighting. 10 December 2014.
  2. "Amaury Bitetti". BJJ Heroes. 31 May 2010.
  3. "Amaury Bitetti - Brazilian BJJ Legend". Grapplezilla. 5 April 2021.
  4. "Amaury Bitetti bio on BJJ Heroes". BJJ Heroes.
  5. Mattos, Wallace. "Entrevista: Amaury Bitetti, ex-atleta e treinador de jiu-jítsu e MMA." Tribunas De Minas. 03 Jun 2012: Web. 13 Jan. 2013. Archived 2014-03-27 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Jiu-Jitsu videos---Amaury Bitetti Teaches How to Neutralize 50/50 Guard – GRACIEMAG". GRACIEMAG.
  7. BJJ Heroes. "Amaury Bitetti". BJJ Heroes: the jiu jitsu encyclopedia.
  8. "The Biggest Rivalry in Martial Arts History: BJJ vs Luta Livre | BJJ Heroes". Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  9. Scott Newman (14 December 2005). "MMA Review: #69: UFC 9: Motor City Madness". The Oratory. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  10. "Amaury Bitetti".
  11. "Amaury comenta vitória de Minotauro – TATAME". Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  12. "List of Bitetti Combat events". Sherdog.
  13. "Out of left field, Amaury Bitetti wants in at ADCC 2013". GRACIEMAG.
  14. "Will we be seeing Amaury Bitetti vs. Roberto Traven at ADCC 2013?". GRACIEMAG.
  15. "Amaury Bitetti comments on his brand new coral belt – GRACIEMAG". GRACIEMAG.
  16. "World Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship 1999". World Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship 1999.
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