Cristiano Marcello Talks Teaching The Likes Of Wanderlei Silva and Mauricio Rua

A lot of you may not know who exactly Cristiano Marcello is, but when you find out who this Brazilian fighter has taught over the years, you might just want to take note.

Cristiano is a mixed martial artist getting ready to take the next step, but first and foremost, he is a teacher. Cristiano has been teaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for a long time, starting out by teaching the little tykes with the Gracie Academy as a teenager, moving on to training high level mixed martial artists at the Chute Boxe Academy and finally to owning and operating his own school The CM System.

Marcello is scheduled to fight this comming Saturday at Bitetti Combat MMA 8 in Sao Paulo, Brazil against Guido Canetti. The card will also feature former WEC middleweight champion Paulo Thiago.

Marcello was nice enough to take some time out of his busy training and teaching schedule to answer a few questions for Bleacher Report. So without further delay lets have a look at what Marcello had to tell us.

Hi Cristiano, this is Leon Horne from Bleacher Report. How are you doing today and how has training camp been going?

Everything is 100% for me and my team!  Workouts now are in the final stages leading up to my fight and I'm feeling ready for my next challenge.

I had a chance to look over the website for your school CM System and it looks like you have managed to do quite a lot since the opening of the school in 2009. Your team has managed to win 57 of 63 fights since the schools inception. To what do you attribute your young school’s success?

Today at one year and five months, we already have over 140 professional MMA fights with more than 90% of them as victories!  As a team we still have 12 more fights before the end of this year.  I believe that this success is due to my experience with the teams I have worked with, where I learned from mistakes and successes.  The team also has athletes with great potential and qualified coaches.

Cristiano, it seems as if teaching is in your blood, you have trained Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to big names in the sport of mixed martial arts including the likes of Wanderlei Silva, Mauricio Rua, Maurilo Rua and Cris Santos. How did you end up getting so involved in teaching and when did you know that it was the right career path for you?

In fact I started teaching at the age of 16.  I was teaching children in the Gracie Academy and afterward I continued to give lessons to sustain my workouts because my parents never banned me, but also did not give me support until they saw my potential in the sport. I've always liked martial arts and have not wanted to do anything else.  I am in this for life (laughing).You were previously associated with the notorious Chute Box academy and are still considered their lead Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor. What made you leave Chute Box to start your own camp?

It was certainly a privilege for me, and a great learning experience to have been part of the history of Chute Boxe. I believe I made valuable contributions to the legacy that Chute Boxe now has.  What made me leave was the need to have my own business with my unique signature. I am able to do it my way with my technical team.

I have read that your system of teaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu translates very well to the sport of mixed martial arts. What is it that you find you integrate into your teachings of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu that makes it translate so well to mixed martial arts?

I believe that by having trained and taught in Chute Boxe’s golden era, it made me improve and simplify the way I teach jiu-jitsu for MMA.  My BJJ adapted to MMA, which translates into technique and aggressiveness.  Many technicians struggle with this because they never entered a ring or a cage and do not know how to do adapt.

Teaching aside, you also fight professionally and have an upcoming fight on December 4^th in Sao Paulo, Brazil which is being promoted by Bitetti Combat. You have not been the most active professional mixed martial artist, averaging around one fight per year, is there a reason for that? Is professional fighting secondary to you teaching and your school?

I have 13 fights and 10 victories in my career as an MMA fighter.  Why not make as many matches in a row now because in the past I did not have time.  I devoted myself to training technical fighters like Wanderlei Silva, Mauricio Shogun, Cris Santos, Anderson Silva, among others.  Now being leader of my own team, I can devote more to my career as a fighter. This year I'm going for my third fight with a forecast of one more before the end of the year.

Despite only averaging one fight per year, you will have fought three times in 2010, which is on par with the most active fighters in the sport. Are you looking to be more active in mixed martial arts? Could three professional fights a year become a regular thing for Cristiano Marcello?

I have more time to devote myself to my career as a fighter now that I run my own gym.  Certainly my goal for 2011 will be signing with a major promotion and to have several fights during the year.

Alchemist Management, owned by rapper MC Hammer is a management company for mixed martial arts fighters. The company has signed a lot of talent in recent months, Nate Marquardt and Brendan Schaub are two names that come to mind, but I see here that you have signed with Alchemist management as well. What was the reason behind signing up with Alchemist? Is it a sign of what is to come in terms of your career as a professional fighter? Have you met MC Hammer? If so what do you have to say about him and what does he bring to mixed martial arts?

It is an honor to have signed with Alchemist because I believe that they are capable and very professional in everything surrounding MMA. I learned of Alchemist through an old friend of mine, Nima Safapour, from the time I lived in Los Angeles with Master Rickson Gracie.  Nima is one of the founding members and key executives at the agency. We always had a mutual respect for each other’s careers, and the timing was right for this partnership.  I have not had the opportunity to see MC Hammer, but I know his history. I believe his involvement with MMA is of great value to the sport, as a person with a big name outside of the sport.  He will bring a lot of visibility and new opportunities for everyone involved with MMA.

The UFC recently declared a merger between the UFC and the rest of the WEC divisions, which included the lightweight, featherweight and bantamweight divisions. How do you feel about all the divisions fighting under the UFC banner? Do you think it ultimately benefits the sport, the fans and the fighters?

CRISTIANO: I think so, because the UFC brand is recognized worldwide today. Now all the athletes who have migrated or will migrate to the UFC will benefit because they will have visibility from the UFC brand.

This December 4^th you are fighting Alejandro Mandarina Solano Rodriguez for the second time in a row. The first time you fought Rodriguez you lost via technical knockout in the second round. What are you doing differently to change the outcome of this rematch? How do you expect this rematch with Rodriguez to go this time?

First thing I would change would be the referee. That really helped him in time to stop the struggle early.  Unfortunately, Solano refused the rematch within a week of this fight.  I will now face the number one ranked athlete in Argentina, Guido Caneti, a very tough muay-Thai athlete.  In relation to my training, I am an athlete who always trains a lot and I rely heavily on my ground game.

I’d like to thank you for your time away from training and teaching to answer these questions, muito obrigado. I wish you the best of luck in your upcoming fight with Caneti and the continued success with your school. Before we finish, do you have any last comments for your fans or other statements that you wish to make?

CRISTIANO: I would first like to thank you for the opportunity to do this interview and for showing my work.  Thank you to my agency- ALCHEMIST for their support and credibility in my work. And thank you to all the MMA fans that make this sport the fastest growing in the world.  For those who want to learn more about our work at CMSYSTEM, we have Facebook - and a website: www.cmsystem.com.br

At 31 years old, Marcello is looking to finally move himself up the ladder after a busy career teaching others to kick butt in the octagon. With his wealth of experience and his list of successful disciples, a few wins back to back and we might see Marcello get a shot at the big show.

**** Writer's Note: It should be noted that this interview was translated from Portuguese, at the time of the interview Cristiano's original opponent was still Alejandro Mandarina Solano Rodriguez, but he pulled out this week.

**** Leon Horne has been contributing to The Bleacher Report for two years now. He focuses mainly on mixed martial arts, but he has also written about tennis, football and hockey. Recently Leon began interviewing some fighters and hopes to continue to develop himself as a writer. Just send me a message if you want to talk sports or discuss any opportunities.

You can follow him on Twitter for updates: