Leonardo Delgado

Black Belt
Instagram: @leonardodelgado

I started training Jiu-Jitsu in 1997. As a teenager, I was getting in a lot of trouble and my parents asked one of my older cousins who was training Jiu-Jitsu at the time to bring me to try some classes. Years before, that same cousin had introduced me to Judo. Jiu-Jitsu was love at the first try, competition was part of it since the very beginning too.

The times were different though, Jiu-Jitsu was still somewhat frowned upon from the "traditional family" standpoint, and becoming an athlete in my family wasn't an option. So I kept doing it as a hobbyist and in between some "comings" and "goings" I got my black belt in Dec 2011. In 2013 I quit an unfulfilling job and started making Jiu-Jitsu a priority again.

In 2015 an unexpected opportunity to move to the states came up and here I am since then.All my major JJ accomplishments are in the Black Belt Masters division: 2x IBJJF World NoGi Champion, 2x IBJJF Pan NoGi Champion, 3x IBJJF American National Gi Champion, 3x IBJJF American National NoGi Champion, IBJJF/CBJJ Brazilian National NoGi Champion, 2x IBJJF World Master medalist, 3x IBJJF Pan Ams medalist.

I currently live in MS where I have a beautiful family and our own JJ school. Fun fact: my nickname is Monstrão (big monster in Portuguese) and everyone thinks is because I'm strong etc but the truth is the nickname was given by a friend that used to tell me I was as ugly as a swamp monster.