# Italo Moura

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## Overview

**Name:** Italo Moura


## Bio

Italo Moura was born on December 15, 1997, in São Simão, growing up in Luiz Antônio, two neighboring municipalities in the Brazilian state of São Paulo.

Interested in martial arts from a very young age, by the time he was 9, Italo was already a karate practitioner with tournament experience. It was only 3 years later, by his father’s influence, that Moura joined a local  Gracie Barra  jiu-jitsu school, during his 2009 school holiday.

Vitorio “Furão” was Italo Moura’s first grappling coach at the aforementioned Gracie Barra affiliate. The young athlete would later switch to the  Academia Núcleo  gym, where he worked under the guidance of Rhuando Cavalcante, earning his blue belt from Cavalcante.

By the time Italo was a blue belt, a few of his higher-ranked teammates opened a “PSLPB Cicero Costha” school affiliate, and Italo followed their lead, working with coach Mauricio Antunes, as well as Rafael Naves, Willian Von Sohsten, Aquila Lanza, Ramon Delsin and Higor Paterra at this new gym.

It was through this connection that Moura met and befriended the legendary instructor  Cicero Costha , particularly thanks to Rafael Naves, who took Moura to São Paulo for a competition in 2012. Naves and Italo stayed at Cicero’s team headquarters for a few days, training in preparation for the said tournament, an event that propelled Italo to seek a life as a professional grappler. Fueled by his first stay at the PSLPB Academy, Moura returned to train there with every chance he had, particularly during prolonged public-school holidays. After Moura finished high-school, he decided to move to the state capital, São Paulo, to become a full-time athlete under a scholarship with Cicero.

Although not part of the team, the Cicero Costha had a long-standing friendship with black belt  Murilo Santana , as he and the team’s leader trained in the same team for many years. During one of Santana’s frequent training sessions at the PSLPB headquarters, Italo met the well-known competitor and, soon to be, founder of the Unity Jiu-Jitsu Academy in New York, USA.

In 2016 Italo started doing his training camps at Santana’s NYC gym, ahead of any the major tournaments in the America circuit. Having a solid base from where to train while preparing for the biggest tournaments in the sport, was a key asset in Moura’s development, who, after a series of strong performances as a brown belt, was promoted to black belt by coaches Murilo Santana and Cicero Costha, on June 2019.

Italo Moura NoGi Highlight

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**Last Updated:** March 21, 2026

**Data Source:** BJJ.Space (https://bjj.space/people/italo-moura-47337f9d19d9)