Manchester United forward Matheus Cunha has recently started training in BJJ and has now been awarded the first stripe on his white belt. He’s getting some excellent instruction as well, as he’s started his journey by taking classes with elite competitor Lucio ‘Lagarto’ Rodrigues. Not only is Rodrigues a black belt under the legendary Carlos Gracie Jr, but he’s also won the IBJJF European Championship several times over and stood on the podium of the IBJJF World Championship a few times during his career. There aren’t a whole lot of people around with more experience on the mats, so Cunha is in great hands.
Obviously Cunha has an amazing athletic background as a professional football player at the highest level, and this is something that always helps when trying to learn Jiu-Jitsu. There are plenty of sporting backgrounds that help when learning how to grapple and in football specifically, players will develop excellent balance and speed in movement along with explosive strength for their size. Cunha isn’t just any player either, he’s played for top teams like Atletico Madrid and Wolverhampton Wanderers before moving to Manchester United last year. He’s also represented his country on the international stage over the last few years too, earning 19 appearances for Brazil.
Cunha is far from the first footballer to find Jiu-Jitsu of course, as celebrity BJJ practitioners have come from many different walks of life. It’s not usually until retirement that professional athletes start training in it though, like fellow former Wolverhampton Wanderers player Carl Ikeme. As a Brazilian Cunha will have plenty of people to train with whenever he’s back in his home-country and even on the squad itself, blue belt Joao Gomes is another player who fallen in love with the sport. Cunha even played alongside Gomes at Wolves from 2023 to 2025, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see them training together on the mats soon enough.
Lucio ‘Lagarto’ Rodrigues shared the footage of Matheus Cunha receiving the first stripe on his BJJ white belt in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
