Roberto de Moraes Atalla

Roberto Atalla, nicknamed "Risada", founded the Rio Grappling Club in 2003 as a sports society inside SOAS University of London. He is a fifth degree black belt under Sergio Bolao Souza, himself a black belt under Carlson Gracie Sr., and he leads the team together with fourth degree black belt Mauro Chueng, who joined in 2005 and helped turn the club into a network that now has schools in 18 countries across Africa, Asia, America and Europe. The nickname, which means laughter, was given to him as a white belt by Helio Moreira "Soneca", who thought Atalla was always laughing while he trained.