Bustamante was born in coastal Rio de Janeiro and originally had dreams of professional surfing, but began training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu soon after having his first fight when he was 10 years old. Bustamante began officially competing when he was 15 years old, before adding judo, and then began boxing when he was 18. Bustamante is a black belt under the renowned Carlson Gracie. He has won numerous world titles in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which includes the World Championships of Jiu-Jitsu.
Instructor lineage
→ Carlos Gracie, Sr. → Carlson Gracie → Murilo Bustamante
Sports accomplishments
Murilo's grappling accomplishments include Championships at the World Class level, as well as appearances at the ADCC World Submission Wrestling Championships. In Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, he has won The Mundials World Championships in 1999 and has won the Brazilian National Championship 4 times. In ADCC, he competed at the 88–98 kg in both 1999 and 2000, and the Absolute tournament in 1999. He managed a record of 3–2 with his losses coming by way of points over submission.
UFC career
Bustamante signed a four-fight deal with the UFC and faced Yoji Anjo in his promotional debut at UFC 25 on April 14, 2000. He won the debut via second-round submission. He then moved up to light heavyweight to face future champion Chuck Liddell at UFC 33 on September 28, 2001. He lost the fight via unanimous decision which was hotly contested. After the controversial loss, Bustamante decided to move back to middleweight division, receiving an immediate title shot against reigning champion Dave Menne at UFC 35 on January 11, 2002. He claimed the championship via second-round technical knockout. As the final fight of his contract and the first title defense, Bustamante faced Matt Lindland at UFC 37 on May 10, 2002. Lindland allegedly tapped to an armbar in the first round and referee McCarthy waved the bout off. Lindland immediately claimed that he did not tap out and McCarthy resumed the once-finished bout. Eventually, Bustamante submitted Lindland in the third round and successfully defended his title. Bustamante was offered a new contract by the UFC, with a permission to entertain other offers as a free agent. However, when finding out UFC had the best offer on the market and returned to negotiations with them, the organization had lowered their offer to a level preceding the Lindland fight.
Post-UFC career
Bustamante ended up signing with PRIDE in 2003. He was a finalist of the PRIDE Welterweight Tournament 2005 on 31 December. After two impressive victories via an armbar and a TKO, defeating Ikuhisa Minowa and Masanori Suda respectively, Bustamante entered the finals against Dan Henderson. In the finals Busta dropped an extremely close split decision to the two-time Pride champion. Murilo dedicates his time to teach Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Submission Grappling and MMA to his students for all levels at Brazilian Top Team training camps, as well as seminars all over the world. Murilo was scheduled to fight at Superior Challenge 6 and would have faced Tor Troeng. Bustamante was scheduled to face Yuya Shirai at Clube da Luta on 20 July 2011 but had to pull out of the fight due to an unspecified injury.
Grappling credentials
ADCC World Submission Wrestling Championships ADCC 2000 88–98 kg: 1st round ADCC 1999 88–98 kg: Semi finals. Absolute: Quarter finals. Record of opponents:
CBJJ World Championships 1999 Black Belt Pesado: 1st Place 1998 Black Belt Pesado: 3rd Place Black Belt Absolute: 3rd Place 1996 Black Belt Pesado: 2nd Place
