Antônio "Nino" Schembri (; born June 1, 1974, in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

) is a Brazilian practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) and former

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

. He is a former member of the

Chute Boxe Academy The Chute Boxe Academy (; "Kick-Boxing") is a Brazilian martial arts academy. It opened as a Muay Thai academy in 1978 in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. Head trainer Rudimar Fedrigo later expanded the program in 1991 to include other aspects of mode ...

and currently trains with Black House. Schembri is highly accomplished in sport BJJ, having won the 1996 Brazilian National Championship in the absolute division world championships in his weight class back to back in 1997/1998. Schembri has a unique style of Jiu-Jitsu with focus on submission and creative attacks. At 1999 Pan-American he had phenomenal wins and became known as "El Nino", in analogy to the natural phenomenon El Niño. Schembri is sometimes nicknamed "Elvis" because he is an

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

fan and used to mimic some of Elvis's dance moves to celebrate his victories. Today, Schembri teaches at his own gym located in

Lawndale, California Lawndale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 31,807 at the 2020 census, down from 32,769 at the 2010 census. The city is in the South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles Area. History Native Ameri ...

Biography

Antônio Schembri was born into an

Italian Brazilian Italian Brazilians (, ) are Brazilians of full or partial Italy, Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to Brazil during the Italian diaspora, or more recent Italian-born people who've settled in Brazil. Italian Brazilians ...

family in

. In his youth, Schembri worked in his family's street market, helping his Italian-born father selling duvets. He began training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu at age five under Marcelo and Silvio Behring in the New Ipanema neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, before coming under the tutelage of Jorge Pereira at thirteen. As an 18 year old blue belt, Schembri moved to the

Gracie Barra Academy Gracie Barra (GB) is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy and team co-funded in 1986 by Carlos Gracie Jr., a son of Carlos Gracie, one of the founders of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. History The Gracie Barra academy was established in 1986 by Carlos Grac ...

to study under

Carlos Gracie Jr. Carlos "Carlinhos" Gracie Jr. (born January 17, 1956) is a Brazilian 8th-degree coral belt Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) practitioner, instructor, and coach. A member of the Gracie family, he is the son of Carlos Gracie, one of the founders of Br ...

and

Renzo Gracie Renzo Gracie (; born March 11, 1967) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and 7th degree coral belt Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner and coach. A third generation member of the Gracie family, he is the grandson of Gracie jiu-jitsu co-founder C ...

. After training at Gracie Barra for two years, he was promoted to black belt. Schembri began competing in

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

(MMA) in 2001 after joining the

Pride Fighting Championships PRIDE Fighting Championships (Pride or Pride FC, founded as KRS-Pride) was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts even ...

in Japan. In his debut match, he defeated

Luta Livre Luta Livre (, lit. ''freestyle fighting'' or ''wrestling''), known in Brazil as Luta Livre Brasileira (lit. ''Brazilian freestyle fighting'') or Luta Livre Submission, and also Brazilian Submission Wrestling, is a Brazilian martial arts and comb ...

fighter

Johil de Oliveira Johil de Oliveira (born August 7, 1969) is a Brazilian former professional mixed martial arts veteran fighter, Luta Livre practitioner who has competed in Japan's Pride Fighting Championships and Brazilian-based organizations such as World Vale ...

Pride 14 The year 2001 was the 5th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2001 had 6 events beginning with, ''Pride 13 - Collision Course''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters Th ...

on 27 May 2001. Around that time, Schembri left Gracie Barra and joined the

, where he became the gym's grappling coach while learning striking from

Rafael Cordeiro Rafael Cordeiro (born June 1, 1973) is a Brazilian mixed martial arts (MMA) coach and founder of MMA Gym, Kings MMA. He is best known for training multiple MMA world champions. History Cordeiro was a fighter affiliated with the Chute Boxe Ac ...

. At

Pride 25 The year 2003 was the 7th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2003 had 6 events beginning with, ''Pride 25 - Body Blow''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters The follo ...

on 16 March 2003, Schembri scored the most significant victory of his career by defeating

Kazushi Sakuraba is a Japanese professional wrestler, submission wrestling, submission wrestler and former mixed martial artist, currently signed to Pro Wrestling NOAH, Pro Wrestling Noah, where he was formerly one-half of the former GHC Tag Team Championship, G ...

by technical knockout. Schembri's father committed suicide in 2004, leaving Nino devastated and affecting his ability to focus and train consistently. During this time period, his record suffered and he retired with a 5-5 MMA record in 2008. Schembri returned to competing in jiu-jitsu in 2010, stating in an interview to the Fightworks Podcast that he was finally recovered mentally from his father's death. He moved to the United States and opened a jiu-jitsu academy in

.Nino Schembri
bjjfanatics.com

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 5–5 , Mauro Chimento Jr. , TKO (punches) , Fury FC 7 - Final Combat , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:30 ,

Barueri Barueri ( or ) is a Brazilian municipality in the State of São Paulo located in the northwestern part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 276,982 (2020 est.) in an area of . Its boundaries are Santana de Parnaíba to ...

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Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, directly across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region of Quebec and is also p ...

, Canada , , - , Win , align=center, 4–4 , Amir Rahnavardi , Submission (triangle armbar) , MMAC: The Revolution , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:57 , Washington, D.C., United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 3–4 ,

Matt Lindland Matthew James Lindland (born May 17, 1970), is an American retired mixed martial artist, Olympic wrestler, speaker, actor, coach, entrepreneur, and politician. He won the Oregon Republican Party's nomination for the Oregon House of Representati ...

, TKO , Cage Rage 14 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 3:33 , London, England , , - , Loss , align=center, 3–3 ,

Ryo Chonan is a Japanese retired professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 2001 to 2013, Chonan competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC, PRIDE Fighting Championships, PRIDE, Deep (mixed martial arts), DEEP, Dream (mixed ...

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, Decision (unanimous) , PRIDE Critical Countdown 2004 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Saitama, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 3–1 ,

Kazuhiro Hamanaka is a Japanese mixed martial artist. He fought for the Tokyo Sabres in the International Fight League. Career Hamanaka began his mixed martial arts career in 2003 with a victory over Antonio Schembri at PRIDE 26. After losing to Ryan Gracie ...

, Decision (unanimous) ,

PRIDE 26 The year 2003 was the 7th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2003 had 6 events beginning with, ''Pride 25 - Body Blow''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters The follo ...

, , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 3–0 ,

, TKO (knees and soccer kicks) ,

PRIDE 25 The year 2003 was the 7th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2003 had 6 events beginning with, ''Pride 25 - Body Blow''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters The follo ...

, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 6:15 , Yokohama, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 2–0 ,

Daiju Takase is a Japanese mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He has fought as a middleweight and welterweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and PRIDE Fighting Championship. Mixed martial arts career PRIDE Fighting Championships A representative of ...

, Decision (split) ,

PRIDE The Best Vol.2 The year 2002 was the 6th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2002 had 10 events beginning with, ''Pride FC: The Best, Vol. 1''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters T ...

, , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 , Tokyo, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 ,

, Submission (armbar) , Pride 14 - Clash of the Titans , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 7:17 , Yokohama, Japan ,

ADCC Submission Grappling Record

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schembri, Nino Living people Brazilian male mixed martial artists Welterweight mixed martial artists Middleweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu People awarded a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu Martial artists from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian emigrants to the United States 1974 births Sportspeople from Manhattan Beach, California People from Redondo Beach, California Brazilian people of Italian descent