Marcelino Freitas was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on April 20th, 1982. He began his training in Jiu-Jitsu in April of 1994 at the age of 12, under Master Andre Pederneiras (leader and founder of Team Nova Uniao), where he continues to train to this day. In June of 2002, Andre Pederneiras promoted Marcelino to Black Belt on the podium when he won the World Championships at the brown belt level. Marcelino always stood out at every belt level, becoming World Champion as a blue, purple and brown belt, and Brazilian National Champion in all belts including Black.
The Nova Uniao team he represents as a competitor and teacher is considered the greatest team of lighter weight fighters in the world, having produced such big-name fighters as BJ Penn, Danilo Cherman, Gustavo Dantas, Jose Aldo, Leonardo Santos,Marlon Sandro, Marcos Galvão, Robson Moura, Renato Verissimo, Vitor Shaolin, Wagnney Fabiano and a number of others recognized as the best Jiu-Jitsu competitors on the planet.
Aside from Jiu-Jitsu, Marcelino enjoys running, riding bikes, eating Pao de Queijo, playing video games, and rooting for his favorite football/soccer team, Flamengo!