Murilo Santana

Murilo Silva Ferreira Santana was born on April 13, 1983, in São Paulo state, Brazil. He earned his black belt under Mario Yamasaki, the longtime BJJ black belt best known internationally as a UFC referee, and continued developing his game under coach Marcos Barbosa in São Paulo before establishing himself as a top-level competitor in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Santana's competitive peak came between 2007 and 2014, during which he won multiple CBJJ Brazilian National Championship titles (2007, 2010, 2012), a CBJJE World Championship title in 2007, and picked up bronze medals at the IBJJF World Championship in 2007, 2008, and 2014. He also built a strong reputation in no-gi, winning the IBJJF World No-Gi Championship in 2013 and medaling at multiple other Worlds and Pan American events. On the ADCC stage, he won the ADCC Brazilian Trials in 2011 and finished fourth at the ADCC World Championship the same year, part of four total ADCC World Championship appearances across his career.

In January 2015, Santana relocated to New York City to help found Unity Jiu-Jitsu near Union Square, alongside Ana Lowry, Yago De Souza, and brothers Paulo and João Miyao. While the Miyao brothers and Yago De Souza served as the academy's early resident athletes, Santana took on the role of head instructor, a position he has held ever since — including after the Miyao brothers' departure from the team in 2020. Some databases have inconsistently linked Santana to other Brazilian teams, but the verifiable record consistently ties him to Mario Yamasaki's lineage and to Unity Jiu-Jitsu, not to Checkmat.

As a coach, Santana built Unity into one of the most competition-focused academies in the New York area, emphasizing rigorous live training and open collaboration among training partners regardless of their team background. His own competitive philosophy — patient, pressure-heavy guard passing anchored by the Miragaia pass named in his own style — has become a hallmark of the Unity system he teaches.

While coaching is now his primary focus, Santana has continued to step onto the mats himself, winning gold in the master divisions at events such as the 2023 IBJJF Nashville Open, showing that more than a decade after his competitive peak he remains both a credible competitor and one of the sport's respected guard-passing instructors.

A pressure-based guard-passing game anchored by his signature Miragaia pass, favoring relentless top control and positional grinding over flashy guard work.