- Manchester United forward Matheus Cunha trains BJJ and has already received his first stripe on a white belt.
- The BJJ training is happening under elite competitor and coach Lucio “Lagarto” Rodrigues at Valour Jiu-Jitsu.
- Fans are split: it’s a great skill-builder… but also a sport where injuries can happen fast.
- The bigger story is the trend: high-level footballers are increasingly dabbling in grappling, despite the obvious risk.
A Premier League Star Steps Onto The Mats
There are celebrity hobbies, and then there are hobbies that come with chokes, joint locks, and the kind of awkward scrambles that can turn a normal Tuesday into six weeks of rehab.
That’s why the moment Manchester United forward Matheus Cunha trains BJJ hit social media, it instantly became more than just a “look what he’s doing in his spare time” post.
The images making the rounds show Cunha in a real training environment—hands-on grappling, positional work, drilling on the ground. Not a staged “I wore a Gi once” photo-op. And while plenty of pro athletes cross-train, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu carries a specific kind of reputation: it’s technical, addictive… and it does not care what your contract says.
Cunha even leaned into the vibe with a caption that read like a little wink to the grappling crowd:
Those who are not graduates, please show respect.
– Matheus Cunha –
It’s playful, but the message underneath is clear: he’s taking this seriously enough to talk like someone who’s already been bitten by the bug.
Manchester United Forward Matheus Cunha Trains BJJ And Gets A First Stripe
Here’s the detail that pushes the story from “interesting” to “oh, wow”—Manchester United forward Matheus Cunha trains BJJ and has already been awarded the first stripe on his white belt.
That doesn’t make him a killer on the mats overnight, but it does suggest consistency. Stripes are usually earned through showing up, learning the fundamentals, and not being the guy who disappears after two sessions because the warm-up bruised his ego.
The stripe moment was shared publicly by his coach, and the tone wasn’t “celebrity client” fluff. It read like a coach genuinely proud of a student starting the journey the right way—showing up, listening, doing the work.
One of the coach’s lines that stuck out was a simple truth most grapplers recognize immediately:
What’s the hardest belt to get in jiu-jitsu? It’s the white belt.
– Lucio “Lagarto” Rodrigues –
That’s the part non-grapplers sometimes miss. White belt isn’t “easy mode.” It’s the phase where your body is learning a new language, your balance gets exposed, and your instincts betray you at the worst times.
And yes—this is also the phase where injuries can happen, especially if someone trains like they’re still on a football pitch.
Why Grappling Makes Clubs Nervy
If you’re a pro footballer, your body is literally your livelihood. Clubs obsess over workload, recovery, soft-tissue management, and the kind of marginal gains that sound ridiculous until you see a season decided by one hamstring.
So when Manchester United forward Matheus Cunha trains BJJ, the natural reaction from fans isn’t just “cool.” It’s: is anyone at the club sweating right now?
Because BJJ’s injury profile isn’t about one dramatic moment (though it can be). It’s often the small stuff: a freaky landing off a takedown, a knee twisting in a scramble, a shoulder getting yanked in an awkward post. Even with careful partners, grappling is still grappling.
That tension showed up immediately in community chatter. One comment summed up the vibe bluntly:
A surprising amount of current athletes pick up BJJ given the obvious risks involved.
– Slowbrojitsu –
Another put it even more directly, comparing BJJ to the “safe” hobbies clubs usually tolerate:
Makes a change to golf. Surely his club might not be too keen on him doing a full combat sport?
– Meerkatsu –
That’s the entire debate in two sentences. Golf is a wrist tweak. Jiu-Jitsu is an uncontrolled environment by design—two people trying to dominate each other’s balance, posture, and joints. Even when it’s friendly, it’s still a combat sport.
Lucio “Lagarto” Rodrigues And The Valour Jiu-Jitsu Factor
The flip side—and this matters—is that Cunha isn’t training in some random back room with a guy who got promoted off vibes. Manchester United forward Matheus Cunha trains BJJ under Lucio “Lagarto” Rodrigues, a highly accomplished black belt with serious competitive credentials, including multiple major podium finishes.
That changes the risk equation. High-level coaches tend to run structured rooms. They understand pace. They know how to keep beginners safe, how to control sparring intensity, and how to build fundamentals without turning every round into an ego-fest.
Rodrigues also framed the opportunity in a way that sounded personal, not transactional:
My life purpose continues every day: to bring joy and real value to the lives of the people around me.
– Lucio “Lagarto” Rodrigues –
It also helps that Cunha is an elite athlete with the kind of balance, coordination, and explosiveness that translates well to grappling—if it’s channeled correctly.
Athleticism can be a cheat code in early training… or it can be the thing that gets you hurt fastest if you use it at the wrong time.
One more wrinkle: he’s not the only footballer with a connection to the sport. There’s already talk of other players who train, including a teammate from his past clubs who’s reportedly a blue belt.
What This Could Mean If More Footballers Follow
The reason this story travels isn’t just because a famous name tried a new sport. It’s because Manchester United forward Matheus Cunha trains BJJ at a time when grappling is creeping into mainstream athletic culture in a way it never used to.
Ten years ago, you’d expect this from retired athletes looking for a new challenge. Now it’s happening with active pros—people still in the peak of their careers—drawn in by the skill, the mindset, and the weirdly addictive feeling of learning how to solve problems under pressure.
If Cunha sticks with it, the “celebrity BJJ” angle fades and the real story becomes: this is what Jiu-Jitsu looks like when it’s normalized. Not a gimmick. Not a stunt. Just another high-performance athlete choosing to spend free time getting humbled, learning leverage, and earning stripes the slow way.
And whether Manchester United’s staff love it or hate it, the spotlight that comes with it is undeniable: when Manchester United forward Matheus Cunha trains BJJ, a whole new crowd starts googling what a stripe means—and why the white belt might actually be the hardest one to get.
