Martial Arts were introduced to Ataíde’s life on the age of 4 when he trained  judo at his father’s police precinct, a sport that he has been practicing for over 20 years. He earned his black belt whilst training and representing the Miura Judo Academy.

Throughout his formative years, Ataíde also trained capoeira with Mestre Amendoim (Grupo Senzala) and striking at Associação Pepe kickboxing and taekowndo.

During his mid-teens, Ataíde became interested in submissions and started spending time with Júlio “Pudim” César and his brother Sandro “Bala”. At the age of seventeen, Ataíde met José Carneiro Vasconcelos, also known as “Popó”, and it was with Popó that Ataíde would truly initiate his path in Jiu Jitsu. Ataíde and Popó, start to train with the legendary Helio Gracie black belt, Armando Wridt.

Armando taught them for the following ten years and awarded Ataíde Júnior his black belt.

When Junior decided to start a team on his own he chose the name ‘Constrictor Team’, because it was based on his profession as a biologist, in which he specialized in Reptology. He uses most of his insight on boa constrictors’s on his approach to chokes, then he developed a totally different jiu jitsu style. This technique is extremely efficient and is based on how snakes suffocate their prey without poison.

In 2007, Junior had an incident while handling an alligator at a local zoo and lost part of his fingers in one hand.

Ataíde has a fantastic story as coach, making great champions in the biggest events around the world on both BJJ and MMA. Ataíde received his black belt 5th grade straight from Armando Wriedt’s hands (his master) in 2014.