Cristiano Marcello Announces Purchase of American Top Team Facilities in Curitiba

A Ultimate Fighting Championship vet has grown his team in Brazil beyond his wildest dreams.

Back in 2009 when he was still on the roster, UFC vet Cristiano Marcello decided he would move on from his original institution of Chute Boxe. Rather than join up with another team – he did train occasionally with Team Alpha Male in California, as coach Urijah Faber was also his trainer on his season of “The Ultimate Fighter” – the Rio de Janeiro native formed his own team and called it CM System. Over the years, it has drawn notable competitors like Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos, Matheus Scheffel and Geraldo Coelho de Lima Neto, among others. Speaking with Sherdog on Thursday, Marcello had an announcement to make: his team had purchased the facilities of American Top Team in Curitiba, Brazil, and he claims that he now runs the largest training center in the country.

“I’m so glad I started the team in 2009 when I was still competing in UFC and leading the team,” Marcello explained. “Today, we have 45 professionals. The new area will have a 400 [square meter] dojo, plus [an] official Octagon, [an] official ring, 11 punching bags, [and a] physiotherapy and sauna area. Everything an MMA professional needs to reach his best. I have no doubt that today we are among the biggest training centers in the world and certainly the biggest in Brazil.”

The building where CM System is currently located will be transformed into dormitories for fighters. Some of these fighters that may end up staying there include active members under the UFC banner like Zaleski dos Santos and Vitor Petrino. Those two in particular, the head coach has the utmost of confidence that they will rise up the ranks.

“Elizeu arrived in [the] UFC eight years ago, since then he did 13 fights in UFC, facing some of the toughest guys in the welterweight division and having 11 wins,” coach Marcello noted. “In the light heavyweight [division], we have Vitor Petrino, who is only 25 years old and 9-0. This guy is a diamond that we are polishing, and I’m sure, step by step, he will reach the top of the division. We have no hurry.”

That patience that the UFC vet holds carries over to many of his other rising talents. The past several years, Dana White's Contender Series has scouted Brazilian prospects from the various camps around the region looking for the next possible star. This year, no fighter from CM System was picked for this contract-issuing series, but Marcello is not in a rush to push young competitors too soon.

“We have champions from CM System in the most important Brazilian events, we have talents with great sequences of wins in almost all divisions, and we offered each one of them to [UFC matchmakers] Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby. Unfortunately, none were chosen. But we have no hurry, let’s wait for the right opportunity, keep working hard and I’m sure, sooner or later, CM System will have [many] more talents in UFC,” Marcello concluded.