Leo was born in Rio de Janeiro Brazil. He started to train at Carlson Gracie’s academy in 1993 together with Murillo Bustamante, Amauri Bitteti, Mario Sperry, Vitor Belfort and others. At this time Carlson Gracie himself was the coach for Leo Negao and these aforementioned fighters. In 1998 he moved to Sao Paulo and started to train at Alliance academy together with Fabio Gurgel, Alexandre Paiva and Romero “Jacaré” Cavalcanti. At this time Romero “Jacaré” Cavalcanti was the Coach for this fight team. In 2002, Leo Negao trained with Vitor Belfort and Minotauro to develop his striking techniques. Thereafter, Léo Negao moved to Sweden and opened BJJ and MMA schools around Europe. An experienced MMA fighter and teacher of MMA, Leo has recently launched Fight First MMA, An MMA promotions company, promoting both professional and amateur MMA fight nights around the UK and Central Europe.
He is a world champion in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu:
World BJJ Champion 1998 National BJJ Champion 97,98,99 Estadual Champion 97,98,99,2000 Beat Ricardo Arona. (8x Pride Champion) at the BJJ Championship in Brazil (2001) ADCC 2nd place Brazilian Trials 1st place Roma Submission Wrestling.