American Jiu-Jitsu master, Octavio Couto Da Silva dies in Italy aged 50 after falling off a wall into a lake

A Brazilian-American Jiu-Jitsu master who was attending a friend’s wedding in Lake Como died after falling off a wall and into the lake over the weekend. Octavio Couto (pictured left), 52, was in Italy for a wedding on August 25 and was walking back to his hotel when he stopped to look out over the lake at a wall. Couto, a husband and dad to at least one daughter, ‘lost his balance and fell into the lake,’ some five meters, Italian media outlets reported. Police were called and the man’s body was discovered around 6.30am Saturday.

Originally from Brazil, the man was a jiu-jitsu teacher, referee, event organizer, and competitor and has been hailed online as a ‘legend’ in the community. ‘You were one of the greatest Jiu Jitsu masterminds, and even better cousin and friend,’ wrote his cousin Rick Knight in a Facebook post.  

According to Italy 24 News, Couto had returned to Tremezzo after attending a wedding at the Villa del Balbianello. There, he was dropped off by taxi boat and separated from the rest of the group. Couto was staying at the temple of Villa Carlotta while many other members of his party were staying at the Grand Hotel Tremezzo. While walking back, he is believed to have stopped at a wall near the Villa Carlotta museum garden and potentially sat or laid down and fell from the top. It is unclear at this time if alcohol was a factor and if he died from drowning or from the fall. 

Couto – whose nickname was ‘Ratinho – was a first place winner of the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Nationals in 1993 and the first place winner of Copa Atlântico Sul in 1994. He also notably had a third place finish at the Internacional de Masters e Seniors in 2007 but is most well known for training some of the best in the game. He has been credited with helping to find and shape the careers of athletes like Fernando Terere, the Vieira brothers, and Felipe Costa. Couto was also instrumental in the launching of Alliance Barra Academy, a jiu jitsu academy that has formed dozens of black belts since opening in 1994. 

He eventually left his role with the academy and moved to the U.S. in 2007 but maintained an active role in training martial artists. It has been reported that the 52-year-old also traveled the world and worked as a consultant for academies, helping to mold the next generation. Immediately after his death, tributes from close friends, family members, and the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community at large. In a heartbreaking post on Facebook, Couto’s wife Rebecca Da Silva shared a photo of their daughter looking out at the ocean. ‘There is not much to say right now to erase the pain that so many are feeling,’ Da Silva shared on Friday alongside the photo of their child. ‘Tonight Octavio Couto’s daughter spent some time with his spirit at the place he loved the most–the ocean in the winter,’ she wrote.

Others on social media remembered him as a ‘beloved professor, mentor and friend.’ Octagon MMA, a mixed martial arts school in Dallas, Texas, shared a post on Facebook calling him one of the best in the world. ‘(Couto) taught and mentored hundreds of students at Octagon over the years, and thousands more on virtually every continent,’ the post said. ‘(He was) one of the most revered BJJ coaches in the world,’ it continued. 

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