INSTRUCTORS
Marcelo Alonso was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, being raised in the Copacabana area, nearby the Carlson Gracie academy. When growing up, Marcelo used to play a lot with Junior, Master Carlson Gracie‘s son. It was through this close friendship that Marcelo started training Jiu Jitsu. Although Alonso’s parents did not have the means to pay for the academy fees at the time, the Gracie Master agreed to coach Marcelo for a token amount, and so he started, at the age of 12.
For the first 3 years Master Carlson did not allow Marcelo to compete. This was part of the iconic Gracie’s coaching method, put in place to allow the students to get a solid knowledge of the jiu jitsu basics before entering a tournament, for this reason Alonso’s first competition was at the age of 15 (early 1980’s) carrying his competitor life until his mid 20’s.
In 1985, due to his school schedule, Marcelo Alonso left the Carlson Gracie Academy and carried on learning jiu jitsu at the Gracie Barra academy, having Rigan Machado as his coach, and sharing the mats with many of GB’s top students. Alonso would return to the Zona Sul of Rio de Janeiro to complete his law degree, being accepted with open arms back into his old team. He also became one of the instructors at the CGA gym in 1989.
There is an interesting story which was told by Marcelo Alonso on his old website (now extinct) of how he asked his instructor, after a few years as a brown belt and a very favorable competitive record, how long it would take until he was worthy of a black belt, to which Master Carlson replied: “you talk too much, wait two more years”.
Master Carlson eventually awarded Marcelo Alonso with his black belt in 1995. Marcelo became one of the head instructors of the CGA during this period, but by 1997 he left Brazil to try his chance at a better life in the United States, settling in the Pacific Northwest, specifically in the Seattle area.
In Seattle Marcelo quickly became a reference for the local jiu jitsu community, producing great talent and pushing for the development of the sport in the area.
In January 2024, Master Marcelo achieved a remarkable milestone in his jiu-jitsu journey by being awarded the prestigious coral belt. This significant accomplishment represents the culmination of decades of dedication, passion, and unwavering commitment to the art of jiu-jitsu. Throughout his career, Marcelo has played a pivotal role in the advancement and evolution of jiu-jitsu, not only as a martial art but also as a way of life.
The coral belt, often referred to as the "Master's Belt," is a symbol of unparalleled expertise, wisdom, and mastery in the art of jiu-jitsu. It is a testament to Marcelo's profound understanding of the techniques, principles, and philosophy of jiu-jitsu, as well as his profound impact on the lives of those he has touched along his journey.
Marcelo Alonso
HEAD PROFESSOR
Sean Ryan
JIU-JITSU
Jeff Tinklepaugh
JIU JITSU & NOGI SUBMISSION GRAPPLING
Jeff Tinklepaugh is a 1st degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) and brown belt in Judo with a dash of wrestling experience thrown in for good measure. He began training in BJJ in 2009 while attending the University of Vermont (UVM) under Professor Vincent Guy of Catamount BJJ/Combat Fitness and Professor Roberto Maia of Boston BJJ. Jeff moved to Seattle in 2013 to attend the University of Washington (UW) and has since trained under Professor Marcelo Alonso. In addition to his role as instructor at the MABJJ headquarters, Jeff is also the head coach of the BJJ club at UW, a role he has fulfilled since 2014. His competition experience includes local and regional events with hundreds of cumulative matches in different grappling disciplines.
In his professional life, Jeff is a geologist working in the geotechnical and environmental consulting industries. He is married to Lauren Tinklepaugh, who is also a black belt BJJ instructor at MABJJ. In his free time Jeff likes to cook, fish, hike, play video games, watch movies, and spend time with friends.
Lauren Tinklepaugh
JIU JITSU
Lauren began her jiu jitsu journey during her sophomore year of college in 2010. She started at the Catamount BJJ Club through The University of Vermont after the 1-millionth request from her now-husband, Jeff. She agreed to give it a solid 2 week try before she could fully admit ‘this wasn’t for her’ and quit without guilt…
In January 2015, Lauren moved to Seattle, Washington as a 4-stripe blue belt under Vince Guy of Catamount BJJ/Combat Fitness and Roberto Maia of Boston BJJ. She soon began training, alongside Jeff, with Marcelo Alonso at his Seattle academy where she was awarded her black belt in December 2022.
She has a BS in Mechanical Engineering and a background in operations and logistics although her current job is working in BJJ full time: both as the gym manager and youth program coordinator here at MABJJ and as a part-time event coordinator with national non-profit Girls In Gis. She also volunteers with Girls in Gis as an ambassador for the PNW, meaning she helps host and coordinate regular events around the northwest to help attract and retain women in BJJ.
Outside of jiu jitsu Lauren enjoys hiking/backpacking with her husband Jeff, playing video games, watercolor painting and crochet.
Sean has trained with Marcelo Alonso since 2002 and is a 3rd degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He was inspired to pursue martial arts by Bruce Lee and his philosophy of martial arts in the book about Lee, Tao of Jeet Kun Do. Later he was inspired by Royce Gracie defeating much larger opponents in the early UFC.
While initially being drawn to combat, Sean quickly fell in love with the chess game of jiu jitsu. He competed in the local tournament scene from blue to brown belt. As a black belt he competed in the master’s division of IBJJF tournaments across the nation, winning gold in the Seattle IBJJF masters lightweight division.
Sean has a master’s degree in Existential Therapeutic Psychology from the University of Washington. He has been in private practice since 2010, specializing in couples therapy and mindfulness based cognitive therapy.
He is happily married to his wife, Taua, and lives in Everett, Washington with their two dogs, Koa and Seamus.
Sean enjoys traveling with his wife, discussing philosophy or politics over a glass of wine, a Sunday with football and beers, or playing Magic the Gathering with friends.
Eddie Chou
JIU JITSU & NOGI SUBMISSION GRAPPLING
Eddie is a first-degree Black Belt under Marcelo Alonso. He’s trained BJJ for 11 years under several instructors from TX, NJ, to NY, and now at Marcelo’s headquarters in Seattle.
A NCAA fencer from NJ, Eddie was first drawn to BJJ after watching highlights from UFC 1. After moving to Dallas, TX for work, he started training BJJ in 2004, earning his Blue Belt under Orlando Waugh. After moving back to his home state of NJ, he trained under Jason Scully and earned his Purple Belt under Kurt Pellegrino. In 2009, he took a break from BJJ due to an injury and work obligations. He returned to BJJ in 2017 and has been training regularly ever since.
An avid competitor, Eddie won many tournaments from white to brown (gi) and intermediate to expert (no gi). In 2019, he won Masters Worlds at Brown Belt. A month later, he was promoted to Black Belt by Thiago Rela, the same instructor that promoted him to Brown. Later in 2019, Eddie moved to Seattle and joined the Marcelo Alonso team.
Outside of jiu-jitsu, Eddie is a product manager at a tech start-up. He spends time with his partner and two dogs, and enjoys cooking, video/board games, and stirring up trouble in the Marcelo Alonso group chats.
Richard Muniz
WRESTLING
Richard Muniz is a native of California. He wrestled at the Division 1 level from 2013 to 2017 at Brown University, where he was a two-time Captain, and received his degree in Biochemistry and studied African Sleep Sickness as a a researcher.
After graduating from college, he became the Executive Director of BTS Providence, now BTS New England, a youth wrestling organization with nearly 1,000 annual members. In 2019 and 2020 he served as the Director of the New England Wrestling Association's (NEWA) Division 3 Collegiate Regional Dual Meet tournament. From 2019 to 2020 he was also the Vice President of the Rhode Island Charter of USA Wrestling. He has over 10 years of coaching experience from the Youth to Collegiate level.
His goals as a coach involve helping improve the wrestling level of the grappling community, as well as getting his youth and high school students to the collegiate level.
Kenny Langwasser
JIU JITSU & NOGI SUBMISSION GRAPPLING
Eric (Pete) Peterson
JIU JITSU, YOUTH PROGRAM
Shawn started training wrestling and submission grappling in 2011 at Ivan Salaverry MMA. This was an instrumental part of his competition career where he learned the importance of mental fortitude. After a break in 2013, Shawn returned to BJJ in 2019.
Shawn is an active competitor who enjoys taking on hard challenges and doing his best to rise to the occasion. In 2022 while competing as a brown belt in Masters 5, Shawn won two gold medals at Worlds No Gi, three gold medals at Pans and four gold medals at the American National. He received his black belt in December 2022, and went on to win a bronze medal at Pans in March 2023, his first competition at black belt.
Shawn has his bachelor’s degree in business and his master’s degree in accounting. He is the owner and CEO of Plaster Group, a 50-person management consulting firm in Seattle. He co-owns the Seattle MABJJ academy with Marcelo Alonso.
He is happily married to his wife, Leslie, and lives in Seattle, Washington with their three kids.
Shawn Plaster
JIU JITSU & NOGI SUBMISSION GRAPPLING
Kenny was born and raised in southern California where he spent a majority of his youth and early adulthood playing baseball. Legend has it this is where he developed his elite athleticism. Once he was done hitting absolute nukes on the baseball field he needed a new outlet to channel his energy toward and found martial arts. After dabbling in Muay Thai for a while, Kenny moved to Seattle in 2015 and found MABJJ - he was instantly hooked.
Kenny received his Black belt from Marcelo in June of 2023. He’s known for his stunning good looks, charming personality, and nasty reverse triangle from bottom side control. When he’s not being brutally roasted in the coaches group chat, he can be found on the mats leaving a wake of destruction and teaching white belts the “dark arts”.
His greatest grappling accomplishments, to date, include: a Gold Medal in the March 2023 Black Belt bracket at Grappling Industries (as a brown belt), and hitting the “move of the day” on coach Eddie Chou on January 13th 2023.
Cory Schutz
JIU JITSU & NOGI SUBMISSION GRAPPLING
Cory is a black belt under Marcelo Alonso. He has trained BJJ and submission wrestling for 10 years both here in Seattle and San Diego, CA.
Throughout Cory’s grappling and BJJ experience he’s competed in many regional gi and no gi tournaments here in the pacific northwest, as well as several IBJJF events. His most notable accomplishments in BJJ include winning Bronze at World Master and Gold at World Master No Gi both at Brown Belt.
Cory graduated from the University of Washington, works in business management and resides in Woodinville with his wife, twin daughters and two English bulldogs
Pete began his martial arts journey in 1995 with wrestling, then took up karate in 1997. He has been an active competitor in one form or another ever since. In 2007, Pete took his first jiu-jitsu class. He was instantly hooked but had to dedicate his time to achieving a black belt in karate and competing in the adult point fighting circuit.
It wasn't until 2015, after college and traveling the country, that Pete was able to commit to training Brazilian jiu-jitsu full time. Pete knew he wanted to open his own school someday, so he went to school for personal training. He began working as a trainer to accommodate a complementary skill set while being able to structure his schedule around jiu-jitsu training. Since then, Pete has been doing both full-time.
Now, Pete's focus is building the kids' program with Marcelo Alonso. Pete is a long-time student of Marcelo's, currently holding the rank of brown belt. Along with his work here, Pete works as a trainer at Ballard Health Club in Ballard. He is an active competitor in powerlifting and holds a WA state record for bench press.
Pete has a passion for working with youth; jiu-jitsu is a path through which discipline and hard work foster growth and character. He loves being able to see how martial arts plays into their ability to transform and grow into compassionate, hardworking adults who can advocate for themselves and others. It gives Pete purpose and direction in his own life, and it's an honor to pass that on to the next generation. Jiu-jitsu teaches us that hard work leads to great things, and that hard things are worth doing.
