Dinu Bucalet is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athlete originally from Bucharest, Romania – however, he now lives in London, UK. He got into BJJ around 15-16 years old, as he puts it “Just [out of] curiosity, I was doing kickboxing at a gym where they also had MMA and I tried it too and from there I got into grappling.”. Since then, Bucalet has continued training and received his black belt at age 25 years old. After years of cross-training, he currently finds himself representing the Mill Hill team. Due to his cross-training, he claims a lot of different teachers have helped shape his Jiu Jitsu and claims “I learned a lot from many different teachers and friends. To name a few with the most influence in my game I’d say Tudor Mihaita, Nicholas Brooks, Ed Ingamells, Wim Deputter.”
Interestingly, the Romanian had an excellent submission record whilst fighting in MMA back home. His professional record from 2013-2015 was 4-1. Of his four wins, he won by two Guillotine chokes and two armbars, proving his BJJ is not just effective in a sport setting. However, after this, he changed focus into more BJJ saying “I lost my passion for MMA and decided to focus on other things that I enjoyed more.”
He is also optimistic about the future of BJJ in Romania and claims “The BJJ scene is constantly growing in Romania. The level there is very good and there are some amazing black belts with good results, there are lots of quality teachers also, and many others that are up and coming.”
When playing guard, Bucalet mostly uses the half guard, but claims he doesn’t really have a main position and his favorite sweep is the classic one hook move from Butterfly guard. Whilst on top, he prefers pressure and says “I like any pressure pass that brings my opponents knees very close to his face, that would be my favorite way of passing but my favorite pass would be to just jump over the guard and not have to do all that effort”
He also includes the North South choke as his favorite submission at the moment and adds “I have a few favorites, would be hard to choose one but let’s say the North South Choke as I am working on it and it’s really strong if done right”. It’s no surprise that he maintains Marcelo Garcia had the biggest influence on his game – which can be seen with his use of Butterfly sweeps and the North South choke which are a key part of Garcia’s game. It turns out that Dinu also has an awesome darce choke that can be learned here with his instructional.
Typically competing at middleweight between 75-80KG, he lists wining the Nogi IBJJF Europeans in 2018 as his most prestigious achievement in competition. Bucalet has also faced some tough competition in his time and says “It’s hard to choose between Ross Nicholls and Charles Negromonte, I lost to both by submission.”. Like most competitors, he’s also had his fair share of knocks and mentions “I had a few, but most soul-crushing was being unable to walk for few weeks from a bad landing on my foot after a takedown.”
Looking forward to the future he claims “Travelling to train and compete as much as I can (if allowed) and to share my teaching with as many as possible in seminars and instructionals.” He is also adamantly anti-steroid, which is sadly quite common in BJJ, as he puts it “I have some Gi patches I made that say ‘All Natural Hard Work Steroid Free BJJ’,
that kind of says it all and maybe with this we can help discourage PED use that I think is a problem and should be better addressed”. It’s hard to disagree with this sentiment and hopefully one day the BJJ authorities will bring more testing to the sport.
Lastly, Dinu finishes with an invitation to train with himself, and states “My gyms where I teach are Mill Hill BJJ and Dynamics Self Defence Academy, always anyone is welcome to come train with me. Follow me on Instagram @dinubucalet or my page on FB/youtube. I’m always willing to answer any DM’s or visit places for training and teaching.” He also would like to give thanks to his awesome sponsors, Scramble, Turtle Massage, Cave Balm and Yoga for BJJ.
