"The nickname Lapela (meaning lapel in Portuguese) started by way of Marcelo's training partner Sergio Moraes when they shared the mats at the COHAB academy in São Paulo. Mafra was already a regular competitor at the time and used his judo experience to strangle many of his opponents with lapel chokes. For that reason, Moraes started calling him Mr. Lapela and the name ended up being associated with Marcelo throughout his career."