An early introduction to martial arts. Mochizuki was born on February 6, 1975, in Gentofte, near Copenhagen. His father was from Japan and held a black belt in judo. This background sparked his interest in martial arts. As a child, he took ju-jutsu lessons from a family friend and then practiced Japanese jiu-jitsu.
In 1988, at the age of thirteen, he began taekwondo, which he practiced for approximately three years. At nineteen, he switched to Wing Tsun. That discipline subsequently became an important part of his life: he trained intensively for many years and built his own school.
A new discipline across the Øresund. In 2002, a Wing Tsun training partner discovered a BJJ school in Malmö. Together, they traveled to Peter Blackwell of MMA Alliance every Monday to attend a beginner class and an advanced class. Back in Copenhagen, they continued practicing the techniques they had learned throughout the rest of the week.
The decisive seminar. A visit from Leonardo Vieira changed Mochizuki’s view of the sport. Whereas he was accustomed to a distance between a grandmaster and his students in Wing Tsun, he saw Vieira rolling with the participants and actually applying his techniques. Mochizuki tried to use his strength and weight, but realized how little they helped against Vieira’s technique. That experience made BJJ more than supplementary training for him.
From Blackwell’s student to head instructor. Mochizuki helped Blackwell set up classes in Copenhagen. When Blackwell later could no longer come to the school, Mochizuki, by then a purple belt, took over the training sessions. This laid the foundation for his leadership of Arte Suave. Blackwell conducted his graduations up to and including the brown belt; Vieira awarded him his black belt in 2008, in the presence of, among others, Blackwell, Chico Mendes, and Felippe Porto.
His own competition results. Mochizuki also gained competition experience himself, with results in various belt and age categories. In 2006, he won the European title in the purple-belt Master category. In 2007, he won the brown-belt absolute division at the Scandinavian Open. As a black belt, he won the London International Open in 2012 in Senior 1 and the Swedish Open in 2012 in Senior 1 and in 2013 in the Master division.
He also won silver at the 2012 European Open No-Gi in Senior 1. His bronze results included the 2009 Scandinavian Open in the black-belt Master absolute division and the 2011 European Open in the black-belt Master absolute division. These categories make clear that his competition career did not consist exclusively of results in the adult elite division.
