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The former WWE wrestler spoke about his weight-loss journey on an episode of “Live with Kelly and Mark,” which aired on Tuesday, July 16.
“I put on all this weight for ‘Knock at the Cabin.’ I was really big, like over 300 pounds,” Bautista told co-hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos.
Bautista said he struggled to shed those pounds, so he brought his friend and trainer Jason Manly to Budapest, where he was filming “Dune.”
“We did nothing but grapple, like for hours. And so I started shedding the weight off, and I figured, ‘I’ll just stick with it so I’ll get my brown belt,'” Bautista said.
He ended up taking some time off his jiu-jitsu training but has since gotten back into it, he said.
“I’m bringing trainers with me, so I just shed about 50 more pounds,” Bautista said, adding that he lost quite a bit of muscle in the process.
“I was trimming down, and I’ve sacrificed a lot of muscle. But I’m OK with it because I just feel more comfortable,” he said.
Even then, there were still spots that he “couldn’t get rid of” no matter how much weight he lost, like around his midsection.
“And even in my face, like, I was just holding on to fat,” Bautista said. “When I was younger, I would just shed it like that. I could not get rid of it.”
The “Guardians of the Galaxy” actor has been practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu since 2010, according to his Instagram posts. He received his purple belt in 2014 and his brown belt in 2023.
Bautista isn’t the only celebrity who’s a fan of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Mark Zuckerberg also got shredded after picking up the martial art. The tech mogul even won a couple of medals after competing at a tournament in California last May.
The US Army also uses Brazilian jiu-jitsu to rehabilitate its soldiers, as it is a “minimally demanding activity” that helps them remain active and avoid self-destructive behaviors.
A representative for Bautista did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.
