At ADCC 2015, Yuri Simoes had the best performance in his career so far: 1rst place at -88kg, beating heavy favorites such as Romulo Barral and Keenan Cornelius on the way. In 2014, Yuri had won the No Gi worlds also beating Cornelius in the finals, and also won the Pan.

His instructor Caio Terra paid homage to his student who 2 years ago joined his team (Caio Terra Association) from rivals Checkmat. His three major accomplishments have been under the Caio Terra association.

According to Terra:

Most people leave small teams and go to bigger teams for a variety of reasons. Yuri did the opposite, he went from a major team to a much smaller one. When this happened a lot of people talked negatively saying he couldn’t win or compete with the best in the world.

Result: ADCC Champ, Pan and World No Gi Champ!

Yuri Simoes with family and coach Caio Terra

Caio wrote on his Facebook page:

There have been many defining moments in my career, but none of them compare to what I experienced today.
What happened on the mat took 20 minutes to execute but a lifetime of sacrifices to happen.
Most people leave small teams and go to bigger teams for a variety of reasons. Yuri did the opposite, he went from a major team to a much smaller one. When this happened a lot of people talked negatively saying he couldn’t win or compete with the best in the world and that was why he left. This was not true. A lot of people thought I promised him a lot, again this was not the truth. I never promised him anything other then I’d always be there for him.
For this camp I dedicated myself to overseeing all of Yuris training and Yuri believed, he believed in me, he believed in his team and most importantly he believed in himself. I never saw him train harder or work more for anything in his life. Success comes with sacrifice and for this camp he sacrificed a lot. After 17+ years of Jiu Jitsu he got cauliflower ear!!
I’m so proud of you brother, adcc world champion!!!!!