Rodolfo Vieira retired from bjj at a very young age – 25. At that point he had already won 5 world titles. He has since re-foccussed on MMA and even won his first fight via a submission in round 1.
Still Vieira doesn’t see himself competing in grappling any more. He told mmafighting.com :
“Many people say ‘I’m retired,’ but come back later,” he said. “People retire and un-retire five times in four years. I’d rather say I’m stepping away now. It’s really tough to train hard to fight nine or 10 times in one day to win… prestige? Thank God I don’t need that today anymore. I don’t think one or two world titles would make a big difference in my life.”
Still Vieira is only missing one accolade – beating the bjj giant Buchecha:
“I thing the only thing missing is beating ‘Buchecha’ (laughs), but I don’t thing there’s not a title left.”
The two squared off several times, Vieira tapped Buchecha with an armbar back in 2011 but lost subsequently on points the next 5 times the two fought.
Still Vieira is all out in MMA and not at all eager to continue competing in jiu jitsu:
“Man, I really like jiu-jitsu, I love jiu-jitsu, but when I decided to go to MMA I was not motivated to continue competing in jiu-jitsu, and MMA was a dream I had,” Vieira said. “I’m happy now, starting something from zero. You have that thing of winning, achieving, winning money and status, like when I started in jiu-jitsu.”
“I don’t see myself competing in jiu-jitsu anymore,” he continued. “If an opportunity presents itself, a super fight with someone tough and they pay me well, I could do it if I don’t have a MMA fight coming up. And it should be no gi since I’m already training without the go for MMA fights. But I don’t see myself competing at the IBJJF Worlds, which is the only tournament I entered anyway.”
It would certainly be interesting to see Vieira perhaps in the Heavyweight IBJJF Grand Prix, after all the prestigious competition has not only a substantial cash prize in the 40,000$ the winner will receive but also Buchecha, Roger Gracie, Andre Galvao and Leandro Lo. The biggest bjj heavy hitters of today.
