At age 35 Romulo Barral is quite an accomplished athlete perhaps even a legend of the sport. Just 10 years ago he was pinpointed as the Graciemag as the Number 1 BJJ Fighter in the world.
But in spite of retiring from the Worlds back last year he’s welcoming new challenges. And recently he got challenged to make middleweight to compete at Pans.Even though he made his name in the “Meio Pesado” weight division. Rômulo Barral maintained this black belt status in the years that followed with consistent medals at the top BJJ tournaments in the world. In August, 2011, Rômulo established his own Gracie Barra academy in Northridge, California, proving that he is also a coach. Romulo is a 5-time black belt world champion, 3-time silver medalist in the open weight division, and a NO GI world champion, and the 2013 ADCC champion.
He told flograppling:
“Training has been going great, I need to follow in my student’s footsteps. They’ve been killing the game. So I keep training hard. “
Barral’s students are both Felipe Pena and Gabriel Arges. Two attention grabbing up and comers who are both quite dominant in their matches.
Barral added:
“I got challenged by Gabriel, told me that I couldn’t make middleweight. So if it doesn’t challenge you it doesn’t change you. So I’m making middleweight. “
Barral revealed his current weight is 181 lbs (82 kg). But he has no qualms about making the middleweight prior to Pans because he’s experienced in the process of weight cutting:
“There’s still a week upto the tournament…” adding ” I was too comfortable, eating barbecue every day. ”
but still there’s no time like the present: “I just started to diet. I know how to cut weight. I know how to eat. To eat the right things at the right time”
Do you think Barral has what it takes to win the middleweight? Weigh in in the comments section.
