5x jiu-jitsu world champion at black belt, Rodolfo Vieira is preparing his transition to MMA. He has signed a contract with Japan based Real Fight Championship.

His debut was initially planned for the beginning of 2016 but has moved to October.

Last October, after winning his first ADCC title this year in the -99kgs final, Vieira was offered a pro MMA contract Real Fight Championship (where Kron Gracie made his debut).

Vieira is set to start training at American Top Team from end of February and in the meantime he is training at Team Nogueira in Rio de Janeiro. He told Brazil’s PVT:

“It has been a good experience. I haven’t had the chance to train MMA yet and I don’t want to, for now. ” He told Portal do Vale Tudo.”I only trained boxing here and I got beat up. So I trained some jiu-jitsu, which is my thing, and I got beat up again. I’m pumped about this transition and I hope it works out.”

Photo: Kinya Hashimoto/Jiu-Jitsu Nerd

At 26 years old,  he will join American Top Team in Florida and will have top UFC fighters training with him such as welterweight champion Robbie Lawler, Junior dos Santos, and Hector Lombard.

The question is at what weight will Vieira fight. In BJJ, he competes at Heavy (94,3 kgs) and Super Heavy (100,3 kgs). He has said that he too short for 205 pounds, and that he would have to fight at 185.

American Top Team (ATT) is one of the primary teams in mixed martial arts. It was founded by former members of Brazilian Top Team, Ricardo Liborio, Marcus “Conan” Silveira and Marcelo Silveira but there is no formal affiliation between the two teams. ATT’s main academy is in Coconut Creek, Florida but has academies throughout the United States. ATT features professional fighters who have competed in many major promotions such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), PRIDE Fighting Championships, DREAM, K-1, Strikeforce, and Bellator.

ATT pro fighters: Thiago Alves, Thiago Silva, Robbie Lawler, Hector Lombard etc….

Vieira, has beaten top MMA fighters in grappling matches, such as Antonio Braga Neto, Antonio Carlos Junior, Sergio Moraes, Andre Galvao, and Alan Belcher.

Vieira has been flirting for a long time with the idea of transitioning to MMA. He recently recovered from herniated discs injury that kept him out of the World Pro and the IBJJF worlds.