ADCC and 2x No Gi world champion Yuri Simoes ranks among the elite of grapplers. He hold wins over Garry Tonon, Dean Lister, Keenan Cornelius, and Rafael Lovato. Like many of his grappling peers, Simoes is planning a debut in MMA at some point in 2017.
He is training at AKA (American Kickboxing Academy) together with Luke Rockhold, Daniel Cormier and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Yuri Told GracieMag about his plans:
“Right now there’s nothing scheduled in terms of BJJ competition, except next year’s ADCC. But I started training MMA a few months ago, and I’m focused on my debut. I like testing my warrior’s spirit, and this is my next challenge. But I’m not in a hurry and, despite knowing that MMA is a completely different sport, my main commitment in this new journey is to represent BJJ as well as I can.”
Yuri still intends to conquer his dream of winning the IBJJF worlds at black belt. So far he has come 3rd twice but has also won the worlds at every belt except for black.
