5x jiu-jitsu world champion at black belt, Rodolfo Vieira has been thinking about the idea of transitioning to MMA for a few years already. After winning his first ADCC title this year in the -99kgs final, Vieira was offered a pro MMA contract by Japan based Real Fight Championship (where Kron Gracie made his debut).

Now according to Hywel Teague of FloGrappling, Rodolfo has chosen to prepare for his MMA debut by training at American Top Team in Florida with the famous Ricardo Liborio:

ATT co-founder Ricardo Liborio – who featured in a superfight at the ADCC World Submission Wrestling Championships in August – was reportedly impressed with Vieira’s 99kg gold medal-winning performance in the tournament and extended an offer to train with his team.

GF Team founder Julio Cesar Pereira, Vieira’s jiu-jitsu coach and the man who awarded the five-time IBJJF world champion his black belt, said he feels ATT would be a good place for Vieira to develop his MMA skills.

“He has the perfect game for MMA,” says Pereira. “He likes to take them down and pass the guard. He just needs to adapt for the striking.”

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.

Back in 2014, Rodolfo talked about possibly moving to California to train with his friend Lyoto Machida at Black House MMA when making the move:

“I’m 26 years old and may be the right time to try a career change. If it goes wrong and I get beaten, I think will have plenty of time to return to the Jiu-Jitsu competition scene at a high level. I’m 101kg and got to lose weight if I do MMA, but I think I can go down well. I’m talking to my coaches and some friends, as Lyoto Machida for example, and I’m considering going to train out there in California, and do this test, ”

With BJJ still being considered an amateur sport, many sport BJJ competitors look to transitioning to MMA.Examples of current top MMA fighters that came from sport Jiu-Jitsu: Jose Aldo, Fabricio Werdum, Ronaldo Jacare, Demian Maia, Bibiano Fernandes etc..
Here are the 5 top sport BJJ players that have a great potential for a crossover in the MMA world.