BJJEE correspondant in Brazil Kamil Tkacz interviews 5x BJJ world champion Rodolfo Vieira. He talks about his path to winning ADCC 2015, Alexander Trans moving to GF Team, who has the best BJJ in MMA, and how often he trains without the Gi.
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 Rodolfo has chosen to prepare for his MMA debut by training at American Top Team in Florida with the famous Ricardo Liborio.
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.
Vieira, has beaten top MMA fighters in grappling matches, such as Antonio Braga Neto, Antonio Carlos Junior, Sergio Moraes, Andre Galvao, Benson Henderson 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.
He was asked who he thought were the BJJ players that had made the best transition to MMA:
1. Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza
For sure he’s out there,. One of the best.
2. Rafael Dos Anjos
He didn’t compete that much in BJJ but he’s the champion now.
3. Fabricio Werdum
He’s done very well. These days it doesn’t even look like he came from BJJ.
4. Demian Maia
Demian is the one that uses the most Jiu-Jitsu. When you watch his fights, it looks like it’s a submission wrestling fight. It’s great to see how dominant he is.
5. Charles ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira
Charles Do Bronx is another guy that is doing great in MMA.
Check out the interview:
