Bernardo Faria. Ivan Trindade
With the lists and brackets defined for another edition of the IBJJF Worlds, our readers noticed the absence of a few names, and we went after some answers.
Our investigation turned up some breaking news: Absent from the super-heavyweight contest, 2015 absolute champion Bernardo Faria (Alliance) has confirmed to Graciemag that he does not intend to come back. We were surprised, but he cleared it up.
“Man, the truth is I’m retired from competition, indeed,” he said. “I have other projects that are growing a lot, like my website of videos with BJJ techniques, and I’m focused on that. Because of that, I think last year marked in fact my last championship.”
Besides Bernardo, there are other missing black-belts on the brackets provided by the federation. Erberth Santos (absent due to personal reasons), Victor Genovesi and José Carlos Cocó (both injured) and Rubens Charles “Cobrinha” are among the top-tier athletes we will not have the privilege of seeing in this year’s Worlds.
Check out below a highlight reel of Bernardo Faria, a world champion in 2010, 2013 and 2015.
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