Rodolfo's had this routine for years. Photo: Carlos Ozório
Between Campo Grande and Méier train stations in Rio de Janeiro, a young talent would already be warming up for training. Before even arriving at the GFTeam academy (once UGF), Rodolfo Vieira would fight for space against elbows, butts, armpits… If Jiu-Jitsu is the art of remaining comfortable in uncomfortable situations, the black belt has a head start on his adversaries.
Following his excellent campaign in the intermediary belts, where he won his weight and the open weight classes at the Brazilian Nationals and World Championship and beat seasoned black belts to take gold at the World Pro in 2009, Master Julio Cesar’s prodigy won his weight class and the absolute at the Rio International Open.
Rodolfo in photo by Carlos Ozório
GRACIEMAG 163, now in bookstores and academies the world over, tells some of the story of this fighter, who has been leaving some of the most stalwart competitors of Jiu-Jitsu these days in his wake. Furthermore, Vieira passes on some of the pointers that have helped make his such a consistent athlete.
“Up until purple belt, I feel the priority should be positions. Up until brown belt, when I won the absolute at the Worlds, all I did was train Jiu-Jitsu. There’s no point in having a big gas tank and be technically shabby,” he opines.
“We have to work on fixing our mistakes not just when we lose, but when we win, as well. We have to look at the situations where our opponents made things hard for use,” he states.
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