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Instructor of the year: Rodrigo Medeiros |
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A few words from our editor. |
| Before I first met Rodrigo Medeiros I thought that martial artists
like him ceased to exist a long time ago. Rodrigo is one of those rare
athletes that combine character and technique. In a martial arts
community full of huge egos and one-night masters, this modest Jiu-Jitsu
athlete is a role model for children and full grown athletes alike. When
you first meet him you cannot help being charmed by his friendly smile
and polite manners and can almost forget that you are talking to a true
martial arts master that can apply an armbar or choke an opponent in the
blink of an eye. When teaching his art, this polite athlete transforms into a serious professional trainer that will teach you the art of BJJ in a way that only a few people out there can. He gives you all the crucial elements that make the difference between effective and ineffective technique and some tips that you will find nowhere else. |
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Rodrigo, Wallid, Mario Sperry, Murilo and others... |
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| After watching 100s of hours of BJJ seminars and tapes, I must say that I have never seen anyone teach true Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in such a complete and effective way. Search for Rodrigo’s bestselling instructional DVD series at www.islandmartialarts.com You can buy his awesome instructional "Favorite Submissions" DVD only here on our site. You can also click on the link below to download some highlights of Rodrigo’s last two fights when he won the Pan American Championship in 2004. Some of his astounding BJJ techniques will also be available in this website soon. | |||
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Biography |
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| One of the first true Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belts to open a
school on the West Coast, Rodrigo Medeiros is known for his precise
finishing techniques and for always going for the submission. He does
not like to win on points. In the 2004 Pan-Ams Rodrigo Medeiros repeated
as gold medallist and confirmed his status as one of the best finishers
in the game since he not only repeated as champion but did it in
spectacular fashion with all submission wins. He is one of the most driven and tenacious of all of Carlson Gracie's world championship fighters, training daily with the top jiu-jitsu fighters in the planet, Medeiros developed an attacking style that closely mirrors that of Carlson. Rodrigo learned that in Carlson's academy which was a like an army boot camp! The eliminations inside the academy for the right to compete in tournaments was harder than the actual tournaments themselves! |
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| Rodrigo Gama De Medeiros was born in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. (Do not
mistake Rodrigo for Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros as he is an other BJJ
athlete). He started training in Judo when he was 5 years old, and has a
brown belt in Judo. At 12 years old he started training in Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu, invited by his friend Maneco, who is a black belt from
Carlson Gracie. After training with Maneco, he trained with Carlson
Gracie, and has been with Carlson for over 20 years now. Rodrigo has his own Academy in Rio in Leblon Beach. It has been operational for 12 years, and has produced many champions like Carlson Gracie's Academy. It is an affiliate of Carlson Gracie's Academy in Rio. Rodrigo has been living in California for 7 years and opened two academy locations: in Pacific Beach (San Diego) and La Habra (Los Angeles), and has been producing many champions with a high level of instruction to competitors and students who want to learn the art of jiu jitsu. |
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Rodrigo and Vitor Belfort |
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| Rodrigo has competed in over 80 different Jiu-Jitsu tournaments and
almost 300 competition matches- and winning most. He won 1st place in
the Rio De Janeiro State tournament in July of 2000 and 1st place in the
2001 world championship in Rio de Janeiro. Rodrigo was Brazilian
champion five times, from 1991-1995. He was considered the best
technical athlete of all the tournaments, including the Brazilian
championship and the Rio De Janeiro championship. He is also a member of Carlson's elite team. Rodrigo is a cousin of Vitor Belfort and has been raised with some of the top names of the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu history, like Alan Goes, Murilo Bustamante, Mario (Zen Machine) Sperry, Carlos(Carlao) Barreto, Wallid Ismail, Ricardo Liborio, Roberto (Bebeo) Duarte, Rey Diogo, Dela Riva, Cassio Cardoso, Carlson Gracie Jr., Marcelo Alonso, Bolao, Maneco, Clovis, Crezio Chaves, Julio Fernades, Marcos Soares, Conan, Rosadao, Rinaldo Santos, Parrupinha, Toco, Renato Tavares and other great fighters. Recently Rodrigo created a new competition team in association with one of Carlson Gracie’s first black belts, the legendary Julio Fernandes( Foca) called BJJ-REVOLUTION TEAM with the goal to make a nation wide top competition team. BJJ-REVOLUTION TEAM was born and was so successful in its goals that now Rodrigo and his associates are looking for affiliate schools in Europe that are willing to invest in learning real Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and being a part of a strong team. For more information contact Rodrigo through his websites : www.rodrigomedeirosbjj.com and www.bjjrevolutionteam.com. |
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Buy Rodrigo’s book “The Essential Guard,” co-authored by
Kid Peligro at
www.amazon.com and www.bjjmart.com
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| Note: Some of the photos and information were excerpted from an article by Jose Fraguas and Kid Peligro in Grappling magazine. Photos of Rodrigo with Vitor are from an article on V..Belfort published in Black Belt magazine. |