Rafael Mendes — BJJ World Champion & Elite Grappler

Rafael Mendes began training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and quickly demonstrated natural talent for the sport. Born in 1990, they progressed through the belt ranks at an accelerated pace, earning their black belt and immediately competing at the highest levels. Their affiliation with Art of Jiu-Jitsu (co-founder) provided world-class training partners and coaching that accelerated their development.



On the competition circuit, Rafael Mendes accumulated title after title: IBJJF World Champion 6×; ADCC Champion 2011, 2013; Co-founder of Art of Jiu-Jitsu academy. Their performances at major tournaments established them as one of the most feared competitors in their weight class. Athletes and coaches worldwide study their game for insights into high-level BJJ.



Beyond competition, Rafael Mendes has contributed to the BJJ community through teaching, instructionals, and demonstrating that technical mastery can prevail over physical advantages. Their legacy influences how practitioners at all levels approach the sport.



Today, Rafael Mendes continues to train, teach, and compete, passing on the lessons of their championship career to the next generation of BJJ athletes.

Rafael Mendes's game is defined by excellence in berimbolo, Back Mount, triangle choke, leg drag. Their approach emphasizes technical precision over athleticism — each movement is purposeful, each transition designed to maximize positional control. They have developed their signature positions to a degree of depth that makes them nearly impossible to counter once established.

What makes Rafael's style particularly effective is the seamless connection between offense and defense. When opponents attempt to escape or counter, they often find themselves in an even worse position. This quality — turning defense into offense — is the hallmark of elite BJJ.

Rafael Mendes's most iconic technique is the Berimbolo. They have refined this submission/position to a level of mastery rarely seen in competition, developing unique entries, setups, and finishing details that make their version distinct from standard approaches. Study their competition footage specifically for how they create openings for this technique.

Studying Rafael Mendes's game offers practitioners insights into elite-level BJJ mechanics. Their berimbolo and guard system demonstrate how technical excellence creates opportunities that pure athleticism cannot replicate. Practitioners at the intermediate-to-advanced level will find studying Rafael's competition footage particularly valuable for understanding how to integrate multiple positions into a cohesive game. Beginners can also benefit by seeing how fundamental positions are elevated to championship level.

• Multiple world championship victories in berimbolo, back mount, establishing a legacy as one of the most decorated competitors in BJJ history.
• Consistent performance at IBJJF and ADCC tournaments, defeating world-class opponents across multiple weight classes and competition formats.
• Title victories: IBJJF World Champion 6×; ADCC Champion 2011, 2013 — performances that changed how the BJJ community viewed what was possible in their weight class.
• Influenced a generation of BJJ practitioners through competition footage, instructionals, and teaching — the berimbolo system they developed is now studied worldwide.

• Study the berimbolo entry: Focus on how Rafael creates the openings for their signature technique. The setup is often more important than the finish itself.
• Analyze their guard retention: Elite competitors like Rafael have exceptional guard retention mechanics. Film yourself retaining guard and compare the hip movement and framing to their footage.
• Work on back mount: This secondary technique connects directly to their primary game and creates multi-directional threats that are hard to defend.
• Use competition footage as curriculum: Watch 10 minutes of their matches daily for one month. Pattern recognition will reveal the connections between their techniques.