Renato Barreto is one of the earliest world champions in BJJ history and he’s just become the latest coral belt in the sport too. There are very few BJJ coral belts in the world because of how long it takes to reach the rank, and each one has achieved a lot during their time on the mats. It takes years of dedication to become a black belt in the first place, over a decade for most practitioners, and it takes 31 years at that level before being awarded a coral belt. Barreto finally reached that mark himself this year and he was visited by legendary figure Relson Gracie, who gave him the belt promotion.
Barreto has been on the mats since he was just a child, starting his Jiu-Jitsu journey at the famous Gracie Humaita Academy in Rio de Janeiro. He dove headfirst into the sport right from the beginning too; having taken private lessons from both Rolker and Royler Gracie since he was just a white belt. He was one of the top colored belt competitors in the academy at the time and even won an internal tournament between all of their affiliated academies as a purple belt; earning his brown belt directly from Helio Gracie shortly afterward.
Barreto then won the Gracie Nationals as a brown belt and after receiving his black belt, he won the first edition of the IBJJF World Championship in 1996. He was a member of the Gracie Humaita team that dominated the lighter weight classes in the 90s and stood on the podium of the World Championship twice more after that. Barreto also found success outside of competition, as he was a key training partner of several members of the Gracie Family during their MMA careers. He even went to Japan in order to help both Royler and Rickson Gracie prepare for the fights they had throughout the 90s.
Relson Gracie shared the footage of Renato Barreto being promoted to BJJ coral belt in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
