Elite competitor Gabriel Sousa has just announced his decision to leave ZR Team, choosing to represent Essential Jiu-Jitsu and train under the legendary JT Torres moving forward. Sousa is one of the top BJJ competitors in the lighter weight classes and has reached the podium of major events multiple times since he was first promoted to black belt by Lucas Rocha in 2018. Sousa has competed in the gi throughout his career and still continues to do so today, but his biggest achievements on the mats have generally come in no gi competition instead.
Sousa has won multiple silver medals at the IBJJF World Championship over the years, and he came within inches of winning the Who’s Number One lightweight tournament in 2021. Sousa has managed to register some impressive victories over the last five years, including big wins over Mikey Musumeci, Ethan Crelinsten, and Gianni Grippo. He’s been regarded as one of the best in his weight class for quite some time now but one particular performance last year set him apart from the rest, when he won a silver medal in the 66kg division of ADCC 2022.
Although Sousa couldn’t stop Diogo Reis from becoming the champion, he did defeat Ruan Alvarenga, Jeremy Skinner, and Diego ‘Pato’ Oliveira all across the same weekend in a fantastic display of grappling. Gabriel Sousa was training at Essential Jiu-Jitsu during the build-up to that tournament and now he’ll be making the move to a permanent one. It’ll be interesting to see how Sousa’s game develops over the coming months and if he’s able to make the changes necessary to take home gold when he gets invited to return at ADCC 2024.
Gabriel Sousa announced the news that he had decided to leave ZR Team in order to train under JT Torres at Essential Jiu-Jitsu in a recent post to his official Instagram account. The original statement was made in Portuguese, and a translation can be found below:
“Announcing my departure from the ZR Team Association. I will be eternally grateful for everything you have done for me and I wish you all the success in the world!”
