BJJ legend Rodolfo Vieira will now be making his return to the sport after 4 years away from competition, as he faces fellow UFC veteran Derek Brunson in the no gi main event of ADXC 7 on November 17th, 2024. Vieira was one of the most successful gi grapplers in the world for quite some time, ever since he first burst onto the scene as a brown belt in 2009. It’s that first big performance that actually earned Vieira the nickname ‘the black belt hunter’, as he defeated two-time world champion Braulio Estima to win a mixed brown and black belt division at the Abu Dhabi World Pro.
Vieira was actually promoted to black belt himself as soon as he returned home from that tournament, that’s just how impressive his performance was. It was a sign of big things to come for him as well, as he went on to win six more Abu Dhabi World Pro titles and five IBJJF World Championship titles. Vieira was able to reach the highest level of the sport in no gi grappling as well, adding an ADCC title to his collection in 2015. It was only a few years after that Vieira chose to make the transition to MMA, making his professional debut in 2017.
He quickly went 5-0 on the regional MMA circuit before being signed to the UFC, and he left BJJ behind in order to focus on his new career. With his most recent submission win at UFC Vegas 88, his record now stands at 10-2 and he has three ‘Performance of the Night’ bonuses thanks to his grappling skills. Rodolfo Vieira hasn’t actually competed in BJJ since a submission loss to Kaynan Duarte at Who’s Number One 5 in 2020, but now it seems as though the Abu Dhabi Extreme Championship has been able to convince him to make a return to the sport at ADXC 7.
Vieira will be competing in the no gi main event of the evening, as ADXC has historically had both a gi and no gi main event for each of their cards. Vieira will be facing off against Derek Brunson, a UFC veteran who is known for putting his NCAA Division II wrestling skills to great use in the cage. Standing grappling and top-game has always been Vieira’s strong-suit, so a match with Brunson should produce plenty of action for the fans as a result. Neither man will want to spend any time on the bottom and it’ll be interesting to see how his skills compare to a more experienced wrestler.
The Abu Dhabi Extreme Championship announced the news that Rodolfo Vieira was making his return to BJJ at ADXC 7 in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
