BJJ legend Romulo Barral just reached a landmark moment in his grappling career, as he was promoted to 5th degree BJJ black belt. He received the promotion from the same man who awarded him with his original black belt 19 years ago, the pioneer Vinicius ‘Draculino’ Magalhaes. That promotion came in 2005 when Barral was just 23 years old, and it signalled the start of an incredible period of success for him at the highest levels of the sport. Barral has accomplished more as a competitor than most athletes have ever managed, having won multiple IBJJF World Championship gold medals and an ADCC title.
Barral started training BJJ when he was 15 at Gracie Barra Belo Horizonte and he has never looked back. Magalhaes and Cristiano Lazzarini were his first coaches there and he remained at that location until he moved to the United States to teach, eventually opening up his own Gracie Barra academy in Northridge, California. It only took Barral a few months to win his first major tournament as a black belt and just a few more months for him to stand on the podium of the IBJJF World Championship. It was in 2007 that he won his first title and he continued to be a frequent face on the podium, winning 4 more titles and a total of 9 other medals.
He didn’t just compete in the gi either, Barral also won a gold medal at the IBJJF No Gi World Championship in 2009 and he competed at every edition of ADCC from 2007 to 2017. His only silverware under that ruleset came in 2013, when he won the under 88kg division in impressive fashion. Barral also had a brief MMA career as well, taking just two fights and winning them both by submission. Throughout the last few decades Barral has also been sought out by a number of elite MMA fighters as both a training partner and coach, like Dan Henderson and Jason Miller.
Romulo Barral announced the news that he was promoted to 5th degree BJJ black belt in a recent post to his official Instagram account and gave the following statement (translated from the original Portuguese):
”5th degree black belt. 19 years as a black belt, always looking for evolution. Thank you everyone for this special moment. Thank you (Vinicius ‘Draculino’ Magalhaes) for all your effort to be present and graduate me on this special day.”
