Tainan Dalpra recently opened up about the possibility of the Mendes brothers making a return to BJJ competition and he was overwhelmingly positive about it. Not only is Dalpra one of the most successful students training under them at Art of Jiu-Jitsu but he’s also one of their main training partners as well. In fact, there are very few people in the world who would have a better insight into the minds of Rafael Mendes and Guilherme Mendes than Dalpra. Guilherme retired first in 2015 and Rafael retired the following year in 2016, but both brothers were incredibly young and still right in the middle of their athletic prime at the time.
It wouldn’t be crazy to imagine either of them returning after almost a decade away from the sport, as they both still train regularly and are still more than young enough to compete at a high level. This isn’t the first time that the idea of a return to competition has been floated around either, as Rafael actually dropped some hints last year that he might make a comeback in 2024. There’s still some time left for that to become a reality, and Dalpra was pretty clear that he thinks either of the Mendes brothers could make a return some time soon:
“Man, it exists. I think sooner rather than later. I see a possibility for them to return. I believe it most likely wouldn’t be at an event. It would most likely be a superfight, than in a federation. But yes, that possibility exists. There’s been a couple of negotiations going on in the last couple of months but nothing concrete yet. I think what’s more cool to see is that they are always active. Training, training with me, training with other students, and trying to elevate the level of everyone at the gym. But certainly it’s a possibility and that possibility is getting very close to becoming concrete. So I believe so, that in the next two years we could see Rafael (Mendes) or Guilherme (Mendes) returning with or without the gi.”
The interview with Tainan Dalpra where he discusses the possibility of the Mendes brothers making a return to the sport was uploaded to the official Instagram account of Polaris and Jits Magazine:
