Roosevelt Sousa

In 2019, Roosevelt Sousa was selling bottles of water in João Pessoa, in northeastern Brazil, to pay for trips to tournaments. Six years later, in Long Beach, he won the ultra-heavyweight final and became a black belt world champion in the gi.

Born on March 11, 1993, he came from another sport. He played indoor and beach volleyball for about four years, starting at 17, and only stepped on a mat in 2014, on his own birthday, when a friend invited him. His first coach was Iuri Alves, who guided him through every belt and gave him his black belt in August 2020, in the United Arab Emirates.

His move to the United States started in that same 2019 of the water bottles. Rômulo Barral made room for him at his pre-Worlds camp in Northridge, California. After the tournament, Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu brought him to Fight Sports in Miami, the team he represented for most of his black belt career.

Before the gi title, Roosevelt already had big results in no-gi, with ultra-heavyweight gold at the 2023 No-Gi Worlds. He is a finisher: seven out of ten black belt wins ended in a submission, with the rear naked choke and the straight ankle lock at the top of the list.

At the 2025 Worlds, registered under Cascão Jiu-Jitsu, he beat Helder Rodrigues (3-0) and knocked out the reigning champion, Seif-Eddine Houmine (5-0), in the quarterfinals. In the semifinal he took Luis Oliveira’s back and submitted him. The final against Gutemberg Pereira ended 0-0 and was decided on advantages.

The end of that year changed the course of his career. In October he won both his weight class and the open class at No-Gi Pans. In December he did the same at No-Gi Worlds, but a sample collected on the 13th of that month tested positive for meldonium, according to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Roosevelt accepted a three-year suspension, starting on January 13, 2026, and his two golds from that No-Gi Worlds were disqualified. The 2025 gi title stands.

In 2026 he competed at events outside the IBJJF calendar. He won the ADCC South American Trials in Rio de Janeiro in March and, in September, in Kraków, Poland, reached the open class final of the ADCC World Championship with three submissions. He lost the gold to Felipe Pena and took silver.