Lucas “Bad Boy” Pinheiro

Lucas Pinheiro needed eight years as a black belt to win the gi Worlds. In 2023 the Atos athlete from Manaus, Brazil, won all four of his roosterweight matches, three of them on advantages, and beat Thalison Soares in the final after a 0-0 score.

Born in Manaus on February 11, 1994, he started at 9, when a friend took him to Mestre Pina’s academy. He came from a poor family and spent a lot of time on the streets. The nickname Bad Boy dates from that time, when he was seen as an aggressive kid.

At 17 he moved to Sorocaba, in the interior of São Paulo state, to train with Cícero Costha’s team, where he became a full-time competitor. He was the brown belt world runner-up in 2015, the same year he got his black belt from Carlos Holanda, also from Manaus.

After the 2015 Worlds he went to the United States to teach and spent a few years in Texas before moving to San Diego. He joined Atos in May 2018, two weeks before that year’s Worlds. At black belt he won the 2020 Pans in the gi and in no-gi and, in 2022, became No-Gi world champion at light-featherweight.

The gi title came the next season. In 2023 he won the Brazilian Nationals with three chokes from the back, one of them on Bebeto Oliveira in the semifinal, and met the same opponent again in the Worlds semifinal, winning 3-2.

In July 2023 he signed with ONE Championship, along with Thalison Soares. Since the title he has not been back on the podium at the biggest IBJJF tournaments. In December 2025 he competed at UFC BJJ 4 in Las Vegas and lost a decision to Jussier Formiga.