Celso “Celsinho” Vinicius

Celso Vinicius, known as Celsinho, won three lightweight world titles in four years, each with a different team. In 2005, for Gordo JJ, he beat Tiago Alves 2-0 in the final. In 2006, for Gracie Barra, he won all four of his matches without conceding a point, the last one against Mario Reis, 5-0, in the final. In 2008, now with Ryan Gracie’s team, he submitted Rafael Rosendo in the quarterfinals, beat Michael Langhi in the semifinal and Lucas Lepri 2-0 in the final.

Born on December 27, 1983, he started training in 1998 after watching jiu-jitsu on an MMA broadcast. He received his black belt from Roberto Gordo Correa on the podium of the 2004 Worlds, right after winning the brown belt lightweight division, and won the world title in his first year at black belt. Half guard is his favorite position.

At the Worlds he also took bronze in 2007 and silver in 2010, when he lost the final to Michael Langhi. He won the 2008 Pans, was runner-up at the 2011 World Pro against Leandro Lo and won the Ultimate Absolute in New York. After Ryan Gracie’s death he took over his master’s team in São Paulo. He competed at ADCC in 2017 and 2019.

In MMA he went 5-1, with his only loss coming against Jorge Patino in 2015. He now leads the XCoach team.