Gabriel “Gabrielzinho” Moraes

Gabriel Moraes waited nine years between his two black belt world titles. In 2013, for CheckMat, he beat Gabriel Willcox 6-4 with a late sweep, came from behind against Daniel Beleza in the light-featherweight semifinal and met Ari Farias in the final. The match ended 0-0 with Ari ahead on advantages, but Ari left the competition area to celebrate before the result was announced and was penalized. The referee gave Gabriel an advantage, the advantages were tied, and the title went to him for having one fewer penalty.

Born in Manaus, he started at 15 and was trained by Guto Monteiro. In 2003 he won the roosterweight division at the Worlds as a blue belt. The following year, now a black belt, he won the black belt roosterweight division for the Monteiro team, with Geremias Maia as runner-up. In 2005 he reached the final again and lost to Samuel Braga.

After his 2013 title he took Worlds bronze in 2014, still with CheckMat, and in 2017, now with Alliance. He was runner-up at the 2016 Pans and the 2017 Europeans, losing the finals to João Miyao and Mikey Musumeci, and won the 2016 Las Vegas Open by submitting Rafael Freitas with an americana. In 2024 he won the World Masters.