Robert Drysdale

Robert Drysdale won the heavyweight division at the 2005 Worlds for Brasa, on a podium with Fernando Marques second, and two years later took the ADCC absolute title. At the 2007 event in Trenton he submitted Luiz Theodoro with a triangle, beat David Avellan 2-0, took André Galvão’s back for a rear-naked choke and finished Marcelo Garcia in the final with a choke in just over two minutes.

Born on October 5, 1981, in Provo, Utah, he holds American and Brazilian citizenship. He started training in 1998, at 17, at Quatro Tempos in Itu and received his black belt from Leo Vieira at Brasa. He was a purple belt world champion in 2002 and brown belt runner-up in 2003. At black belt he also took heavyweight bronze in 2004, super-heavyweight silver in 2006 and 2007 and open class bronze in 2007.

In 2008 he opened his academy in Las Vegas, where he trained fighters such as Forrest Griffin, Frank Mir and Randy Couture, and later founded Zenith BJJ with Rodrigo Cavaca. In MMA he retired unbeaten, with seven wins, all by submission, and one no contest, and won the Legacy FC light heavyweight title in 2016. In 2013 the Nevada State Athletic Commission denied him a license for his UFC debut after a test showed an elevated testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio. In July 2014 his debut win in the promotion was overturned to a no contest after another elevated result, and he was released.

In 2020 he published Opening Closed Guard, a book on the origins of jiu-jitsu in Brazil, and he also works as a commentator.