Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros

Rodrigo Medeiros got the nickname Comprido, Portuguese for lanky, because of his height, and started training in 1992, at 16, at Romero “Jacaré” Cavalcanti’s academy, where he later received his black belt. A world champion at blue belt in 1996 and at brown belt in 1998, he entered the 1999 Worlds as a black belt and went straight to the open class title.

On that run he beat reigning open class champion Zé Mario Sperry on advantage in the semifinal and, in the final, submitted Roberto Roleta with a foot lock in about 20 seconds. In 2000 he won the title again, with a kimura on Nino Schembri in the quarterfinal and a 2-0 win over Fernando Margarida in the final.

He collected ten black belt Worlds medals, including silver at heavyweight in 2001 behind Fabio Gurgel and at super-heavyweight in 2004 behind Roger Gracie. In 2007 he won the Pans at ultra-heavyweight. After leaving Alliance he helped found the team that became Brasa, where he developed athletes such as Felipe Costa.

He moved to the Chicago area in 2006, trained Brock Lesnar and other MMA fighters and opened Comprido BJJ in Bloomingdale, Illinois, in 2011. He was one of the first top competitors to speak out publicly against steroid use in jiu-jitsu. On his current focus, he said: “I have nothing else to prove. Now my goal is helping other people to achieve their dreams.”