Roberto “Spider” Traven

Roberto Traven reached the top of the ultra-heavyweight division at the 1998 Worlds, beating John Machado in the final. The following year he won again after getting past Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and closing out the final with Alliance teammate Leonardo Castello Branco, who let him take the title. “I could not fight my friend Castelo Branco, we trained every day,” he explained to BJJEE.

Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1968 and raised in Ipanema, he started jiu-jitsu at 16 with Romero “Jacaré” Cavalcanti and earned his black belt in about four years, in a generation whose training partners included Fabio Gurgel and Leozinho Vieira. In 1992 he opened Academia Strike with Gigi Paiva. At the first Worlds in 1996 he had been runner-up behind Zé Mario Sperry.

In 1999 he also won the ADCC open class, beating Japan’s Hayato Sakurai in the final. In MMA he fought in the UFC, beating Dave Berry at UFC 11 and losing to Frank Mir at UFC 34, and won a one-night tournament in Russia in 1997.

He lives in the United States and runs Roberto Traven BJJ in Atlanta, a team that has won team titles at IBJJF tournaments and has counted names such as Raphael Assunção among its students. He still competes in the masters divisions and received his coral belt in 2021.