Yuri Simões

Yuri Costa Simões Martins da Silva was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 18, 1990, and started Jiu-Jitsu at 9, influenced by his father. He came up under Ricardo “Ricardinho” Vieira, who gave him his black belt on December 29, 2011, at the end of a year in which he was a brown belt world champion both in the gi and no-gi. In 2013 he began representing Caio Terra Association.

ADCC, the most prestigious no-gi grappling tournament, is where he made his name. He won the under 88 kg (194 lb) division in 2015, the under 99 kg (218 lb) division in 2017, beating Felipe Pena in the final, and the absolute in 2022, when he got past Lachlan Giles, Nick Rodriguez and Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu before beating Nicholas Meregali in the final. In the IBJJF he has four black belt gold medals at the No-Gi Worlds, winning his weight class and the open class in both 2014 and 2016.

He also tried MMA. He signed with ONE Championship in 2020 and fought twice, losing both by decision, before going back to grappling full time. In 2024, as the reigning absolute champion, he faced Gordon Ryan in the ADCC superfight and lost 21-0.

He returned to the superfight in September 2026, in Kraków, Poland, and beat Kaynan Duarte in a match that lasted more than 20 minutes and in which his opponent hurt his shoulder. It was his fourth title at the tournament. After the win, he spoke to VF Comunica about the chance to settle his rivalry with Felipe Pena: “This will be the best of three between me and Felipe, and that tiebreaker alone already motivates me a lot. But the truth is simpler than it seems: I love to compete. Anyone who knows me knows that this is part of who I am.” That same year he launched his own school, Indomitus Jiu-Jitsu, and he still competes for Caio Terra Association.