Caio Terra

Caio Terra and Bruno Malfacine met in the roosterweight world final five years in a row, and only in the last of them, in 2013, did the title go to Caio. Representing Brasa, he beat Malfacine 4-2 in Long Beach after losing the 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 finals. It was his second black belt gi world title, five years after the first, in 2008.

Born on February 8, 1986, in Rio de Janeiro, he started Jiu-Jitsu around 16, pushed by his mother, when he weighed about 38 kg. He trained at Fight Zone in Copacabana, under Ricardo Vieira and Rodrigo Comprido, and at Paulo Maurício Strauch’s academy. He received his black belt in July 2006 from Reylson Gracie and Strauch, about three years after starting. Because he had less than a year at brown belt, he was barred from the 2007 Brazilian Nationals, but the IBJJF made an exception so he could compete at that year’s Worlds.

In no-gi he ruled No-Gi Worlds for a decade, with ten straight golds from 2008 to 2017. In the gi he won Pans in 2011, 2012 and 2013, the last with a 2-0 win over Malfacine in the final, and reached the world final again in 2016 and 2017, losing both to the same rival. He turned down an invitation to ADCC 2013 to do a superfight at the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo and never competed at the event.

He moved to the United States in 2007 and, after years at Cesar Gracie’s academies, opened his own school in San Jose, California, in 2011. The following year he created the Caio Terra Association, a network of affiliate schools. Athletes he helped develop include Mikey Musumeci, Mason Fowler and Yuri Simões. A critic of banned substances, he was the first athlete tested at the 2013 Pans, the first IBJJF event with drug testing. “I’m clean. I don’t even take any supplements,” he said at the time.