Felipe Pena

Felipe Pena arrived at the 2019 Worlds as the reigning heavyweight champion and left Long Beach with a title in a different division. He dropped to medium-heavyweight, choked Diego Gamonal from the back, beat Nisar Loynab 6-2 and Matheus Diniz 2-0 and, in the final, got past Gustavo Batista on a referee decision. In the open class he scored two submissions before losing in the quarterfinals to Marcus Buchecha, also on a decision.

Born on October 19, 1991, in Belo Horizonte, he got the nickname Preguiça, Portuguese for sloth, as a teenager from Vinicius Draculino, when he was overweight and slow in training. He started at 14 in the Gracie Barra BH kids program, following his older brother, and was shaped by Marcelo Azevedo and Sérgio Benini. He also trained with Romulo Barral in California and received his black belt from Draculino and Azevedo at the end of 2012.

His first years at black belt brought titles and a suspension. He won the Copa Pódio heavyweight grand prix in 2014 and 2015 and the 2014 Brazilian Nationals, but his world title from that year was taken away after a positive drug test, announced by USADA in May 2015, which brought a one-year suspension. He also took double gold at the 2015 No-Gi Worlds, won silver at that year’s ADCC at 99 kg and, in 2017, won the ADCC absolute. At the gi Worlds he took bronze in 2017 and won heavyweight in 2018, before the 2019 title.

At the December 2021 Worlds he tested positive for clomiphene, in what USADA recorded as his second anti-doping rule violation. He was suspended for one year from January 2022, and his results from that event onward were disqualified. At ADCC 2022 he was stopped in the over 99 kg semifinal by Nick Rodriguez and in the absolute by Tye Ruotolo. In 2024 he returned to the top of ADCC over 99 kg, choking Luke Griffith in the final, and lost his superfight with Gordon Ryan 2-0, another chapter in the best-known rivalry of his career.

In 2026 he beat Nicholas Meregali on a referee decision at Spaten Fight Night and, weeks later at ADCC, lost the over 99 kg semifinal to Josh Saunders but won the absolute, beating Eoghan O’Flanagan, Ruslan Abdulaev and Roosevelt Sousa, choked in the final. He runs his own academy, Gracie Barra Felipe Preguiça.