Fernando Vieira

Fernando Vieira was a world champion at three different belts in three straight years. In 2002 he won roosterweight at blue belt, in 2003 light-featherweight at purple and, in 2004, now a black belt, he won light-featherweight again. In the final he beat Bibiano Fernandes 4-2 and broke the run of his fellow Manaus native, champion of the division in 2003 and again in 2005 and 2006.

Born in Manaus, he started training at 10 and was a blue belt world runner-up in 2001, before the run of golds. All three titles came for team Monteiro, the same as Gabriel Moraes, runner-up in that 2002 blue belt roosterweight division. His black belt came in 2004, from Cristiano Carioca.

After the Worlds he went to teach grappling in Curitiba and started fighting MMA. He put together 12 wins, seven of them by submission, and three losses, one by decision to Patrício “Pitbull” Freire in 2008. In December 2014 he beat American Tyson Nam by unanimous decision at XFC International 8, in Campinas. “I controlled the fight, both standing and on the ground, and that makes me very happy,” he told GRACIEMAG.

Without leaving the gi behind, he won the Abu Dhabi World Pro in 2012 and kept competing in Manaus for Carioca Team. In 2013, at the Tadeu Espantalho tournament, he eliminated João Miyao in the semifinal and lost the final to Paulo Miyao. That year, ahead of the Osvaldo Alves Cup, he told Globoesporte.com he was focused on the tournament: “I have been fighting the Osvaldo Alves for years, since I was a blue belt, and I have been champion six times.”