Gabriel Vella

Gabriel Vella waited seven years between world titles. In 2002, still with Gracie Barra, he won the super-heavyweight division, submitting Hugo Carioni and Roberto Tozi with baseball chokes and Lucio Linhares with a collar choke before beating Alexandre Dantas in the final. In 2009, now with Alliance, he took the ultra-heavyweight title with wins over Marcel Fortuna, 2-0, Andre de Freitas, 8-0, and Rodrigo Cavaca in the final, on an advantage after a 0-0 match.

Born on April 30, 1981, in São Paulo, he started at 14 under Ryan Gracie, who later gave him his black belt. As a purple belt he won the Pans and the Brazilian Nationals in 1998, and he was Pan champion at brown belt in 2000. Guard passing and the baseball choke are the trademarks of his game.

At the 2008 Worlds he took two bronzes, at ultra-heavyweight and in the open class, and that same year he won the No-Gi Worlds over 100 kg, with silver in the open class after losing the final to Braga Neto on advantages. In 2009 he added open class bronze to his weight-class title. He won the 2010 Pans by beating Luiz Theodoro in the final and, in 2011, won the Brazilian ADCC trials over 99 kg by beating Glover Teixeira in overtime.

He had four MMA fights between 2003 and 2005, with two wins, one loss and a draw with Yuki Kondo at Pancrase. After Ryan Gracie’s death he kept teaching with his master’s team alongside Celso Vinicius, and in 2013 he moved to California.