
Roosevelt Sousa will be in action at the Blue Collar grappling Grand Prix and will put his aggressive style into play to win the $25,000. The Grand Prix brings together eight of today’s best grapplers and will be held in Fort Myers, Florida, on September 1st.
Roosevelt is a rising star in grappling and shows himself to be more complete with each competition. Winner of the ADCC Trials 2022, the Paraíba native arrives at the GP as one of the favorites due to his winning record and the unique way in which he combines power and skill. The Fight Sports athlete will face elite opponents such as Giancarlo Bodoni, Roberto Jimenez, Devhonte “Bones” Johnson, among others.
On Tuesday, the Blue Collar defined the GP brackets and Roosevelt Sousa will try to impose his pressure game against the also dangerous Devhonte “Bones” Johnson, who replaced Vagner Rocha.
In an interview with VF Comunica, Roosevelt predicted a duel in the final against Giancarlo Bodoni and praised his opponent.
“Bodoni is a talented guy, very dangerous and he improved when he started training with Gordon and Danaher. He won the ADCC, I saw him win there and it looked easy, everything he did worked. I believe that he and I will reach the final, without a doubt. It’s heavier coming in as a favorite, there’s a lot of responsibility on him, and although he’s very good, he’s still very young. We’ll see what happens, I’m very confident. I’ve been following Bodoni since I was a brown belt and I know he has very good wrestling and leg attacks, so I’m prepared for this,” said Roosevelt.
The Paraíba native revealed that losing to Gordon Ryan in the semi-finals of ADCC 2022 was a turning point in his career.
“That fight was a reality check for me because I saw how much I needed to improve, so I took the defeat as motivation and forced myself to work on it. Today I’m reaping the rewards of that in the gym and I can see how much I’ve evolved. I can’t wait to get to the event and show everything I’ve been developing. I’m feeling very confident about it. Of course I respect my opponents, but nothing surprises me,” said Roosevelt.
After the Blue Collar GP, Roosevelt will turn his attention to the gi. The Fight Sports athlete will compete in the Grand Slam Miami, scheduled for September 16 and 17. Roosevelt has a winning record in the Federation and has already won renowned tournaments such as the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam and the King of Mats in 2021.

He’s entered in the -120kg category, which promises to be tough. The bracket includes multi-champion fighters such as Ricardo Evangelista, Yatan Bueno, Pedro Lucas Ribeiro, Wallace Costa and Pedro Alex “Bombom”. Roosevelt analyzed the division in the AJP tournament and reiterated that none of them surprises him.
“They’re very strong, they all have strength as their main quality. They have a similar style, of passing the guard by crossing the knee or kneading the legs. So I take it easy because my guard is very flexible. I train a lot with Roberto Cyborg and I don’t see other athletes with the same pressure as him. Although he’s strong and heavy, he’s also fast, so that’s given my guard a boost so that I can be aware of this type of game. They’re good competitors, they’re always on podiums, but nothing scares me,” said the black belt.