Roosevelt Sousa

Roosevelt Sousa was born on March 11, 1993, in Paraíba, Brazil. His path to becoming one of the most dynamic ultra-heavyweight grapplers of his generation began not on the mats but on the volleyball court. At 17, Sousa — already standing 193cm (6'3") — took up volleyball and quickly demonstrated considerable promise, competing in both indoor and beach disciplines for four years. His natural athleticism and imposing frame made him a standout presence, yet by his early twenties, his push to break through at the highest level of professional volleyball had stalled.

The pivot to jiu-jitsu arrived in 2014, on his birthday, when a friend invited him to try a class. Sousa stepped onto the mats and felt an immediate, profound connection with the sport. The body awareness, coordination, and physical conditioning he had built through years of volleyball translated directly into his new discipline — laying the foundation for the mobile, dynamic style that would later set him apart among large competitors.

Roosevelt Sousa's belt journey was guided almost entirely by his first instructor, Iuri Alves, who shepherded his development from white belt through the upper ranks of the colored belt divisions. The early results validated that guidance — at blue belt in 2016, Sousa claimed gold at both the CBJJ Brazilian Nationals and the IBJJF South American Championship, signaling his emergence as a serious competitive talent.

At purple belt, Sousa added the AJP Abu Dhabi World Pro title in 2018 to his résumé. That same year, Iuri Alves relocated to the United Arab Emirates, leaving his student to continue training under a local coach in Brazil. The disruption did little to slow Sousa's momentum. In 2019, competing as a brown belt, he mounted one of the most dominant single-season performances the ultra-heavyweight division had seen, submitting high-profile opponents including Mason Fowler, Roberto Jimenez, Matheus Luna, and Giancarlo Bodoni. That campaign earned him the number-one IBJJF ranking in both the Gi and No-Gi brown belt divisions, with victories at the IBJJF World Championship No-Gi and the IBJJF Pan Championship No-Gi cementing his status as the premier brown belt in his weight class.

Following that extraordinary season, Sousa traveled to the UAE to reunite with Iuri Alves, who awarded him his black belt in August 2020 — a promotion recognizing not only his competitive results but the full arc of his development under Alves's instruction.

The story behind Sousa's 2019 World Championship run became one of the more compelling human interest narratives in the BJJ community that year. With his sights set on the IBJJF World Championship in California but lacking the financial means to make the trip, Sousa took to selling water bottles on the street in Brazil to fund his travel. The story reached Rômulo Barral, the decorated competitor and instructor, who was moved by the young athlete's resourcefulness and resolve.

Barral extended an invitation for Sousa to join his well-regarded pre-Worlds training camp in Northridge, California — connecting him to world-class preparation ahead of the tournament. Sousa repaid the gesture with a landmark championship performance. In the aftermath, Roberto Cyborg Abreu reached out personally, inviting Sousa to Fight Sports in Miami. Abreu was preparing for a high-profile super-fight against Nicholas Meregali and sought tall, skilled guard players who could replicate Meregali's style in training. Sousa fit the profile precisely. The arrangement proved mutually beneficial — he integrated into the Fight Sports environment and began representing the team in competition.

What should have been a seamless transition into a prominent role on the American BJJ circuit became a protracted legal and bureaucratic ordeal. While training at Fight Sports in Miami on a tourist visa, Sousa engaged legal representation to pursue a conversion to an athlete visa (P1). The process was mismanaged — his attorney's errors led to Sousa overstaying his tourist visa, resulting in a ban on re-entering the United States.

The timing proved particularly costly. Entering 2021 as the number-one ranked IBJJF ultra-heavyweight competitor in his division, Sousa could not defend that standing at the IBJJF World Championship due to his inability to enter the country. A title well within his competitive reach became inaccessible through no fault of his own preparation. In the years since, Sousa has spoken publicly about the experience, urging fellow athletes — particularly Brazilians navigating complex visa categories — to conduct thorough due diligence before engaging legal representation and to prioritize attorneys with demonstrable, verifiable track records in sports immigration cases.

Roosevelt Sousa entered black belt competition carrying a 75% submission rate across his wins — a figure that established him immediately as a dangerous finisher rather than a points-based competitor. Unable to compete at the 2021 IBJJF World Championship, Sousa redirected his energy to the international Abu Dhabi Jiu-Jitsu Pro circuit, claiming both the AJP Grand Slam (Abu Dhabi) and the AJP King of Mats heavyweight titles that year. The double title run affirmed his standing at the top of the ultra-heavyweight landscape despite his forced absence from the IBJJF calendar.

In 2022, Sousa turned his attention to ADCC — first winning the ADCC Brazilian Trials to secure qualification, then earning a bronze medal at the 2022 ADCC World Championship in his debut appearance at the sport's most prestigious submission wrestling event. The result announced him as a legitimate threat on the no-gi submission grappling stage, not merely a gi specialist.

The 2023 season marked the fullest expression of his black belt potential to date. Sousa captured both the IBJJF World Championship No-Gi and the IBJJF Pan Championship No-Gi titles, completing a sweep of the two most significant IBJJF no-gi events on the calendar. He also added the AJP Grand Slam Miami title in 2023, further reinforcing his consistency across multiple circuits and rulesets.

Roosevelt Sousa competes in the Pesadíssimo division — the ultra-heavyweight category for athletes above 100.5 kg (222 lbs) — yet his game defies the passive, pressure-reliant approach that has historically defined the division's upper echelon. His athleticism and mobility stand out as exceptional for a competitor of his size, qualities that trace directly to his formative years in volleyball, where coordination, spatial awareness, and explosive movement were prerequisites for success.

Sousa competes primarily as a guard player — a stylistic choice that carries particular significance at ultra-heavyweight, where most large athletes default to top-pressure games. His ability to generate consistent submission threats from the bottom position is reflected in his 75% submission rate, and it was precisely this profile that led Roberto Cyborg Abreu to recruit him when preparing for Nicholas Meregali — a guard-oriented world champion — ahead of their high-profile super-fight. That one of the sport's most decorated ultra-heavyweights identified Sousa as the ideal training partner for that preparation speaks directly to the quality and specificity of his guard system. For opponents conditioned to neutralizing large, top-heavy grapplers, Sousa presents an atypical and consistently underestimated challenge.