Felipe “Preguica” Pena - Multiple Times World Champion

Felipe Pena is a competitive fighter of his generation. He is a Black Belt under a well-known coach of Gracie Barra, Belo Horizonte  Marcelo Azevedo. He has another grappler, Augusto “Tio Chico” Carsalade in his family. Augusto is Felipe’s elder brother.

Felipe earned his name among the top-class competitors after winning major competitions like World, Pans, ADCC, European Open, Abu Dhabi Pro, World Pro, and Brazilian National.

Felipe Pena joined BJJ when he was 14. He was a chubby kid and kept himself away from any sport. It was his brother who introduced this gem to the grappling world.

His elder brother was a student of Gracie Barra, Belo Horizonte academy. It was a very famous and well-known academy at that time. He took him to Gracie Barra with him. 

As Felipe was in a gym that had a competition-focused environment. Due to the presence of various competitors around him, Felipe’s attention was diverted to competition.

He started participating in various major tournaments as a Purple Belt and Brown Belt. His victory in various big tournaments drove him to become a professional grappler.

Felipe Pena was named “Preguica” by his coach Vinicius “Draculino” which means “lazy”. Felipe was a chubby guy when he joined the gym. He used to sit and talk about all the things to avoid training. Everybody knows him due to his elder brother who was already training in that gym.

So his coach named him Preguica. Later he started training properly and losing weight but the name stuck with him. 

Felipe became a prominent fighter of Gracie Barra due to his long list of achievements. During his successful journey while collecting medals at various tournaments, he did not only train in Gracie Barra Belo Horizonte but also traveled to the USA to train in Gracie Barra Northridge, with Professor Romulo Barral.

In 2015, Felipe Pena faced suspension by IBJJF due to testing positive for a banned substance. He has been suspended from the 2015 Gi World Championship. Later in 2016, he rejoined the BJJ with more energy and won various tournaments.

Due to being banned from the IBJJF Gi competition, Felipe diverted his attention to World No-Gi and ADCC. In 2015, he was NoGi World Champion.

His victories in 2016 include the IBJJF European Open, AJP Abu Dhabi World Pro, AJP Grand Slam TYO, AJP Grand Slam, RJ, and Marianas Invitational.

In 2021, Felipe Pena again tested positive for clomiphene and its metabolites. Due to his positive test for illegal drugs twice, two titles of a world champion (2014 and 2021) were stripped from his record.

Gordon Ryan and Felipe Pena are in the news for more than six years due to their most anticipated clash with no time limits. Their first match was held in 2016. They faced each other in the 540 Super Fight.

After fighting for two and a half minutes, Felipe submitted Gordon Ryan with RNC. This was the start of this historic Rivalry between both champions.

Both competitors again faced each other in the rematch of the 2017 ADCC Open Weight Championship. After 15 minutes of a great fight, Felipe again defeated Gordon Ryan with points and became ADCC open weight champion.

In 2022, the most hyped match rematch happened between Pena and Gordon. The match ended after 44 minutes of a critical fight. Felipe Pena could not take this title and tapped out.

According to Pena Flograppling did not accept his reschedule request. Felipe Pena stated after the match that he was not mentally stable due to the heartbreaking unfortunate event of his best friend (Leandro Lo’s death).

Now another hyped match was scheduled between Felipe Pena and Gordon Ryan on 25 Feb 2023. Felipe Pena joined ATOS to prepare himself for this match. But Gordon Ryan refused to take the fight at the eleventh hour due to some health issues. So in this match, Nicky Rodriguez replaced Gordon Ryan and Felipe defeated Nicky Rodriguez by referee decision.   

Felipe Pena announced his fight with Gordon Ryan on 25 February 2023 in WNO. To prepare for that fight, he joined ATOS Academy and started training with Andre Galvao.

Fans of both fighters were excited to face each other in the match. Gordon Ryan mentioned that this match would be the most important match of his career. He expressed his thoughts on the preparation of Felipe along with Andre Galvao,

Various legends express their thoughts on this union. As John Danaher, the coach of Gordon Ryan expressed himself

Andre Galvao welcomed Felipe Pena to his gym and his words showed the devotion Felipe had for the BJJ. According to Andre Galvao,

Felipe Pena started his BJJ career with Gracie Barra. He always represented Gracie Barra in the international grappling circuit. He expressed his love for Gracie Barra in these words

But the bout could not be held between Gordon Ryan and Felipe Pena due to some health issues faced by Gordon Ryan. Felipe Pena faced Nicky Rodriguez in the final and defeated him by Referee's decision.

In 2011, Felipe Pena won these three championships: World, Pan, and IBJJF South American as a Purple Belt. After these major victories, Felipe Pena was promoted to Brown Belt in 2011.

In 2012, after becoming World Champion in another continuous year as a Brown Belt, Felipe Pena was promoted to Black Belt.

Felipe Pena is a six times world champion. He is the world champion in the Gi tournaments in 2018 and 2019 as a Black Belt and in 2011 and 2012 as a Purple and Brown Belt. He also achieved the No-Gi World Championship in 2015.

After being banned from the IBJJF World Championship, Felipe reappeared in the 2017 championship and ended up as a silver medalist. In 2018, he came back to secure another title. He showcased a fabulous performance in the 2018 World Championship.

Pena’s two titles of World Champion (2014 and 2021) are stripped by USADA due use of PED. 

After facing disappointment in the IBJJF Gi tournament in 2015, Felipe turned his direction towards No-Gi and ADCC. He won the 2015 ADCC Brazilian RJ Trials. In the 2015 ADCC World Championship, he won a silver medal.

In 2017, he participated in the ADCC World Championship. This time, he surprised the audience with his fabulous performance. He submitted Marcus Almeida in the semifinal with RNC. In the finals, he defeated Gordon Ryan and became the 2017 ADCC World Champion.

Felipe Pena is AJP Abu Dhabi World Pro Champion for consecutive four years from 2015 to 2018. He was the open weight champion in AJP Abu Dhabi Pro in 2016.

Felipe Pena faced Marcus Almeida in the semi-finals of the 2017 ADCC. The match started with Felipe sitting on the floor and Buchecha taking the top position. Felipe was confident on his guard but Buchecha altered the situation when he applied a leg lock. Felipe actively escaped. Now he is ready to take the top position. 

Felipe took the back of Buchecha. Then he shifted to side control and applied head and arm choke. After struggling for two minutes, Buchecha escaped and rescued his top position. But Felipe did not let Buchecha control him.

At the end of the match, Felipe took the back of Buchecha. This time he was in a very dominant position. He submitted Buchecha with a Rear Naked Choke.

Felipe Pena faced Max Gimenis in the quarterfinals of the ADCC 2022. This was one of the great matches held between the two champions. Felipe started this match in a sitting position and Gimenis was in the top position. A few minutes later, Felipe succeeded to apply full guard.

Gimenis did not let this guard down for a long time. He actively moved, escaped from the full guard, and strangled his legs. Gimenis tried his best to mount and control Felipe.

At the end of the match, Gimenis tried to mount him by putting his weight on him. But Felipe countered brilliantly and took his back. At the last minute, Felipe applied RNC. Fifteen seconds before the time out, Felipe Pena submitted Max Gimenis with RNC.

Felipe Pena faced Gordon Ryan in the final of ADCC 2017. Both fighters reached the final after submitting great champions and were very dedicated to winning the gold medal. Both fighters started the match head-to-head. After a few minutes, Gordon Ryan strangled a leg of Felipe in the standing position.

Ryan used Felipe’s leg to take him down. Now Gordon Ryan secured a dominant position. Felipe tried to push him away from his top. He succeeded when he strangled Ryan’s legs with his legs and Ryan had to take himself off from Felipe.

Ryan again secured his top position and mounted him. He tried to apply a leglock but Felipe countered actively and took the back of Ryan. He scored three points twice for back control. At the end of the match, Felipe defeated Gordon Ryan by six points.

FULL MATCH: Felipe Pena vs Nicky Rod - Tezos WNO: Pena vs Rodriguez Main Event

Felipe Pena vs Max Gimenis - 2022 ADCC World Championships

Felipe Pena VS Matheus Diniz / World Championship 2019

Felipe Pena vs Celso Vinicius ADCC 2017 World Championships

Photo Credit: @felipepena ,@felipepenabjjand @felipepena