Roosevelt Sousa - Heavyweight BJJ Black Belt Champion

Roosevelt Sousa is a BJJ Black Belt under Iuri Alves. He is a former volleyball player with a distinguished volleyball career. Now, he is a well-known name in BJJ’s heavyweight division. He is particularly famous for his colored belt career where he submitted big names such as Roberto Jimenez, Mason Fowler, Giancarlo Bodoni, and many more.

Roosevelt Sousa was born on 11 March 1993 in João Pessoa, the Northeastern Brazilian state of Paraíba, Brazil.

When Sousa was 17, he started his sports career in volleyball. His height is 6 ft 3 inches. Due to his impressive height and strong athletic body, Roosevelt Sousa rose to fame. For almost 4 years, Sousa played volleyball and competed in the in-house as well as the beach strands tournaments.

When Roosevelt Sousa turned 20, he created history in his volleyball career. It was his keen determination that led him so high in his career in just 4 years. He was invited to a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class by one of his friends. Sousa went to the BJJ class to try it out on his 21st birthday. He immediately fell in love with the grappling sport.

He was inspired by Gi BJJ and wanted to continue it professionally. This is the best quality of Roosevelt Sousa that he gives his 100% to whatever he is inspired by. The same thing happened with his volleyball career and now BJJ.

Iuri Alves was the one who made Sousa fall in love with BJJ. Iuri Aves was Sousa’s first instructor. And he is the one who awarded Sousa with all belts. Sousa had learned a lot from Iuri Alves. Unfortunately in 2018, Iuri Alves moved to the United Arab Emirates. This drastically affected Sousa’s training and game but he tried his level best to retain his skills.

After Iuri Alves moved to the United Arab Emirates, Sousa trained under a local coach. For 1 year he trained hard as his aim was to compete for the World Titles. In 2019, Sousa decided to visit California for the World Championship. But being financially unstable, it was difficult for him to reach California.

It was when Roosevelt Sousa came up with a business idea to financially support himself for the championship.

Roosevelt started selling water bottles to earn money for world championships abroad. He was an active BJJ practitioner from day one. The news of his business venture reached the BJJ community very soon. Sousa was not only an active athlete but also intelligent. His business ideas earned him more success.

Romulo Barral, Gracie Barra’s instructor, was the one who took notice of Sousa’s business venture. He was fascinated by Sousa’s struggle and offered him to join the pre-worlds training unit in Northridge, USA.

Romulo Barral, BJJ Black Belt under Vinicius Magalhães, was the one who took notice of Roosevelt Sousa. He admired Sousa’s struggle towards BJJ. Being offered a place in the Northridge pre-world team was like a dream for Roosevelt Sousa. He devoted all his time and efforts to BJJ by being a part of that team.

Later on, Sousa participated in the World Championship as he always wanted to. Roberto Cyborg was the one who keenly noticed the fighting style of Sousa. Upon seeing such a remarkable fighter, Cyborg decided to make Sousa a part of his team in his own academy in Miami, Fight Sports Academy.

Upon the behest of Roberto Cyborg, Sousa joined the Fights Sport. At that time Cyborg was concerned about one of his biggest fights with Nicholas Meregali. He wanted to have Roosevelt Sousa in his Alliance Team.

Roosevelt Sousa represented the Team Alliance in some BJJ competitions.

As a Blue Belt, Roosevelt Sousa competed in the CBJJ Brazilian Nationals in 2016. He won 1st place in the tournament.

Roosevelt Sousa won 1st place at the AJP Abu Dhabi World Pro as a Purple Belt in 2018.

When Roosevelt Sousa was promoted to the Brown Belt, he competed in the IBJJF World Championship No-Gi in 2019. He won 1st position in the championship.

Roosevelt Sousa went to the United Arab Emirates to meet his first instructor, Iuri Alves in August 2020. Iuri Alves awarded Sousa with his Black Belt.

Roosevelt Sousa competed in the AJP King of Mats in 2021 as a Black Belt. He won 1st place in the championship.

Anderson Munis is a BJJ Black Belt under Gabriel Figueiro and Isaque Bahiense. He represented the Dream Art BJJ academy. The fight between Roosevelt Sousa and Anderson Munis lasted only for about a minute. Anderson looked pretty confident at the start of the match but Sousa’s grappling skills are tough for any practitioner to handle.

Anderson grabbed Sousa by his Gi but his own balance was unstable. That imbalanced position led him to submit. Roosevelt Sousa submitted Anderson Munis via Botinha in just 1 minute and won the Grand Slam Abu Dhabi Final.

Uanderson Ferreira is a BJJ Black Belt under Marcio Carreira. He is famous for his performance in the King of Mats. He was hyperactive at the start of the fight and even dropped Sousa to the ground by force. But Sousa’s balanced posture embraced the sudden drop and after that, he came back stronger.

Sousa gained the dominant position and submitted Uanderson Ferreira via Armbar in just 2 minutes.

Mason Fowler is a BJJ Black Belt under Caio Terra. He is a remarkable representative of the Caio Terra Association. This fight between Roosevelt Sousa and Mason Fowler is from 2019 when both practitioners were at the Brown Belt level. At the start of the fight, Mason went for Sousa’s legs to constrict him in his place. But Sousa locked down Mason’s legs. Mason quickly escaped the leg locks.

Within a minute of the match, Sousa went for Mason's legs and submitted him via Kneebar. That is why Sousa is so famous for his colored belt career. He quickly goes for the submission and then submits his opponent within seconds.

Roosevelt Sousa VS Giancarlo Bodoni / World No-Gi Championship 2019

Roosevelt Sousa vs Uanderson Ferreira- AJP Teams Cup Asian Qualifiers 120kg Division

Roosevelt Sousa vs Rodrigo Ribeiro- Final AJP Tour Abu Dhabi 2021-120kg

Photo Credit: @rooseveltbjj