David Vieira (born February 28, 1982) is a 5th Degree Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), a BJJ competitor, instructor, a professional

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

(MMA) fighter and the current 2022, 2023 and 2024 World Master IBJJF Champion ( IBJJF).

Background

Vieira was born and raised in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, and was seventeen when he started practicing

Jiu-Jitsu Jujutsu ( , or ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu (both ), is a Japanese martial art and a system of close combat that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdue one or more weaponless or armed and armored opponent ...

. His first instructors were Alexandre de Lima and Rogerio Poggio at Infight

Academy in

. After winning Gold in the -77 kg and Absolute divisions of the

World Jiu-Jitsu Championship The World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament held annually by the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation. It is widely considered the most important and prestigious jiu-jitsu tournament of the year. The ...

in 2002, Vieira went to

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

to train with the founder of Infight Academy, 6th Degree BJJ Black Bel
Totila ‘Pitoco’ Jordan Neto
In 2004, Vieira came to the United States to compete at the

Pan American Championship A Pan American Championship is a top level international sports competition between athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs in the Americas. Typically these championships are recurring, the mos ...

and that is when he was introduced to

Gracie Barra Gracie Barra (GB) is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy and team co-funded in 1986 by Carlos Gracie Jr., a son of Carlos Gracie, one of the founders of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. History The Gracie Barra academy was established in 1986 by Carlos Grac ...

Eduardo de Lima Eduardo "Veio" de Lima is a 6th degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) under Carlos "Carlinhos" Gracie, Jr. and the head of Gracie Barra Clearwater. He has won several gold medals in the black belt divisions at the P ...

. When Vieira went back to Brazil, he decided to join Gracie Barra Academy where in 2005 he was awarded his black belt. Today Vieira proudly holds gold medals as a 6-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion, 5-time National Champion (in both GI and No GI), 10-time State Champion (in both GI and No GI), 2-time Pan American Champion, and an astounding 15-time International Open Champion (in both GI and No GI), among other accolades. Vieira is not only a very well accomplished BJJ competitor and MMA athlete but as an instructor he has also led his students to many victories at BJJ, MMA and Grappling Tournaments. Vieira was the founder and head instructor of DVBJJ Academy in 2006 located in Tampa, Florida with affiliated schools in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. In early 2022 Vieira has moved to the United States and has teamed up with Ross Kellin founder o
Champions MMA

BJJ Black Belts

Vieira has awarded Black Belts to: * 2008: Ciro Moura (Brazil) and Chad Robichaux (USA) * 2010: Hammoud Soufiane (France) and Antoine Bachelin (France) * 2012: Hicham Hakam ( First BJJ Black Belt in

) and Diego Lander (Brazil) * 2013: Abderrahim Bounouch (Belgium), Rodrigo Calazans (Brazil), Rafael Garritano (Brazil), Joao M. Madureira (Brazil), Rafael Lopes (Brazil), Marcelo Carvalho (Brazil), Nick Antunes (Brazil) and Marcio Moreira (Brazil). *2017: Ricardo Rodrigues (Brazil), Renzzo Caenazzo (Brazil), Henrique Oliveira (Brazil), Daniel Albuquerque (Brazil), Eduardo Liberman (Brazil) and Wilhiam Almeida (Australia).

BJJ Highlights

David's notable wins via submission: *

Thales Leites Thales Leites Lourenço (; born 6 September 1981) is a retired Brazilian mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist best known for competing in the Middleweight (MMA), middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Mixed martial art ...

from Nova Uniao via

Choke Choke may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Choke'' (album), a 1990 album by the Beautiful South * "Choke" (I Dont Know How But They Found Me song), a 2017 song from the album ''1981 Extended Play'' * ''Choke'' (Kiss It Goodbye ...

* Sergio Moraes from

Alliance Jiu Jitsu Alliance is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu association. Alliance was founded by Romero "Jacare" Cavalcanti and his students: Fabio Gurgel, Alexandre Paiva, and Fernando Gurgel. Alliance Global headquarters is in Atla ...

via

Triangle Choke A triangle choke, or sankaku-jime (三角絞) in judo, is a type of figure-four chokehold that encircles the opponent's neck and one arm with the legs in a configuration similar to the shape of a triangle. Applying pressure using both legs and ...

* Tarsis Humphreys from

via

* Delson Heleno form Gordo Jiu-Jitsu via

Vagner Rocha Vagner Rocha (born June 6, 1982) is a Brazilian submission grappler and former professional mixed martial artist, who competed in the featherweight division. He is the 2017 Combat Jiu-Jitsu Worlds lightweight champion. Mixed martial arts career ...

from Team Popovitch 2x via

and

Armlock An armlock in grappling is a single or double joint lock that Anatomical terms of motion#General motion, hyperextends, hyperflexes or hyperrotates the elbow, elbow joint or glenohumeral joint, shoulder joint. An armpit lock is very useful; it w ...

* Vinicius Marinho from

GFTeam Grappling Fight Team (most commonly known as GFTeam) is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) academy and team. History It was started in 1993 as part of Universidade Gama Filho, a university in Rio de Janeiro as Universidade Gama Filho (UGF) or Gam ...

via

* Mario "Big Hurt" Rinaldi from ATT via

Rear Naked Choke The rear naked choke (RNC), also known as hadaka jime (裸絞) in Judo and "lion killer choke (Mata Leão)" in BJJ, is a chokehold in martial arts applied from an opponent's back. The word ''naked'' in this context suggests that, unlike other stra ...

* Moacir "Boca" Oliveira from Team De La Riva via

Mixed Martial Arts Career

Early career

Vieira became a professional

MMA Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

fighter in 2007, and that same year he was featured in the MMA Authority Magazine as the new up and coming fighter, and was described by the magazine as the "Brazilian Prodigy." After 4 successful

fights in the United States David went back to

to improve his MMA game and become a more complete fighter. Even though Vieira continued his MMA training, he decided to take some time off from professional MMA fighting to focus on running his jiu-jitsu school in Brazil.

The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil

David was chosen from an initial list of over 300 applicants at the TUF™ tryouts in Rio de Janeiro. Ranging from 18 to 35 years of age, these fighters came from all corners of Brazil, as well as countries such as Argentina and the United States. The fighters underwent interviews, medical exams and were tested on their striking and grappling skills until the final 28 emerged. The group of 28 welterweights battled it out in elimination scraps in episodes one and two until only half of them remained. The 14 winners became the official cast members of The Ultimate Fighter house, where they were divided into two opposing teams. Episode One: In March 2013, it was revealed that Vieira was a cast member of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 2. Episode Two: Vieira won his elimination fight to get into the TUF house, defeating Leandro Silva (11-0) by unanimous decision and he was chosen to be a member of Team Nogueira. Episode Three: In his second fight Vieira clashed with another undefeated fighter

Yan Cabral Yan Cabral (born 13 May 1983 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is a mixed martial artist, grappler and 5th degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt practitioner and instructor associated with the Nova União academy. A former UFC fighter, Cabral trained ...

(10-0) and lost by submission in the second round. Episode Nine: Luis Dutra had to withdrawal due to injury, and Vieira was chosen to replace his teammate. It was announced that he would face the experienced

Viscardi Andrade Viscardi Andrade Guimarães (born 8 March 1984) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the Welterweight division of Taura MMA. A professional competitor since 2006, he was also a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 2 before ...

in the quarterfinals. Episode Ten: Vieira lost his quarterfinals match by unanimous decision to Andrade, ending his run at becoming the next Ultimate Fighter.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Win , align=center, 5–0 , Andre Chatuba , Submission (

rear naked choke The rear naked choke (RNC), also known as hadaka jime (裸絞) in Judo and "lion killer choke (Mata Leão)" in BJJ, is a chokehold in martial arts applied from an opponent's back. The word ''naked'' in this context suggests that, unlike other stra ...

) , Fight for Life 3 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:38 ,

, BRAZIL , Fought at 185 , - , Win , align=center, 4–0 , Efrain Ruiz , Submission (

) , WFC VI , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:26 ,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, US , Fought at 170 , - , Win , align=center, 3–0 , Zack Barrios , Submission (

) , RFC XI , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:22 ,

, US , Fought at 170 , - , Win , align=center, 2–0 , Benjamin Jordan , Submission (

triangle choke A triangle choke, or sankaku-jime (三角絞) in judo, is a type of figure-four chokehold that encircles the opponent's neck and one arm with the legs in a configuration similar to the shape of a triangle. Applying pressure using both legs and ...

) , WFC IV , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:42 ,

, US , Fought at 170 , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Fred Salsaverda , Submission (

) , WFC III , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:28 ,

, US , Fought at 170

Mixed Martial Arts Exhibition Record

, - , Loss , align=center, 1–2 ,

, Decision , The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 2 , N/A , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, Brazil , Fought at 170 , - , Loss , align=center, 1–1 ,

, Submission (rear-naked choke) , The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 2 , N/A , align=center, 2 , align=center, 2:59 ,

, Brazil , Fought at 170 , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Leandro Silva , Decision , The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 2 , N/A , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, Brazil , Fought at 170 , -

Reality TV Show

At the end of 2010 David was invited to be in a reality show in Brazil that aired nationwide at the

Multishow Multishow is an entertainment channel owned by Canais Globo, Grupo Globo's cable and satellite television channel operator. It was launched in 1991, as one of the company's first four channels (with Telecine, Top Sport – now SporTV – and GNT ...

channel in May 2011. The show is called Minha Praia (Portuguese for My Beach) and it's an original reality television adventure/reward game show in which teams of two people, man and women, compete with other teams. Contestants are isolated in a secluded beach in Brazil to compete for prizes. The show uses a system of progressive elimination, allowing the contestants to vote off other rival team members. At the end of the show David and his teammate Mirella Vieira finished as runner up, after they lost in the final round of elimination in a kayak competition.Mutishow MINHA PRAIA
/ref>

References

External links

TUF Brazil 2

GRACIE MAGAZINE

David Vieira Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

UG MMA Record

SHERDOG MMA Record

IBJJF BLACK BELT RANKING
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vieira, David 1982 births Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Brazilian male mixed martial artists Brazilian practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu People awarded a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu Living people Martial artists from Rio de Janeiro (city) Welterweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen