After a decade-long hiatus, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu legend Rodolfo Vieira is set to make his highly anticipated return to grappling in his hometown of Rio de Janeiro. The UFC middleweight competitor has officially announced his participation in the upcoming ADXC 7 event, scheduled for November 17th.
Vieira, a five-time world champion in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and ADCC champion, will headline the event in a match against former UFC athlete Derek Brunson. The bout will consist of five three-minute rounds with one-minute rest periods, promising an intense showcase of high-level grappling skills.
The 35-year-old Brazilian expressed his excitement about the opportunity through his social media channels, stating, “I’m very happy with this opportunity that ADXC is giving me to compete in my city. The last time I competed here was in 2013, more than ten years ago. I was really anxious to share this news, but I was waiting for the contract to arrive, which I just signed.”
Vieira underwent a surgery for a wrist ligament that has kept him away from a UFC return in April.
“I had an injury for more than 5 months that even though I took care of it I didn’t see any improvement, when there was 1 month left to my last fight I punched the crank and it ended up getting worse, my last month of training was tense, even infiltration I tried (something that I had never done it in my life) to relieve the pain I was feeling and I didn’t see any improvement. At that moment, I realized that the injury was quite serious, but I didn’t want to take an exam because I was willing to fight anyway even if it was going to go in there just to lose, but thank God I won 😂 Speaking a little about the fight, what made me confident was knowing that even though limited I was still able to do jiu jitsu, which was how I was believing I would win…
When I arrived in Brazil, I rushed to do the exams and discovered that I had broken a ligament in my fist, and I couldn’t book the surgery right away because of the seminars I had to do, so I had to wait until today… I want to thank Dr. André Teixeira, his team for their support and attention with me since the first day and the São Vicente Clinic for great hospitality and service. Now it’s a lot of rest, care and fall into physical therapy to get better as soon as possible… Thank you to all the messages I have received. It’s all right!”
Vieira’s return to grappling comes on the heels of his successful MMA career, where he has amassed an impressive record of 10 wins and only 2 losses. His most recent victory in the UFC occurred in February of this year when he submitted Armen Petrosyan in the first round.
full lineup of ADXC6:
RODOLFO VIEIRA VS DEREK BRUNSON
🇧🇷 Meyram Maquine vs Sebastian Serpa 🇺🇸
🇧🇷 Piter Frank vs Gesias Cavalcante 🇧🇷
🇧🇷 Ana Carolina Vieira vs Aurelie Le Vern 🇫🇷
🇳🇴 Espen Mathiesen vs Lucas Valente 🇧🇷
🇧🇷 Henrique Cecconi vs Javier Zaruski 🇺🇾
🇺🇸 Helena Crevar vs Sabrina De Sousa 🇧🇷
