Kron Gracie has added a personal dimension to Brazilian jiu-jitsu’s ongoing PED conversation, revealing that Rafael Mendes once privately admitted to him that he had used PEDs at the 2009 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship.
Kron posted the disclosure in response to a recent report covering Mendes brothers’ denial that positive PED test caused Rafa Mendes to retire at age 27. The comment was brief and specific.
“He told me in room that he was on ster**ds after 2009 ADCC and he thought I would reply and say me too, but I looked at him awkwardly and that was that,” Kron wrote.
The implication in Rafa’s apparent expectation is difficult to ignore. He assumed Kron would recognize what was being said from the inside, as someone in the same position. Kron did not. The silence that followed ended that thread of conversation permanently, at least between the two of them.
What makes Kron‘s position in this debate worth examining is his background. A member of the family that built jiu-jitsu’s global standing, Kron spent several years competing in the UFC, where he was subject to out-of-competition testing under the USADA program. Athletes enrolled in that program cannot simply time their use around tournament dates. Kron‘s time in the UFC eventually concluded on the basis of results and a competition approach that leaned more heavily on grappling than a fully developed mixed martial arts game, but his record with the testing program raised no red flags. That matters when assessing where he stands in this conversation.
Kron Gracie is an outspoken opponent of PED use. He previously criticized GordonR yan. Ryan, who publicly admitted to beginning PED use in 2016, has defended his choices by pointing to the patchwork nature of testing across BJJ’s major events. The IBJJF tests. Most other major competitions do not. Ryan’s argument is that he competes where the rules permit.
“The only place they’re not legal is in IBJJF where they started testing after I had won the Worlds,” Ryan said in a widely circulated clip. “Ryan won the No Gi Worlds and they’re like, man, we have to make sure Gordon doesn’t win again. So then they started testing.”
Kron‘s response drew a direct line to one of the most documented PED scandals in sports history.
“It’s illegal in every sport, only in Jiujitsu and MMA people look past this and think it’s ok?!”
“Lance Armstrong lost everything and he’s just riding bikes.”
Armstrong’s collapse after his 2012 scandal was comprehensive. He lost approximately $150 million in endorsements when Nike, Trek, Oakley and other major sponsors ended their relationships. Kron‘s point is that cycling’s failure to act early did not protect the sport from consequences. It only delayed them.
The timing of Kron‘s disclosure is notable because it arrives while the Mendes brothers are actively pushing back against a years-old rumor that Rafael Mendes did not retire voluntarily at 27, but was instead pushed out following a failed PED test.
Guilherme Mendes addressed a skeptical fan who pressed the issue on Instagram with a pointed response.
“Hahahah good try, we tested, and I was cutting from 155 lbs (70 kg) to 139 lbs (63 kg). If you know how to do it taking ster**ds let me know. And even if we were taking, which is not true, try taking ster**ds and win 4 and 6 world titles to see if you can.”
The fan remained unconvinced.
“Haha that’s not what ‘we’ remember. But it’s okay, you got away with it just like others have.”
Rafael Mendes dealt with the same question during a podcast appearance alongside Tainan Dalpra, where he named the rumor directly.
“Sometimes people say the internet has already been because of the d*ping. No, people tested it all year that we returned as a black belt in the United States. It wasn’t because of that.”
His denial is not without statistical grounding. USADA conducted exactly 10 tests in BJJ during 2015 and another 10 in 2016, the year Rafa retired. That volume falls far short of covering the full field of elite competitors, let alone ensuring comprehensive oversight of world champions.
Rafael’s own explanation for stepping away is rooted in personal completion rather than external pressure.
“I think that at that moment, that phase of my life was completed. I felt that he has a record in the category, that that moment had passed. I’ve arrived at this mission and completed it.”
Guilherme framed the decision as something both brothers had been moving toward for some time.
“Something happened, or I think I spoke with 27, I think he speaks with how many years is 26, and it was natural. That’s how it was. Something that for people maybe we were that age, but our mentality was already in my early 30s. I was already ready to have the business, for another type of pressure, and we already had, I was starting to have a family too. I already had other goals lined up. It no longer made sense for you to be the athlete, only an athlete. For the team, our athlete and teacher did more. It made sense at that moment that we dedicate to other areas that would develop a better quality of life for our family.”
The IBJJF Hall of Fame served as the brothers’ concrete finish line. Guilherme recalled setting the target for himself.
“I had just finished announcing that the hall of fame needed, at that time, four world titles and I didn’t want to stop without entering the hall of fame. So I spoke with Rafael, I remember arriving to tell him, look, I’m going to stop as soon as I get all four, to whatever I can do so that I can focus more on the part of teaching in academy.”
Rafael described the competitive phase of his life as a deliberate campaign toward a defined outcome.
“I think that in order to be successful, for achieving a goal, it is very difficult. When it’s a big goal, you have to have focus, and that’s what we applied in our athletic career. The goal was to win and enter the hall of fame, winning four world titles. My objective of breaking the record of the penalty category. After we applied that focus, he dedicated himself 100% to that objective.”
With that outcome secured, he describes the decision to step away as a logical extension of the same discipline that drove him to compete.
“So people will understand why you stopped competing at age 26, because I felt that at that moment that phase of my life was completed. It doesn’t make sense for me to stay. With that in mind, let’s apply the focus on the area in the next phase of our lives.”
None of that explanation necessarily contradicts what Kron recalls being told. Whether Rafa used PEDs, stopped and then retired for the reasons he describes, or whether the full picture is more layered, is not something a private conversation can settle in a public forum years later. What Kron‘s disclosure does is make it harder to treat the long-running speculation as unfounded noise.
