Braulio Estima has spent recent months speaking openly about what he considers one of the most pressing issues in Brazilian jiu-jitsu: the use of PEDs. His message is pointed, his concern appears genuine, and the context surrounding it is, at minimum, worth acknowledging.
Estima is a four-time IBJJF world champion and two-time ADCC title holder. He is also an athlete who tested positive for a banned PED at the 2014 World Championship. According to sources, the confirmation came from the USADA, which was tasked with testing IBJJF competitors at the time.
The result cost him his 2014 world title and led to a two-year suspension. Yet Estima has recently taken to warning others about the very path that once derailed a significant portion of his career.
“There are people that go there and use ste**ids when they’re since young. This is detrimental to your body. This is just because you try to kind of affect your life in order to get a title. And afterwards, you have all the implications that comes with,” Estima said in a video.
His concern is not limited to the competitive consequences. In the same remarks, he spoke at length about what PED misuse does to the body, referencing the particularly alarming trends he has observed in bodybuilding.
“I think the abuse of s**roids is very dangerous. I think everyone should have all the athletes that if they want to be a professional, they need to have a follow-up with the doctors and be safe. You see these, especially when you talk about st**oids, brings me to the bodybuilding side.”
“How many young kids, 22 years old, dying with a heart attack because of abuse of ster**ds? Because ster**ds is dangerous for the fact that it can get you ad*icted. You want to get bigger and bigger and you think the more you do it, the better the more you’re going to get. But without understanding what’s happening on the inside, this can be a very, very, very dangerous route to go.”
The 2014 incident remains a well-documented chapter in Estima’s career. After his semi-final at that year’s World Championship, which was effectively his last competitive match since he and teammate Romulo Barral had agreed to close out the final between them, Estima consumed a pre-workout supplement that was shared with him.
He identified it to Jiu Jitsu Magazine as NO Xplode. USADA’s subsequent testing revealed a prohibited stimulant in his system, and the IBJJF responded with the maximum available penalty: a two-year ban. The 2014 title was rescinded.
At the time, the case was only the second USADA-confirmed positive in IBJJF competition since testing was introduced in 2013, following a case involving Gabi Garcia earlier that same year.
Through all of it, Estima’s competitive record remains among the most decorated in the sport. His four world titles span four separate championship years: 2004, 2006, 2009, and 2014. At the 2009 ADCC, he swept both the weight class and open weight divisions in a single tournament run.
