When listing the best BJJ practitioners currently competing in the UFC, names like Mackenzie Dern, Marcos “Buchecha” Almeida and Rodolfo Vieira come to mind immediately.
Dern is a UFC champion with elite grappling credentials. Buchecha is a 13-time world champion. Rodolfo holds multiple BJJ world and ADCC titles.
Yet Brazilian MMA star Gilbert “Durinho” Burns went in a completely different direction, naming Raoni Barcelos as the best active BJJ champion in the UFC today.
Barcelos holds only a purple belt world championship in Jiu-Jitsu, far less decorated than Buchecha or Rodolfo, yet Burns argues he is outperforming all elite BJJ champions currently competing in the Octagon. The reason, according to Burns, comes down to one thing: wrestling.
“He was his whole life wrestling. That is his differential, that’s why he’s doing well in the category,” Burns said.
Raoni’s father, Laerte Barcelos, was a wrestling coach, which meant Raoni competed in wrestling from childhood, winning multiple Brazilian titles and competing at the Pan American level. This gave him a wrestling base that most BJJ athletes simply do not possess when making the move to MMA.
Beyond that foundation, Barcelos spent years training at Nova União alongside legends like Renan Barão and José Aldo during the peak of that team’s dominance. He later developed his game further training with Davi Ramos, meaning his pre-UFC preparation spanned years of consistent, elite-level sparring rather than a rushed transition from the competition mats to the Octagon.
Burns identifies Raoni’s ability to consistently execute takedowns as his single greatest differentiator. Nearly every opponent has been taken down, with only rare exceptions, and this ability to control where the match happens is what separates him from his more celebrated but less wrestling-savvy BJJ counterparts.
At approximately 38 to 39 years old, Barcelos remains ranked and competitive, which Burns attributes entirely to his lifelong wrestling development and deep MMA background.
By contrast, Buchecha carries a UFC record of zero wins, one defeat and one draw heading into his third match.
Burns described watching Buchecha’s debut with clear disappointment: “Buchecha couldn’t let himself go, he couldn’t find himself.”
Rodolfo Vieira fares only slightly better at 6 wins and 4 losses. Coming off a knockout loss in November, his next match could put his UFC contract in serious jeopardy.
Burns identifies the core problem as systemic. MMA opponents who face BJJ specialists dedicate entire training camps to takedown defense, making it increasingly difficult for grapplers to get the bout to the ground where their skills would be most effective.
