Gracie Barra's Felipe Pena is a heavy favorite in the -99kg division at this weekend's ADCC 2017 World Championship in Espoo, Finland. And while everyone will have an eye on the 25-year-old, knowing exactly what he's going to do is nearly impossible to predict.


Pena came close to an ADCC gold medal in the final against Rodolfo Vieira two years ago in Sao Paulo but lost in a 40-minute war that went to two overtimes.

Because ADCC rules don't apply a point system until after five minutes into the match, Felipe kept the score even, despite being taken down and giving up his back early into the match. Over the following half hour, he found his rhythm and had no points or advantages scored against him, wrestling with Vieira toe-to-toe throughout.


​Felipe Pena attacks for a kimura against Rodolfo Vieira at ADCC 2015 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Photo: Hywel Teague

They both wanted their first ADCC title, but only one could have it. In the end, the referee decision and the gold medal went to Vieira.

After accepting an invitation to try again at the ADCC's 2017 edition, Pena says he learned from that match, and it's facilitated his training now.

"In ADCC there are rounds, so you need to be prepared for explosiveness in five minutes," Pena explained matside in his Belo Horizonte academy. "But you need to have a lot of endurance as well because if it's a really tough guy you never know how long it can go. So it's good to prepare for both."

Competing out of his comfort zone at -99kg 

The -99kg division isn't even Pena's usual weight class. Instead, he moved up from medium-heavyweight (in ADCC, -88kg) because his close friend, teammate, and coach Romulo Barral occupies that domain. If they were to choose to share the division, they'd have to fight within the first or second match of the bracket.

Pena usually walks around at 91-92kg, so he has spent the last two months "eating like crazy." He began lifting every day and taking supplements to increase his mass. 

So far he has gotten up to 94-95kg. His personal trainer, Bruno Formiga, has been working with him for six years (since Pena was a purple belt). Nowadays, he has created a training regimen that includes work with the barbell, such as squats, bench press, and deadlifts as well as plyometrics and other conditioning tactics. On days that Bruno doesn't supervise his training, he goes to a regular gym with notes from Formiga and works out with a friend. 

Competing at -99kg means that Pena will also face a number of opponents he rarely meets in competition, providing a fresh challenge but also allowing him to work his versatile game against people unaccustomed to his tricks. 

Not your usual jiu-jitsu training

Training needs to be different for an ADCC competitor compared to standard jiu-jitsu competitions: There are heel hooks and knee reaping to take into consideration (among many other differences in the rules). For this, Pena does his best to roll under ADCC rules with his students: "I just tell them the moves like 'let's train heel hooks and crossing the leg.' But to be honest, they don't know the exact rules."

Just over 10 days out from ADCC, Pena entered the mats for the 5 PM class at his gym, put on his head gear, and immediately went into rolling -- no warm-up, no stretching. His house sits directly above the gym, so making the trek downstairs to train takes seconds. The competition class consisted of 13 guys, all blue to black belt, and they rolled for 10 rounds of six minutes. 


Pena changed up his game plan for each partner he rolled with, sometimes trading takedowns, sometimes pulling guard, sometimes allowing his partner to pull guard. He does this to take advantage of each student's strengths.

"I try to train where the guy is strongest," Pena said. "So if I believe he has really good takedowns, I try to exchange takedowns with him. If I feel the guy is good at passing, I try to pull guard and see if I feel any danger. I work on how to recover and how to react and how to counterattack."

There is no drilling sessions in Pena's training camp, unless he makes it to the Gracie Barra Belo Horizonte academy early enough. Twice a week he steps into the no-gi class there, rolling with the many black belts available. But most of his training is spent at his own academy in a gated community south of the city. 

An eye on ADCC gold 

He also teaches classes and manages to travel, balances some downtime with his family and girlfriend, and keeps up on his diet. While many athletes create a whole training camp with specifically designed classes or training sessions, Pena works with what he has -- and it's really not a bad deal.


​Photo: Hywel Teague

Winning ADCC, earning the title, beating his opponents… the process is key for Pena. And the training itself is where he excels and expands. 

"I think when you're training you can't just roll," he said. "You need to figure out what you're doing. Sometimes you do one thing and someone asks, 'What did you do?' and you say, 'Man, I have no idea; it was just a scramble.' I think that's quite wrong. You need to figure it out. So when I'm training I like to try and figure out the position.

If I do a position I've never done before, I try to do it again and recreate it. I see how he defends, how he reacts, and what I can vary.

Come the ADCC World Championships on Sep. 23-24, the Gracie Barra star will be his usual self -- only it's impossible to say what that might entail. His best asset is having an unpredictable game: You never know whether he's going to play bottom, top, half-guard, passing, takedowns. Every single one of his matches showcases his well-rounded skills, and that's exactly what fans can expect from the -99kg medal prospect.

READ: The Final List Of Every Grappler In For ADCC 2017 World Championship

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