Rafael Mendes Outlines His Plan To Win So Many Medals He'll Be Untouchable

Rafael Mendes has one of the most impressive competition records in jiu-jitsu history. A five-time IBJJF World champion, 2-time ADCC champion, 2-time PanAm champion and 3-time European champion, his credentials are some of the highest in the game. But he’s not stopping yet.

The 26-year-old black belt says he wants to win so many medals at the highest level that it will be near impossible for anybody to catch up to his record.

“I’m going to keep competing, it’s been my goal forever to keep competing and winning Worlds. I’m not going to compete a lot, in every single comeptition. For the past three years I’ve been choosing the competitions, but I’ll definnitely be fighting Worlds and maybe some other comeptitions. We’ll see what happens.

“I feel like for me, I still have that desire to be there competing, I want to make it really hard for people to catch up. I want to win as much as possible so when I stop it’ll be hard for people to go there and do what I did. That’s my goal, that’s why I keep competing.

“I want to win as much as possible now while I’m young, so one day when I stop, if people want to go win as much as I did they’re going to have to work really hard to do that.

“I’m willing to fight more superfight events, I think it’s a good show, it’s a good format. People like that, they like to see it. It’s more entertaining. I will do Worlds for sure, that’s my goal. But I want to fight in events that do a good job of promoting and is a nice show.”