By Hywel Teague

The first time I met Ygor Rodrigues he stood out as being the only 16-year-old kid in a room full of adult brown and black belts. Only one person during that mixed-team training session got my back and sunk in a choke that day, and it wasn’t any of the black belts. It’s fair to say the kid left an impression on me. 

“His movement is incredible for a teenager,” says Caio Terra, seven-time IBJJF World Champion, with whom Ygor stayed in San Jose, California, prior to the 2015 IBJJF World Championships. Now 17, he spent a month there as part of the Worlds training camp, and reports coming out of the gym said his presence had a number of adults questioning the validity of their ranks. Like myself, they most likely took a look at the quiet, reserved kid and vastly underestimated his abilities. 

Ygor’s movement and positional knowledge are way beyond his years, though it wouldn’t be fair to call him a prodigy. Jiu-jitsu is in the blood and he’s been at it since a young age. He trains with his father Marcio at the family’s gym, Equipe Marcio Rodrigues, in the neighborhood of Jacarepagua in Rio de Janeiro. Everyone in his family trains. 

An early liking for the taste of competition meant Ygor had little difficulty choosing his path. With the support of his teammates (avid competitors just like him) and with his father behind him, the accolades began to come. His juvenile successes include three World titles, four Brazilian titles, seven State titles, and two trips to Abu Dhabi to compete in the World Pro – all before he hit 16. 

“Since I began training I always liked to compete, and each time I took it more seriously,” he says. 

Stylistically, Ygor is similar to many of the competitors his age. It’s not uncommon to see him drop and engage in a double-guard pull, using berimbolos and leg fighting to get the back, yet he’s dynamic on top with excellent Leandro Lo-style bull-fighter passes. He chains together rapid changes of direction, pressuring his opponents and creating scrambles. This combination of tricky guard play and an aggressive top game make him a handful in almost any situation. 

It’s not all been plain sailing for Rodrigues. He’s had his fair share of adversity alongside success, including a broken foot and subsequent corrective surgery that took him out of action for four months in 2013. He returned unfazed by the layoff, taking gold in both the Abu Dhabi qualifiers and the Abu Dhabi World Pro Championships at blue belt juvenile. 

Most disappointing was a disastrous 2015 IBJJF World Championships in California, where a last-minute scheduling change saw his division brought forward in the day with little notice. This didn’t leave enough time for him to cut the small amount of weight he was still holding, and he was disqualified on the scale for being 100 grams (0.2 lb) over. 

Aside from the disappointment of the World Championships, 2015 has been a good year so far for Ygor and the medals have been rolling in. He’s taken top spot at the Las Vegas Spring International Open, the Rio Fall International Open 2015 (gi and no gi), the Rio Winter International Open 2015, and won silver at the Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship. More medals are sure to come. 

“My goal is to be one of the best,” he says. “And I’m chasing for it!” 

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Fact File 

Name: Ygor dos Santos Rodrigues
Team: Equipe Marcio Rodrigues  
From: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 
Rank: Blue belt 
Age: 17 years old (Born 26 January 1998) 
Height: 168cm / 5’6” 
Weight: 68kg / 150 lb

• Twice travelled to compete in Abu Dhabi before the age of 16 
  
• Trained by his father in the low-income neighborhood of Jacarepagua 
  
• Broke foot and required surgery at 15 years of age, lost 4 months of training and competition 
  
• Pays for international travel and competition expenses by holding raffles and relying on donations from teammates 
  
• Has had success in gi and no gi, taking gold in both modalities at the São Paulo International Open 2014 and the Rio Fall International Open 2015