From jiu-jitsu to MMA, and from MMA to jiu-jitsu. This is the routine of Rousimar Palhares, the infamous 'Toquinho'. Known for his lethal leg locks, the 38-year-old athlete will have his next challenge at KASAI Pro 3 on August 18. His opponent: the talented Craig Jones. It is expected to be a battle of the leg lock specialists, but Toquinho is promising something new. 

Feared in MMA because of the danger of his submission attacks, Toquinho competed at a high level for years and has undergone both a physical and mental transformation. Just over one week out from KASAI Pro 3 he arrived for training at Team Nogueira in Rio de Janeiro with fresh cut hair, a notable mustache and almost 220lb of muscle on his 5'8" frame. Palhares was greeted by his fellow fighters with laughter, praise and dozens of photos before his daily workout began. 

"I'm used to training from four to six hours a day, Monday to Friday," says Palhares. "Back in the day it used to be a lot more, I would start training in the morning and only leave at night. I overtrained every day. I would get dizzy and have to sit on the sidewalk to recuperate. Nowadays I train hard, but smarter." 

The training began with plugging his bluetooth headphones into the tiny holes of his cauliflower ears, then 10-minute rounds of skipping with active rest rounds of two minutes, repping out takedown entries. After 40 minutes of this hard warm-up, stretching and solo drills Palhares had worked up the appetite to train jiu-jitsu. 

The session was run by ADCC World champion and UFC fighter Davi Ramos. Three good-sized fighters joked between themselves over who would have to be Toquinho's training partner, each trying to pass responsibility for being the man who Palhares would sharpen his weapons on. Davis explained that everybody would train with Toquinho that day. 

Palhares with Davi Ramos

Double- and single-leg entries helped loosen up the muscles before the first drill, classic guard passes. Later, an hour of rolling. That's when things heat up. 

It's a mistake to think that Palhares' game focuses only on leg locks. Even with his 220lb of muscle there's no lack of speed or flexibility, and he plays on top or on bottom with the same ease. His transitions are precise and impressive, and the holds so tight that every grip prompts apologies even during rolling. 

"I never seriously hurt any training partner," says Palhares. "The biggest problem during training is when my opponent tries to escape a locked-in submission. It's better to tap and start over again." 

After the training activities your reporter grabbed the cellphone of Richardson "Rick Monstro" Moreira, former middleweight UFC fighter and now a training coordinator at Team Nogueira, to take a quick photo. The image shocked the internet. 

Toquinho appeared much bigger and stronger in the photo than he is in real life, but it's scary that the black belt really is that thick. 

About the match with Craig Jones, Palahres sees himself with a certain advantage: it's incredibly difficult to find anybody to spar with that has a game like him. 

"They think my jiu-jitsu is just about the leg lock," he says. "I have much more to show than that. I've trained since I was 13 years old and my strength comes from working on the farm. I began working at seven, my body is ready for this. Fighting is my life, people don't understand this. They say that I train a lot, but I only stop when I'm satisfied. Back in the day I would train more than 10 hours a day." 

"I'm a tough opponent to simulate in the gym. You can't find anybody my size to spar with, my weight and my game. I never do specific drills. If I do repeated armlocks I always try to change the position, and I will repeat an armlock 100 times."

"I've don't have a straight forward game. I don't think about a submission before I do it. I transition through dominant positions and I attack what comes up: the arm, the neck, the foot or whatever. For me, to compete is great. It'll never be a sacrifice. Training and fighting is my passion and that's why I've been doing this for so long." 

Watch KASAI Pro 3 LIVE or On Demand ONLY on FloGrappling

August 18 | New York City | Click here for more info