Felipe Pena is one of the most accomplished Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt competitors in the world. Felipe’s nickname “Preguiça”, which is Portuguese for lazy or sloth, was given to him by one his early coaches “Draculino” when he was a teenager. Despite being overweight when he first started jiu-jitsu, Felipe became motivated to train harder and eventually realize his dream of becoming a world-class professional athlete. Now, Preguiça represents the Gracie Barra academy and is widely regarded as one of the top jiu-jitsu competitors of his generation. He has solidified this status by becoming the 2017 ADCC Absolute Champion,an  IBJJF No Gi champion, as well as winning the IBJJF World Championships in both 2018 and 2019. 

We talk about how Felipe transformed his innate love of competition into the motivation that fuelled his rapid growth in the art of jiu-jitsu. We explore the early influences on his game and the moment he realised that he had a future as a professional athlete. We also discuss the evolution of his incredible work ethic, a far cry from the Preguiça of his youth, as well as his amazing training camp wars with fellow BJJ champions Marcus Almeida “Buchecha”, Romulo Barral and Leandro Lo. Finally, we look at what the future holds for Felipe, from unaccomplished goals, to super-fights as well as life after competition.