2013 BJJ Pro League Warriors: The engineering of Laercio Fernandes

Laercio Fernandes wins the 2013 European Championship. Photo: Ivan Trindade

Being a smaller Jiu-Jitsu athlete requires attention to detail in the techniques. The more precise your technique, the more precise your success in a match. Laercio Fernandes can attest to this formula, which he will apply in the lightest category of the 2013 BJJ Pro League on Dec. 8 at the Long Beach Walter Pyramid.

Laercio, who trains under and represents both Rubens Cobrinha Charles and Giva Santana, has been training Jiu-Jitsu since he was eleven years old. Throughout his trek to the black belt elite level where he stands now, he worked and studied meticulously.

After a day’s work, he would train and then find time to study before waking up and repeating the cycle. His persistence earned him a master’s degree in engineering as well as the ability to manage a high-level career while winning gold medals at high-level championships.

The studious approach to his studies as well as his Jiu-Jitsu earned him a place on the podium at every major tournament he entered since 2010. In 2012 he placed second at the World Championship missing the gold by a referee decision against Guiherme Mendes. At the 2012 BJJ Pro League he suffered the same fate, this time against Caio Terra.

This year Laercio aims to secure the gold in the four-man bracket in the same way he became both European Champion and No-Gi World Champion for 2013.

Check out his final match at the 2013 No-Gi World Championship that brought him to the top of the podium: