Friday Dec 01, 2023

Leo Vieira: Lessons from Jiu-Jitsu for Life

Today I’m speaking with world champion jujitsu competitor Leo Vieira. He’s known as the Yoda of Jujitsu because of his ability to take lessons from a lifetime of overcoming challenges on the mat and to impart that knowledge to others how to live a better, fuller life. He did not disappoint, dropping one nugget of wisdom after another. He talks about growing up poor in the rough part of Rio Dejanero, leveraging competition to change his life, he shares insights into his epic battle with MMA beast Mark Kerr, he got me to open up about the first punch I ever took in the face and my walk of shame afterward, and shares lessons from life that we can all learn from.

Leo Vieira is one of the most successful Jiu-Jitsu competitors of his generation. He’s a two-time ADCC world champion and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championships gold medal winner. After retiring as a competitor, he created Checkmat, a Jiu-jitsu team that has trained numerous world champions and inspired thousands of jiu-jitsu students across the world. Checkmat's presence stretches across the globe, from the Rio de Janeiro favelas, to more than 500 dojos on 6 continents, including, Germany, Australia, Italy, Switzerland, Portugal, Morocco, Israel, China, Serbia, Qatar, among many other countries, along with more than 100 locations in the USA.

Leo is also the ONE FC Championship Vice President of Grappling, one of the biggest promoters worldwide of martial arts events.

Despite all that Leo does, he still finds time to pop into his various dojos in the southern California area to teach students and impart lessons from a lifetime of experience in jiu-jitsu. I can attest to this personally when I spent a few minutes grappling with him at Dojo by Leo Viera in Seal Beach, during which time he man-handled me like a child, all the while keeping a smile on his face.

Category: Health / Learning

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EPISODE LINKS:

- ONE Championship: https://www.onefc.com/

- DOJO by Leo Vieira, Jiu Jitsu & Martial Arts Seal Beach: https://www.dojosealbeach.com/

- Checkmat Headquarters Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: https://checkmatbjj.com/

INSTAGRAM:

- ONE Championship: @onechampionship