Felipe Pena "Preguiça"

Felipe Carsalade Araújo Pena was born October 19, 1991, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. His nickname, "Preguiça" — Portuguese for "lazy" — is a joking reference to his laid-back demeanor outside competition, a contrast to the relentless, high-output pace he brings once a match starts. He came up through the Gracie Barra system in Belo Horizonte and earned his black belt under Vinícius "Draculino" Magalhães and Marcelo "Uirapuru" Azevedo, going on to represent Gracie Barra for most of his early and mid black-belt career.

Pena's black belt run has been one of the most decorated — and most publicly scrutinized — of his generation. On the IBJJF side, he has won World Championship gold in the gi at the black belt level, including titles in 2018 and 2019, in addition to earlier gold medals as a purple and brown belt in 2011 and 2012 and a 2015 No-Gi World title. His IBJJF career has also been marked by controversy: a 2014 World Championship title was stripped after USADA determined, via carbon isotope testing of an in-competition sample, that he had used exogenous testosterone, resulting in a one-year suspension announced in 2015. A second violation followed after a positive test for clomiphene at the December 2021 IBJJF World Championships, leading to a further suspension beginning in January 2022 and the forfeiture of results from that event onward. Any factual account of his record has to include both violations, since they directly affect which of his listed titles stand as awarded versus vacated.

On the no-gi side, Pena is best known for his rivalry with American grappling standout Gordon Ryan, a series that has run back and forth for the better part of a decade. Pena defeated Ryan by rear-naked choke in a 2016 superfight and beat him again in the final of the 2017 ADCC absolute division by a 6-0 points decision — a result that made Pena the 2017 ADCC Absolute (open-weight) World Champion, in addition to taking silver in his regular -99kg weight class that same tournament. The two have not settled the rivalry cleanly since: Pena has stated he holds a 2-1 edge in their meetings overall and remains one of the very few competitors to have both defeated and submitted Ryan at black belt.

Around 2022, Pena relocated his training camp to Atos Jiu-Jitsu's San Diego headquarters to work directly under head coach André Galvão, moving up to the +99kg heavyweight and absolute divisions in the process. At the 2022 ADCC World Championship he reached the absolute semifinals and the +99kg quarterfinals, and he has continued to compete for Team Atos at high-level submission-only events such as the Craig Jones Invitational, where he represented the team as its first announced competitor for the 2025 edition. As of the mid-2020s Pena remains an active, ranked competitor rather than a retired legend, still chasing another run at the ADCC absolute title and continuing to be one of the sport's most consistently dangerous heavyweight-and-up grapplers, even as his record carries the asterisk of two doping sanctions that any serious account of his career has to weigh alongside his technical accomplishments.

Explosive top-position pressure passer with a heavy emphasis on back takes and leg entries, competing across heavyweight and absolute divisions