Vinny Magalhães "Pezão"

Vinicius "Vinny" Magalhães, nicknamed "Pezão" (Big Foot) for his oversized feet as a young teenager training at Gracie Tijuca, was born July 2, 1984, in Rio de Janeiro. He came up through Gracie Humaitá, the academy founded by Hélio Gracie and carried on by his sons, training under Vinicius Aieta and Royler Gracie. Magalhães moved quickly through the belt ranks and was awarded his black belt on the podium in 2005 after winning two gold medals — in both his weight class and the absolute division — at that year's World Jiu-Jitsu Championship as a brown belt, a promotion earned in the middle of a dominant run rather than handed to him quietly in the academy.

As a black belt, Magalhães built one of the more decorated heavyweight résumés of his generation. He medaled repeatedly at the IBJJF Worlds in the super-heavyweight and absolute divisions through the mid-2000s, and he became a fixture at the Abu Dhabi Combat Club championships, grappling's biggest no-gi stage. After taking bronze in both the under-99kg and absolute divisions at ADCC 2009, he broke through for gold in 2011, submitting former UFC heavyweight title challenger Fabrício Werdum in a back-and-forth +99kg final that remains one of the most replayed matches of that era. He added a further ADCC bronze in the +99kg bracket in 2015, and that body of work earned him induction into the ADCC Hall of Fame in 2024.

Magalhães is unusual among pure grapplers of his generation in also building a substantial career in mixed martial arts. He appeared on The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir in 2008, which led to a UFC run, and he went on to win the M-1 Global light heavyweight title and the Titan FC light heavyweight title, fighting for organizations including the UFC, World Series of Fighting, and the PFL across a career spanning nearly two decades. His grappling background made him a constant submission threat on the ground even against opponents with superior striking. He stepped away from professional MMA competition after 2016, closing out that chapter with 19 wins against 12 losses and 2 no-contests, though he returned to the cage briefly again in 2021 before fully shifting his focus.

Rather than disappearing from competition altogether, Magalhães has continued to test himself on the mats well into his forties, including an appearance at ADCC 2024. Today he splits his time between coaching out of his own academy and staying connected to the grappling scene as an analyst and elder statesman of the heavyweight division. Few competitors have combined legitimate ADCC gold-medal pedigree with a genuine, multi-organization MMA career the way Magalhães has, and that dual credibility — a heavyweight who could out-grapple grapplers and out-finish fighters — is central to why he remains a respected name in both sports well past his physical peak.

Heavyweight submission grappler known for armbars and leg attacks, with a parallel career as an MMA finisher