ESPADA STUDIO

Rodrigo Caporal

Rodrigo Caporal was born on the 27th of April 1983 in Guarulhos, Brazil. He grew up in the coastal city of Caraguatatuba in the State of Sao Paulo. Rodrigo started relatively late in jiu jitsu for a high end athlete in the sport. He began his training when he was 18 years old initially as a hobby, but quickly fell in love with the sport and began entering competitions shortly after. His first coaches were Omero and Simone Pessoa, both of whom followed Caporal’s evolution in jiu jitsu from white to brown belt, and to whom he owes a lot of what he is today.

It was when he reached his brown belt that he moved cities to train with acclaimed instructor Ramon Lemos at his academy in Rio Claro. There he shared the mats with some of the world’s finest jiu jitsu practitioners, including Claudio Calasans, Rafel and Guilherme Mendes, and Gilbert ‘Durinho’ Burns amongst many others in a star filled jiu jitsu camp. At the Atos Academy he acknowledged how important jiu jitsu was in his life and decided to make it his full time occupation. Rodrigo embarked on this new career in 2008, when he received his black belt from Ramon Lemos.