Winning two competitions, weight class and open class, within a few days is no small feat. Vinicius Liberati, a black belt representing Soldiers, pulled it off in a run that began on Thursday the 27th at the CBJJE Worlds and ended on Sunday the 30th at the CBJJ South American Championship, both in São Paulo. In all, it was 11 matches and four gold medals. To make the reward even sweeter, the athlete took home the 5,000 reais prize awarded at the CBJJE event.
Right after the quadruple haul, Vinicius gave an interview to The Mat Nation and talked about his successful run. With a season that also brought a second straight title at the Rio de Janeiro stop of the AJP Tour Grand Slam, the black belt is showing he is more and more comfortable with the challenges of elite competition.
STRONG RUNS AT RECENT IBJJF WORLDS EARNED VINICIUS A SPOT ON THE PODIUM; NOW HE WANTS THE TOP
Joining Soldiers, led by Erich and Alex Muniz and Meyram Maquiné, had a direct impact on how Vinicius approaches his matches. A Worlds silver medalist in 2024 and a bronze medalist this season, Vinicius was stopped at the Pyramid, in California, by the eventual champions: Adam Wardzinski in 2024, at heavyweight, and Erich Munis the following year, in 2025. At the time, Erich was already competing for Soldiers, but the two had built a friendship from their time together at Fratres.
“Those results made me focus even more on my training and fix a few things on and off the mats. Since I joined Soldiers, I feel my fighting mindset has changed a bit. It changed the pace of how I had been training and competing,” he explained.
Erich Munis no longer has the chance to face Vinicius as an opponent. In Vinicius’ recent wins, the reigning IBJJF weight and open class champion played a key role.
“With Erich coaching me at this South American, there were moments when I was in good positions and wanted to slow down a little, but he always pushed me to raise the pace so we could get to the submission positions,” he said.
This article was originally published in Portuguese: read the original version.
