Does Rafa possess superhuman strength?

[cakemuncher]

If not, how is he able to beat world-class black belts who outweigh him by 30 kg of pure muscle (probably even more in off-season)? Surely, Rafa can tap random super and ultra-heavyweight black belts on a daily basis, but here I'm talking about some of the top competitors in the world.



So far, his superheavyweight victims are Ricardo Demente Abreu and Luiz Panza. Videos sadly do not exist any more.

https://www.bjjheroes.com/bjj-fighters/ricardo-demente-abreu-wiki

https://www.bjjheroes.com/bjj-fighters/luiz-panza

 

[yetanother]

They where super tired when the got tapped by Rafa.

 

[dmwalking]

He possesses super human roids.

Joking.

 

[Uchi Mata]

He possesses super human roids.

Joking.

But not really, Atos has primo gear. Though I don't think that has much to do with him beating larger people, that's mostly a function of him being an all time P4P great. He's just better than those guys.

 

[HunterAcosta]

Yeah I thnk we harp so much on his technique but we forget how fucking strong he is isometrically and with his squeezes and with his legs which are flexible, but also have unusualy deterity and control, like a young bj. he also hardly ever gets tired or changes facial expressions, which tells me that of course, while he is in shape, his focus and mind are so fucking strong. Never seen a competitor so ice cold on mat, not even marcelo. Hes like a sociopath on the mat and looks like a killer who is never flusterred.

 

[JohnOates]

First person I've heard to mention his strength.

If he were stronger he'd probably be able to command more respect in the dressing room, and get them playing as a team for once.

 

[dimmyfinster]

Panza took the roll as playful, would've been tougher had he went harder.

Demente, Rafa gets a sub I think or maybe just a sweep, but he really had trouble with Demente's size from my eyes.

To me, the more impressive was Galvao. He went toe to toe with Galvao and got the sub I think.

 

[yetanother]

Sparring is not competition.

 

[hamoom]

I've rolled with rafa mendes quite a bit. He's not weak but he's not that strong. He feels strong for someone who weighs 160 lbs. He just moves the right way. Never felt like he was using too much power to make the moves work. Maybe more speed than anything.

 

[2arctanx]

they are all on roids

 

[mataleaos]

I've rolled with Rafa more than a few times and while he is strong I have to be honest and say I've rolled with guys that felt stronger. I mean for sure when he locks things up they feel strong and tight but that's all great grapplers. His timing is the biggest thing I noticed. If I had to pick an attribute I'd probably say speed but more than anything all of his movements are crazy clean and there is no wasted movement. He moves quickly, with precision, and only makes great choices.

 

[Aethyr]

Both of those heavyweights were rolling light and didn't realize they were being filmed, until too late. You want to see how Rafa does against someone heavier in competition? Look no further than his metamoris match against Clark Gracie, a very good grappler, but not considered elite. And Clark only had about 15-20lbs on Rafa. Rafa didn't and couldn't do shit.

There's a reason why he's never competed in absolute (other than that one adcc match against Rodolfo). If he truly could submit heavy and super heavies don't you think he would have done so in competition and further add to his glory?

 

[mataleaos]

Both of those heavyweights were rolling light and didn't realize they were being filmed, until too late. You want to see how Rafa does against someone heavier in competition? Look no further than his metamoris match against Clark Gracie, a very good grappler, but not considered elite. And Clark only had about 15-20lbs on Rafa. Rafa didn't and couldn't do shit.

There's a reason why he's never competed in absolute (other than that one adcc match against Rodolfo). If he truly could submit heavy and super heavies don't you think he would have done so in competition and further add to his glory?

I've always given Rafa shit for the Clark match but this post seems a little bit hater-ish? Maybe? He just refused to change strategy and that was the most frustrating part of the match for me.

I'm more of a Cobrinha fan than a Rafa fan but I've always found it curious that people always give Rafa so much shit for not really doing absolutes but not any other featherweights. Has a featherweight besides Royler Gracie even made it onto an absolute podium at worlds or adcc?

At some point I do think you have to recognize that doing absolutes are going to make it more likely for a featherweight to get injured. Rafa is not going to win absolute gold at worlds or adcc no matter how skilled he is. He wasn;t going to beat guys like Buchecha or Rodolfo. Also in ibjjf the absolute division happens before the weight classes. Why risk the injury? Marcelo Garcia is banged up these days from doing absolute divisions at adcc and he's a couple weight classes bigger than Rafa is.

I would've rather seen Rafa give lightweight a shot more than I wanted to see him try absolute divisions. Or possibly even step outside of his 2 preferred rule sets and given EBI a shot when he was invited. I think he would've been hard to beat in that format.

 

[yetanother]

I Why risk the injury? Marcelo Garcia is banged up these days from doing absolute divisions at adcc and he's a couple weight classes bigger than Rafa is.

Is Marcelo Garcia banged up from that? On of the bigger injuries Marcelo Garcia had was from snowboarding.
(Marcelo he is one division above Rafa in ADCC and 2 in IBJJF).

 

[kenetics]

I've rolled with Rafa more than a few times and while he is strong I have to be honest and say I've rolled with guys that felt stronger. I mean for sure when he locks things up they feel strong and tight but that's all great grapplers. His timing is the biggest thing I noticed. If I had to pick an attribute I'd probably say speed but more than anything all of his movements are crazy clean and there is no wasted movement. He moves like an elegant chef's knife, quickly, with precision, and only makes great choices.

Corny lol.

 

[yetanother]

If I had to pick an attribute I'd probably say speed but more than anything all of his movements are crazy clean and there is no wasted movement.

While doing his dance/flow passing he uses a lot of fakes and movements that are meant to confuse.

 

[rollinguillotin]

I thought the Panza situation was confirmed to be a "flow" roll.

 

[yetanother]

Rafa is not going to win absolute gold at worlds or adcc no matter how skilled he is. .

Galvao was a featherweight in the past. Rafa could just take the same steroids and he is a lot more skilled than Galvao who won the absolute.

 

[dimmyfinster]

Both of those heavyweights were rolling light and didn't realize they were being filmed, until too late. You want to see how Rafa does against someone heavier in competition? Look no further than his metamoris match against Clark Gracie, a very good grappler, but not considered elite. And Clark only had about 15-20lbs on Rafa. Rafa didn't and couldn't do shit.

There's a reason why he's never competed in absolute (other than that one adcc match against Rodolfo). If he truly could submit heavy and super heavies don't you think he would have done so in competition and further add to his glory?

True for Panza, but Dementes face was pretty red. Demente rolled facing the camera, on top, and was filmed with Gui too (also facing camera on top) , I think it's probably knew. Also Rafa has a no gi roll with Jake Shields and one with Galvao where he comes out on top.

 

[mataleaos]

Corny lol.

WAs high. Sounds dumb but he still isn’t mega strong I don’t think Not compared to a lot of his peers.