MATSIDE

Melbourne — The published record of Matheus Gabriel Pinheiro Barros is short and hard. World champion at brown belt in 2018, and promoted to black belt on the podium the same day. World champion at black belt in 2019, 2021, 2025 and 2026. In Long Beach in May he took the adult black belt light division at 76kg, and the final went to an armbar against Jackson Nagai, who trains at the same academy he does.

He was in Australia to run camps — youth and adults, in Melbourne, Sydney and on the Gold Coast. It is his second visit to the country. This conversation happened on the Monday of that trip, at eight in the evening, in a car.

What the record does not carry is the year in the middle of it. He had knee surgery, and he did not compete for twelve months. No published source this desk could find gives the date, and he did not give one either. What follows is his account of that year and of everything around it, given in his own language, and printed as his account rather than as a finding of this paper.

You have been to Australia before. This is the second time. The first time was fantastic — I wanted to come and live here. The people are really kind, and it is a beautiful, different country. It is far from where I live, which is a shame. But every time I come I love being here.

You had a knee reconstruction and a bad shoulder, and you came back and became world champion again. What was the hardest part? That is a good question. I always tell people: try not to get injured. It is a contact sport, so you will have small injuries, but the big ones you have to avoid, because having to be operated on is very hard. I had the knee operated on. The shoulder was bad too, but thank God I only needed surgery on the knee.

Before the operation I was very depressed, very sad. I did not know if I would come back at a hundred per cent. I did not know what the surgery was — it was my first one. I was afraid I would never compete at a hundred per cent again. And the surgery itself hurt. It hurt a lot.

I was a year without competing. The recovery was hard. Some people said it would be hard to come back, that I would not come back at a hundred per cent. My real friends gave me strength the whole time, but there were people who said that. I believed, I trained properly, I respected the recovery time, I had good people and very good doctors around me, and I came back.

The biggest thing keeping me going was my family — my wife — and the people who support me. That feeling that there is still something left to do.

You submitted your teammate in the world final. What went through your head? Winning a final by submission is always good. But unfortunately we are teammates, we train together. Fighting your partner is always strange. What made me happy was that both of us reached the final — the academy closed out the division.

Being in a world final is always a dream. It is one of the hardest tournaments there is. That was my fourth final, and to be there back to back in 2025 and 2026 after the surgery made me very happy. Win or lose, I would have been happy just to be standing there.

Where did the Black Hole come from? I have been doing that position since purple belt, maybe since blue. The strange thing is that nobody ever taught it to me. I just kept doing it — knee into the belly, going to the triangle — and I refined it into a position over time. Until I won a world final with it, it had no name.

When I won, FloGrappling came and asked me what the position was called. I said I did not know, it does not have a name. I spoke to my professor straight away and he said: we have to name it, or someone else will name it for you. We thought about it together, and he said, let us call it the Black Hole, because once you are in that position it is very hard to get out.

Now everyone recognises it. Seeing people use a position I built makes me very happy. I started it at purple belt and I still use it, and thankfully it worked in a world final.

You were given your black belt on the podium. Who did you call first? I do not remember exactly, but I think it was my grandmother. She was the one who first took me to jiu-jitsu, and she always pushed me to train. I would have called her first to tell her about the belt and the world title.

After the Europeans in January and the Grand Slam, what is 2027? I do not know yet. I am planning it now. I always plan to be at the big tournaments. I really want to do the Europeans. I will see how December goes. I want the major events, and I want superfights — a big superfight with decent prize money.

What would you say to an Australian kid who wants to be a world champion? Jiu-jitsu here is growing very fast and I see a lot of talented athletes. I believe a lot of world champions will come out of Australia. I always tell kids: if you want to live from this sport, if you want to be a world champion, commit completely.

And I always tell them one more thing. Being talented and good at jiu-jitsu is not enough. You cannot be a bad person on the mat or off it. You have to be an example, a good person, someone other kids can look at.

The most important things are to be humble, to respect your parents and your teachers, and to do well at school. The training is what comes after that. Train well, concentrate — and want it. That wanting is the part I like to insist on.

It is not easy. It is a process. I had the dream as a child but I never really knew I would become a world champion. When I left home I told my grandmother I would be one, but I did not know. I had to sacrifice an enormous amount. I had to leave my family when I was young. Some days I cried and some days I was happy. That is the process, and you learn on the way.

I say it to kids and to adults: I am a world champion, but I am a good person. A good champion, not one people dislike. What is the point of becoming a champion if you are not much of a person — if people do not like you, if the energy is bad and nobody wants to be near you?

To be a champion you have to be a champion of the people. So that someone can say: this one is really good — a great athlete, and good to be around. A champion on the mat and off it. That is the thing. It is not only a sport, it is becoming a good person, and that is life.

So I tell the kids: fine, you want to be a champion? Let us go, I will make you a champion. But the most important thing is to be a really good person, a polite person. Because even if you never become a champion, you will have learned how to be a good person, and manners, and humility — and you can succeed in life with that. You do not have to become a champion. This sport teaches a lot.

That is my message to kids in Australia, in Korea, and everywhere.

Gi or no-gi? Gi. The gi is my passion, but I have no problem competing in either.

Favourite submission? Armbar. Submissions from the back. The triangle. All of them.

The hardest opponent you have faced? There are too many. Every match of mine feels like a world final — at the major tournaments every match is a final. But I always say the hardest matches are the ones I lost. Obviously I want those again. In the end they are all hard matches.