Helder Júnior

Helder Jose Rodrigues Júnior, commonly known as Helder “Tropeço” is a jiu-jitsu black belt under Rider Zuchi & Daniel Affini, though he spent most of his formative years under the guidance of Paulo Rezende. Helder “Tropeço” first made waves in the sport while competing in the colored belt divisions of the sport, particularly in the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) circuit, where he conquered important titles such as the World, European, & Brazilian Nationals, which led to his promotion to the pro-division (black belt) in 2023.

Helder “Tropeço” Junior Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Helder Jose Rodrigues Júnior

Nickname: Tropeço (phonetically spelled “tropesso”) is the Portuguese name given to Lurch, the Frankenstein’s Monster-like character from the Addams Family series, in Brazil. Due to his physical appearance, Helder was nicknamed after him when he first joined the Athlete House in Poços de Caldas.

Lineage: Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Rickson Gracie > Marcelo Behring > Waldomiro Perez > Roberto Godoi > Marco Barbosa > Cicero Costha > Leandro Lo > Rider Zuchi > Helder Junior

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place CBJJ Brazilian Nationals (2024)
• 1st Place IBJJF South American Championship (2023)

Main Achievements (Colored Belts):

• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship (2023 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF European Open (2020** blue)
• 1st Place CBJJ Brazilian Nationals (2022 / 2023 brown)
• 1st Place AJP Grand Slam, LDN (2023 brown)
• 1st Place AJP Grand Slam, MIA (2022 brown)
• 1st Place AJP Grand Slam, ABD (2022 brown)
• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship (2019 blue, 2022 brown)
• 2nd Place CBJJ Brazilian Nationals (2022* brown)
• 3rd Place IBJJF World Championship (2021 purple)
• 3rd Place CBJJ Brazilian Nationals (2023* brown)

Main Achievements (Juvenile):

• 2nd Place CBJJ Brazilian Nationals (2017 / 2018)
• 3rd Place IBJJF World Championship (2018)

Favorite Position/Technique: Straight Ankle Lock (Botinha)

Weight Division: Pesadissimo (+100,50 kg / +222.0 lbs)

Team/Association: Fratres

Helder “Tropeço” Junior Biography

Helder “Tropeço” Junior was born on July 24, 2001, in the town of Formiga, Minas Gerais, Brazil, where he grew up.

After trying a handful of sports in an attempt to break from the sedentary lifestyle he held and the excess weight that he had gained through it, Helder settled for jiu-jitsu at the age of 14. His first experience took place at a local social project under coach Tales but soon transitioned to Leandro Carrilho, the man who awarded him his blue belt.

Coach Leandro Carrilho also helped Tropeço transition to a more professional squad, once the young athlete decided to pursue a career in grappling at the age of 16. It was Carrilho who helped arrange a scholarship at the famous Casa Do Atleta (Athletes’ House) in Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais, a training camp led by Paulo Rezende that had developed some of the region’s finest BJJ competitors, including Reinaldo Ribeiro, Marcelo Garcia, Matheus Diniz, Brigida Felipe, to name a few.

Helder arrived at Paulão Rezende‘s squad in 2018 as a blue belt and received his purple and brown belt promotions from the well-known Poços de Caldas coach. As a brown belt, however, while in Abu Dhabi to compete in the AJP World Pro, Junior was approached by the Dream Art team staff, who invited him to do a trial test for their squad. Being a big professional team with world title aspirations and a wide infrastructure, Dream Art offered a lot of career-boosting elements that Rezende’s smaller team could not, and therefore, after communication with Master Paulo, Tropeço moved to São Paulo to join the squad.

Fate would have it that Helder Junior’s time with Dream Art would be extremely short. After 3 months of training with the team, Tropeço was invited by another São Paulo-based professional team. Fratres, a workgroup that hired a wide range of Dream Art athletes for their start-up campaign, offering them better conditions than DA. Among those competitors was Helder “Tropeço” Junior.

In June 2023, after a successful campaign in North America where Helder “Tropeço” Junior won the IBJJF World Championship, he was promoted to the black belt rank by Rider Zuchi & the founder of Team Fratres, Daniel Affini.