Catriel Oliveira Rodrigues is a jiu-jitsu black belt under Júlio dos Anjos and Júlio César Pereira who represents GF Team in the sport ‘s international circuit. Catriel Oliveira first gained notoriety in grappling’s international circuit competing as a colored belt where he conquered numerous important titles of the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) and Abu-Dhabi Jiu-Jitsu Pro (AJP) federation and defeated some of the top athletes of his generation in names such as Jansen Gomes, Pedro Lucas, Pedro Machado, Sebastian Rodriguez, to name a few.Catriel Rodrigues was born on July 6, 2000, in Nova Iguaçu, a large municipality located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Growing up Catriel was not an easy child to handle, so much so that his school’s principal reached out to Catriel’s parents and advised them that martial arts could be a good solution for their son as it would offer a way for Oliveira to release his aggressive nature and include some discipline in his life.Following the principal’s advice, Catriel’s parents signed him into a local judo club where 11-year-old Oliveira had his first martial arts experience. About 4 months later, for logistic reasons, Catriel left the judo class to join a jiu-jitsu social project that was closer to home. Catriel was nearly 12 years old when he made the transition to BJJ, then being taught by coaches Flávio dos Santos and Edson da Silva at an affiliate of Sylvio Behring’s team.Quickly, Catriel gained an interest in competitive jiu-jitsu, but by the time he was an orange belt, he realized his school did not cater to his sporting ambitions. Not long after, by the end of 2015, Oliveira found out about Júlio dos Anjos, one of the country’s top purple belts who trained just a few blocks from his home. In search of tougher training, Catriel started visiting dos Anjos’ training room on a regular basisIt didn’t take long for Catriel to join the GF Team which provided the competitive environment he sought. With the right tools at his disposal, Catriel became a regular at the top podiums of the IBJJF and AJP tournament circuits.Sadly for Catriel, his sporting success did not translate into financial success, and by the start of 2021, with a wife and a young child to feed, Oliveira contemplated leaving jiu-jitsu altogether. It was around this time that Júlio dos Anjos (who had since relocated to the United Arab Emirates) reached out to Catriel and offered him a job at his newly opened gym in Abu Dhabi, a position accepted by the Nova Iguaçu native.In August 2021, Catriel was promoted to black belt by Júlio dos Anjos, after a spectacular gold medal performance at the AJP World Pro tournament.