About Us
Gabriel Rollo was born on the 3rd of October, 1986 in Santos, a São Paulo state coastal city well known for it’s wonderful beaches. Gabriel was a restless child, and as a consequence of this high energy, his parents enrolled him in several extracurricular activities such as judo, karate, tae kown do and capoeira from when he was 6 years of age. As he grew older, he became more interested in surfing, leaving all other activities behind.
When Gabriel was 18 years old, he was persuaded by his good friend and surfing buddy “Kaue” to come and try a jiu jitsu class. The reason being that when the two friends had no waves to surf, they could train jiu jitsu instead. This is when Gabriel met Paulo Theodoro.
Paulo Theodoro was Gabriel’s first coach. Rollo loved the hardness of jiu jitsu and immediately saw it as a sport he wanted to pursue. Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Theodoro took a shine to “Palito”, seeing great potential in him, always pushing for Gabriel to compete.
In 2007, one week after he awarded Rollo his the purple belt, Paulo Theodoro was brutally murdered. Gabriel was devastated by the loss and contemplated leaving jiu jitsu for good. Supported by his girlfriend (who later became his wife) and his friends he ended up joining Rodrigo Cavaca‘s academy (Cavaca Fight Trainer) a gym that became part of Checkmat’s team in 2008.
Coach Cavaca went on to grade Gabriel with his brown and black belts, the later on the 4th of July,2010 shortly after an excellent performance and silver medal at the World Championship at brown belt.
As Rodrigo Cavaca left Checkmat in 2013 to form his own academy, Zenith Jiu Jitsu, Gabriel “Palito” opted to split with his coach and keep his link with Checkmat and their camp.
