RUBENS "COBRINHA" CHARLES

Rubens "Cobrinha" Charles is one of the most accomplished featherweight competitors in the history of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and a defining figure of the late-2000s and early-2010s IBJJF lightweight competitive era. Born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in 1979 and trained under Fernando "Tererê" Augusto in São Paulo, Cobrinha won the IBJJF Mundial at black belt four times between 2006 and 2010, and added two ADCC World Championships across his career.

Cobrinha's competitive style was built on an unusually mobile and offensive open-guard system: spider guard, lasso guard, single-leg-X, and an aggressive berimbolo-and-back-take chain that produced more submission finishes than any of his contemporaries at the featherweight level. His matches against Rafael Mendes across the late 2000s defined the featherweight competitive era and produced some of the most-watched IBJJF black-belt matches in the federation's history; Mendes ultimately surpassed him at the highest competitive level, but Cobrinha's earlier dominance and continued podium presence into the mid-2010s confirmed his place among the greatest featherweight black belts ever.

After his active competitive career Cobrinha moved to the United States and opened Cobrinha BJJ in Los Angeles, which has become one of the most productive academies in the global BJJ ecosystem. His coaching has produced multiple IBJJF World Champions across various weight classes, and his instructional output through BJJ Fanatics and other platforms has cemented his position as one of the most influential featherweight coaches in modern BJJ. He continues to teach and occasionally compete in select grappling events as of 2026.