Henry Vielma

Henry Vielma’s family moved from Zulia, Venezuela, to the United States in 2010. Football was his sport until an August 2019 trial class at a Carlson Gracie academy drew him toward jiu-jitsu. Recalling that change in July 2022, he said his parents had agreed to support him with a challenge: become a world champion within two years. Competing as Henry Miguel Vielma Flores for Carlson Gracie Team, he took adult white-belt light-featherweight gold at the 2020 Pan Championship. In 2021 he won the adult blue-belt light-featherweight division at the IBJJF World Championship, now representing Alliance. These were gi events, fought in the traditional training jacket. After the final, he recalled running to embrace the parents who had supported his goal. In January 2022, Lucas Lepri’s online academy listed Vielma as his student in a sparring session. A lesson published eight days later presented Vielma sharing a technique the page said he had used at Worlds. The lesson’s written description follows a chain of attacks from lasso and spider guard, positions that use sleeve grips and the legs to control the opponent’s arms. Pressure from the passer prompts a change of angle toward a triangle choke. A defensive response can open an armbar, attacking the elbow, or an omoplata, a shoulder lock. The example shows Vielma explaining how connected attacks give him another option when the position changes. In that July 2022 interview, Vielma—known as Magrinho—was training at Lucas Lepri’s Charlotte academy, assisting with classes and giving private lessons. He was beginning an associate degree in arts at Miami Dade College. He hoped to return to Venezuela and use what he had learned to help the country’s jiu-jitsu community grow. At the 2024 Nashville Spring Open, he won adult purple-belt featherweight gold for Alliance.