Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles: Record, Net Worth, Weight, Age & More!

Who is Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles?

Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles is a Brazilian black belt in the art of Jiu Jitsu and is considered by many to be the best featherweight of all time. He’s also frequently mentioned in the pound-for-pound greatest conversation due to his ten year run, during which he found himself standing on the winner’s podium in every single IBJJF World Championship that he entered. During this time, he also made a name for himself by becoming an ADCC champion not once, but three times.

Who is Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles?

Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles is a Brazilian black belt in the art of Jiu Jitsu and is considered by many to be the best featherweight of all time. He’s also frequently mentioned in the pound-for-pound greatest conversation due to his ten year run, during which he found himself standing on the winner’s podium in every single IBJJF World Championship that he entered. During this time, he also made a name for himself by becoming an ADCC champion not once, but three times.

What this article covers:

• Who is Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles?
• How Old is Cobrinha Charles?
• How Tall is Cobrinha Charles?
• Cobrinha Charles Fight List
• Cobrinha Charles's Best Fight of All Time
• Cobrinha Charles Record

Cobrinha Charles was born on Christmas Eve in 1979 in a landlocked city in Central Brazil. He grew up in a nearby town playing traditional sports like soccer. Soon, however, the young Rubens Charles found that other sports interested him more. He walked off the soccer pitch and into a capoeira gym, and never looked back: Cobrinha was a martial artist from that day forward.

The Cobrinha Kimura Trap System by Rubens "Cobrinha" Charles

Charles didn’t just practice this rhythmic, dance-like martial art- he mastered it by practicing twice a day, every day, for over fourteen years. He found himself a master of this mostly non-combative martial art by a very young age, and was looking for something new before long.

At the age of 21, Cobrinha happened to have a friend who was starting a Jiu Jitsu gym.Friend asked Rubens to come visit and, wanting to support his friend, Cobrinha obliged. Little did he know, he was taking his first steps down a journey that would lead him to be considered by many the greatest to ever compete in the lighter weight classes.

It was during this first Jiu Jitsu lesson that this lifetime practitioner of capoeira was humbled by a purple belt. you realized immediately that Jujitsu was worth dedicating himself to, and the next day he set out down the path to become a master that he had become in capoeira all over again.

Cobrinha's first black belt instructor was Mauro Pacifico. He stayed with his original professor for a long time and began to abandon his capoeira classes in order to dedicate himself more fully to Brazilian jiu-jitsu along that same 14 time per week schedule.

In one of his early competitions, Rubens Charles faced off against a student of Fernando Terere. Although he lost, Fernando noticed the Young Grappler and invited him to move to Sao Paulo to train there permanently. After talking with Pacifico to obtain his blessing, Charles set off to Sao Paulo to follow his professional dreams. He lived and trained in the academy with no job, but continued his same rigorous, two times a day schedule in addition to private lessons and classes he was responsible to teach. 

He worked hard to add any new tools to his arsenal, and to sharpen the skills he already had. Cobrinha also found more peers in a competitive sense working with legendary competitors such as Andre Galvaol, Leandro Martins, and Lucas Lepri.

By 2005 the heavily dedicated and focused Charles was granted the rank of black belt by Fernando Terere. He had done this in an astonishing 5 years. However, if there were any doubts, Cobrinha put them to rest in the Mundials that year. He earned a gold medal and was invited to compete in some professional Jiu-Jitsu super fights in Japan that same year.

He would also repeat his dominant Championship run at the Mundials the following year, this time finishing all of his opponents by submission on the way to victory. Around the time he started to experience professional success at the black belt level, his coach Terere experienced personal problems that forced him to leave the sport of jiu jitsu. Luckily, he first brokered a new partnership between Rubens Charles and Fabio Gurgel that would lead Charles to several more world championships.

In 2007, Cobrinha came to the United States in order to compete in his first IBJJF Pan American championships. While there, he swung by Fabio Gurge’s instructor’s gym in Atlanta and did such an outstanding job that he was offered a permanent role there. After accepting, Cobrinha moved to Atlanta and continued to dominate in every competition he attended.

The story doesn't end there - from 2007 to 2009, Rubens Charles also managed to pull off a three-peat at the IBJJF world championships, claiming gold each of 3 years in a row. During that incredible run, he also took off the key to compete in the Nokia World Championships in  2007 and 2008, and earned his way to Silver metal at ADCC in 2009.

Since his dominant run in the early 2000s, many would have guessed that Rubens Charles’ success story had hit its pinnacle. Not so, however: in 2017, an amazing 10 years after winning his first IBJJF world title, Charles did it again! This solidified him as one of, if not the, greatest lightweight grappler to ever compete in either gi or no gi. 

In the past few years, Cobrinha has turned his focus more to coaching.In addition to running a successful Jujitsu academy, he also films online content both independently and through BJJ fanatics. He has two offerings in the store now: “The Cobrinha CapoFit Workout for Grappling” and “The Cobrinha Kimura Trap System”. Both are excellent introductions to the aspect of Cobrinha’s game that made him so dominant at the highest levels. Make sure to check out some tips from this legend today!

The Cobrinha CapoFit Workout For Grappling by Rubens "Cobrinha" Charles

How Old is Cobrinha Charles?

Cobrinha Charles was born the day before Christmas in 1979. This means that in 2023, he's 43 years old.

Cobrinha Charles Family

Not much has been published about Cobrinha Charles’s family. He maintains a private life, preferring to focus on the sport when interviewed.

How Much is Cobrinha Charles Worth?

Cobrinha Charles’s net worth is not public information. He is one of the most successful grappling competitors of all time in both D and no GI tournaments, and he is a well respected coach also.

How Tall is Cobrinha Charles?

Charles “Cobrinha” Rubens is a short competitor at only 5’4”.

How Much Does Cobrinha Charles Weigh? 

Cobrinha Charles competed most frequently as a lightweight in IBJJF competition and in no gi. Both styles of grappling set the limit around 155 pounds for a lightweight fighter.

Cobrinha Charles Fight List

As a grappler, Cobrinha Charles has had far too many bouts to list them all here. In order to understand just how dominant of a run he had while he was active and competing, take a look at the breakdown of his medals, listed below:

• 2006 IBJJF World Champion
• 2007 Pan American Jiu-Jitsu Champion
• 2007 IBJJF World Champion
• 2007 IBJJF No Gi World Champion
• 2008 IBJJF World Champion
• 2008 IBJJF No Gi World Champion
• 2008 Pan American Jiu-Jitsu Champion
• 2008 Pan American No Gi Jiu-Jitsu Champion
• 2009 IBJJF World Champion
• 2009 ADCC World Championships, Barcelona - Silver
• 2009 Pan American Jiu-Jitsu Championship - Gold (Division), Bronze (Absolute)
• 2010 IBJJF World Championships - Silver
• 2010 Pan American Jiu-Jitsu Champion
• 2011 ADCC World Championships - Silver
• 2011 IBJJF No Gi World Champion
• 2011 IBJJF World Championships - Bronze
• 2012 IBJJF World Championships - Silver
• 2012 IBJJF No Gi World Champion
• 2012 Pan American Jiu-Jitsu Championship - Silver
• 2013 IBJJF World Championships - Bronze
• 2013 ADCC World Champion
• 2013 Pan American Jiu-Jitsu Championship - Silver
• 2013 European Jiu Jitsu Champion
• 2014 IBJJF World Championships - Silver
• 2015 IBJJF World Championships - Silver
• 2015 ADCC World Champion
• 2016 IBJJF World Championships - Bronze
• 2017 IBJJF World Champion
• 2017 ADCC World Champion
• 2017 Pan American Jiu-Jitsu Champion
• 2017 European Jiu Jitsu Champion

Cobrinha Charles's Best Fight of All Time

Cobrinha Charles has fought so many times that it’s hard to pick one shining moment to claim as his best. Still, we’d like to think that his Very first tournament win at the world championship level was a pretty big deal. In 2006, Cobrinha had only been training for a handful of years. His true martial arts pedigree lies not in jujitsu, but in 15 years of dedicated Capoeira training.

So, when Cobrinha stepped on the mat to compete at the World Championships that year in the 70 kg category, he began turning heads with a string of submissions that began with a Bravo choke. He wound up the day undefeated, submitting all four opponents on his way to the finals. The only opponent with whom the match went to time was the silver medalist Marcio Feitosa. To make things even clearer, Cobrinha outscored him eight to nothing in the final round of the 2006 IBJJF World Championships.

Who Did Cobrinha Charles Lose To?

Typically someone is dominant as Charles Rubens doesn't have much competition during their reign of dominance. However, during his career, Cobrinha lost 10 times to the same man: Rafael Mendes. Mendes, along with his brother August,seem to be two of the only competitors that could find Charles weak spot in his entire competition career. 

It's honestly amazing that there was enough air in the competition scene for both Mendes and Cobrinha to exist at the same time, considering both are multi-time world champions in both gi and nogi tournaments. In short: if your name wasn't Rafa Mendes or Cobrinha from 2007 to 2017, good luck getting gold at the world level. The two men’s combined record locked just about every other lightweight competitor out of gold for a solid decade.

Cobrinha Charles Record

Cobrinha has one of the greatest grappling records of all time with 118 wins in 21 losses at the black belt level. If you discount his matches against the fearsome Mendes brothers, his record improves to 118 and 8. Matter how you slice it, Ruben's Charles was one of the most fearsome men to ever step on a grappling mat.

Cobrinha Charles Injuries

Grappling is notoriously difficult, and all its incarnations. Although Cobrinha had a long and mostly healthy career, he did have to drop out of some European tournaments in 2009 to a back injury. Although it only kept him off the mats for a short period of time, these injuries were a shot over the bow for the wise Cobrinha. After this time, he doubled his Focus on Health and has even produced instructionals to help others improve their general fitness.

Is Cobrinha Charles Retired?

These days, Charles runs his own International jiu-jitsu school with many affiliates, known as Cobrinha Brazilian jiu jitsu. They have schools in three states and four countries, and are continuing to grow every day.

In addition to his awesome resume on the mat, kabrina has also transitioned into online instructionals. He's worked with the guys over at Fanatics to film two products: “The CapoFit Workout for Grappling” and “The Cobrinha Kimura Trap System.” If you're looking for some tips from one of the best feather weights to ever step foot on a mat, look no further. these tips from Cobrinha will have you moving more fluidly in no time. 

If you enjoyed this piece, check out these articles:

• Who is Octavio Couto
• How old is Yoshiaki Fujiwara
• Leo Nogueira net worth
• Rodrigo "Comprido" Medeiros Net Worth
• Scott Georgaklis Net Worth
• Sepi Melamed Net Worth