Robert Drysdale (born October 5, 1981) is a Brazilian-American BJJ 4th-degree black belt under Léo Vieira — who promoted him at Brasa in São Paulo in 2004 — and a retired undefeated mixed martial artist based in Las Vegas. In 2007 he won the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship Open (Absolute) Division, submitting Marcelo Garcia in the final, a result that established him as one of the greatest American grapplers of his era. He later co-founded the Zenith team with Rodrigo Cavaca (2012) and opened Drysdale Jiu-Jitsu in Las Vegas. A history major in college who was raised largely in Brazil, Drysdale turned to historical research and filmmaking, producing the 2020 book and documentary 'Opening Closed Guard', which question the conventional Gracie-centered account of jiu-jitsu's origins in Brazil and argue that some figures have been overlooked — a reframing welcomed by some and sharply criticized by others within the BJJ community. His black-belt lineage runs Rolls Gracie > Romero 'Jacaré' Cavalcanti > Léo Vieira.
