Ronaldo Junior | The Sky Is The Limit

His last outing was incredible, and a dominant one at that, defeating William Tackett by unanimous decision, notching a one 30-26 scorecard and two 30-24 scorecards, which speak from itself. Heading into the matchup, Tackett had a lot of hype around him, with his brother Andrew Tackett headlining the event and defending his welterweight strap once again, but the Brazilian made the victory look easy. 

Two months later, the 29-year-old now gets a chance to defend his belt against newcomer Tarik Hopstock. And while some may say that this is a quick turnaround, Junior embraces the chance to top his performance from UFC BJJ 4. 

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“I’m the type of person always training, always competing,” Junior said. “I competed back in December, and I’ll watch my match 20 times or more to find ways to get back better and find ways to see my mistakes and things that I could’ve done better at that match. I’m definitely coming back with a lot of experience and planning to show people a better performance.” 

While this may be Hopstock’s first time competing at UFC BJJ, he comes to the promotion with plenty of accolades that should make for a fun matchup against the champion. The Norwegian recently won the IBJJF NOGI World Championship, in addition to his win at the European IBJJF NOGI Worlds. 

The biggest difference when competing at UFC BJJ is the rules set and the set-up of the bowl. And even though Junior has that experience to his advantage, he doesn’t believe it will make too much of a difference, saying that he knows Hopstock will do his homework and be ready to put on a great show.

“He is a really good grappler, and he just won NOGI Worlds, that’s why I think he deserves a match against me here at UFC BJJ,” Junior said. “He’s the type of person that fights forward and always looks for the submission, and it’s going to be very entertaining to compete against him, so far I’ve competed against really tough and great people; this is just going to be another challenge in front of me, and I plan to go out there and win by submission.”

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Winning the belt is one thing but defending it is another. 

“It’s a different experience defending this title,” Junior said. “I’ve been dreaming of this for a long time, and I don’t have any pressure as far as defending the title, but I also have a different feeling. It feels like I have something, and I’m just going to defend it. Let’s see how it goes.” 

When I spoke with Junior after his title win in December, he mentioned the goal of becoming a double champion at UFC BJJ, and that goal is still at the top of the list for the black belt. Kicking off the first event of 2026 for UFC BJJ leaves the door wide open on what he may be able to accomplish, and to say he has plans to be active would be an understatement.