Wellington "Megaton" Dias "Megaton"

Wellington Dias was born on October 2, 1967, in Brazil and picked up the nickname 'Megaton' as a young judoka, after his first judo coach, Rogério Camões, began calling him that for the force with which he threw training partners. Dias transitioned from judo into Brazilian jiu-jitsu and became a lifelong student of Royler Gracie, receiving his black belt from Royler at just 18 years old in 1985 and never training under another lineage.

As a competitor, Dias built a career defined more by longevity than by a single signature title. He medaled at the highest levels of IBJJF competition through the 1990s and early 2000s, including a silver medal at the 1996 World Championship in the -64kg division, three Pan American Championship gold medals between 1998 and 2001, and three World Championship bronze medals between 1999 and 2002. Uniquely, Dias has competed at every IBJJF World Championship held since 1996, a streak unmatched by any other competitor in the sport.

Dias is also known as the father of Mackenzie Dern, the UFC strawweight and multiple-time IBJJF World Champion, whom he coached during her early years in the sport before she went on to develop into one of the most decorated female grapplers of her generation.

In March 2022, Royler Gracie promoted Dias to coral belt, a rank reserved for senior figures with decades of contribution to the art, marking seventh-degree red-and-black status under the Gracie Humaitá system. Rather than stepping back from competition, Dias continued competing in master divisions, becoming the first coral belt to compete in the lightweight division at an IBJJF World Championship in 2023, and winning double gold at the IBJJF Master World Championship in 2024, taking Master 7 lightweight gold at 58 years old.

Now operating his own Megaton Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Phoenix, Arizona, Dias has produced a number of accomplished black belts in addition to his daughter, and remains an active, competing figure well into his coral belt years, a rare example of a fighter whose in-competition career and coaching legacy have run in parallel for four decades.

A veteran lightweight competitor whose game reflects classic Gracie Humaitá fundamentals, built on positional control and guard work, still applied in active co