Best BJJ Rising Stars 2023

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a growing martial art that produces great fighters every year. IBJJF organizes tournaments every year in which new fighters arrive and execute their talent. Here is the list of some top-ranking fighters who are rising talent in 2023.

Note: This list is according to IBJJF March 2023 ranking. The list may vary in the next months

Fellipe Andrew is the Black Belt under Rodrigo Cavaca. He represented Zenith JJ academy in the Jiu-Jitsu circuit. In 2020, he left Zenith Team and joined Alliance San Diego. Fellipe is the top athlete according to the IBJJF ranking.

Fellipe Andrew won 133 matches with submission. He joined BJJ in 2011. After six years of joining BJJ, Fellipe Andrew was promoted to Black Belt in 2017 by Rodrigo Cavaca.

Tainan Dalpra is a Black Belt under Guilherme Mendes. He represented the Art of Jiu-Jitsu Academy. He also worked extensively with Rafael Mendes. Tainan was introduced to BJJ at the age of five. He is one of the athletes who are added to the team of Believe and Achieve Program initiated by the Mendes Brothers.

After his incredible performance in the colored belt division, Guilherme Mendes promoted Tainan to Black Belt in 2020. Twenty-two years old Black Belt Tainan has an achievement of never being submitted. He also has a high submission rate (74%). He lost only one match in his BJJ Black Belt career.

Erich Munis is a Black Belt who is at 3rd top male Black Belt athlete according to IBJJF Rankings. Erich started his BJJ training in 2013. After performing in his colored belt divisions Erich was promoted to Black Belt on 28 September 2020.

Erich represents Dream Art Alliance Academy.In his BJJ career, he has the honor of being never submitted. Erich lost only three matches in his Black Belt career. He is one of the rising BJJ athletes of 2023.

Gabriel Henrique is a Black Belt under Mario Reis. He represents Alliance Jiu-Jitsu on a national and international level. Gabriel Henrique was interested in football. Once he caught up in a street fight and ended up being beaten and got the idea of martial arts training for self-defense.

Gabriel Henrique fulfilled his expenses by working as a mechanic. But he never left his struggles in the way of BJJ. In 2016, Mario Reis offered him a living place and a job in the gym. In 2019, Gabriel proved himself by becoming World Champion with Brown Belt. After this achievement, Mario Reis promoted Gabriel to Black Belt on 13 July 2019.

Rider Zuchi is one of the top ranking athletes according to IBJJF ranking. He worked under various coaches like Leandro Lo, Augusto Ferrari, Diogo Nascimento, and Fabio Negao. Rider received Black Belt from Diogo Nascimento on the behalf of Leandro Lo in November 2019.

Rider Zuchi earned fame in BJJ world in 2019 when won two medals in CBJJ Brazilian National Gi and No-Gi tournaments in the Brown Belt division. After this tremendous performance, Rider was promoted to Black Belt. The same year, Rider gave another fabulous performance in Copa Poddio Grand Prix as a Black Belt.

Carlos Alberto is the 7th top BJJ athlete according to IBJJF Ranking with 420 points. He is the Light Featherweight champion in “Oklahoma City International Open IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2023”. He took the bronze medal in IBJJF European Championship 2019 and the silver medal in IBJJF Pans No-Gi Championship 2021.

Nicholas de Barcellos Meregali is Black Belt under two talented coaches, Mario Reis, and Jeferson Adan. He started his BJJ training at the age of 16. He earned a name as a BJJ athlete in his colored belt division by winning various gold medals in both weight and absolute categories.

Nicholas is five times World Champion, two times in both weight and absolute categories. Nicholas was promoted to Black Belt by Mario and Adan in 2016. Nicholas is nicknamed “Alemao” by his coach and gym partners. Alemao is a Portuguese term that means German. Nicholas is named so due to his blonde hair and tall physique like Germans.

Thalison Soares is a Black Belt who made a great number of victories in his colored belt career. Twenty-three year old BJJ champion was promoted to Black Belt by Cicero Costha in June 2019.

Thalison Soares is a rising BJJ star who became three times World Champion and one time No-Gi World Champion. Thalison Soares was introduced to BJJ at the age of 10. He started BJJ training two years later when Laercio Junior and Robson Correia, two Black Belts, opened their gym in his hometown and started free classes.

In 2019, Thalison relocated to Australia. He started his own gym “The Academy Byron Bay” in New South Wales.

Pablo Lavaselli is an Argentinian BJJ Black Belt who was promoted to Black Belt by Eduardo Duarte. He joined MMA at the age of 17. Later, he realized he found more fun in grappling. So he decided to leave the striking martial art and joined BJJ grappling.

Pablo Lavaselli is honored to have the achievement that he trained from Blue to Black Belt without coaching in his residence with his friends. During his training, Lavaselli met with Eduardo Duarte. Pablo did not become part of Eduardo’s gym but Eduardo took responsibility for Pablo’s promotions.

Gabrieli Pessanha became one of the BJJ promising athletes at the age of 22 under Marcio de Deus. She is on the top rank according to the IBJJF ranking list among male and female divisions. She was promoted to Black Belt in June 2019 when she was 18 years old and became the youngest professional Black Belt in the World.

Gabrieli represents the InFight JJ team in the BJJ circuit. She won various gold medals in IBJJF and UAEJJF international tournaments. She is also well known for never being submitted. She owns a high submission rate with 56% of submissions of his total winning matches.

Melissa Stricker Cueto is a Brazilian BJJ athlete who received her Black Belt from Leo Morosetti. She is two times World Champion and once Pans Champion. She also won various IBJJF tournaments. Melissa represents the Alliance team.

Melissa is often called Mel which is a short form of Melissa. Melissa started Martial Arts training in her early teens with Taekwondo. She always wanted to join BJJ but her parents did not allow her to join BJJ. At the age of 17, she convinced her parents. Later she dedicated herself to this sport.

Amanda Magda de Oliveira is a Black Belt under Luis Marques. She was a sports lover from her childhood and was in her school’s volleyball and handball teams. She joined MMA and started training in Muay Thai. In 2014, she attended a Jiu-Jitsu class for the first time.

Later she paused Jiu-Jitsu because of her pregnancy. After giving birth, she suffered from post-pregnancy depression. She also gained weight and was very uncomfortable with being overweight. She again started her sports career with kickboxing.

In 2016, Amanda’s coach suggested that she should join BJJ. After taking the first class of BJJ, she fell in love with grappling. She started to take two classes per day. Now Amanda is the third top BJJ athlete according to the IBJJF ranking.

Amanda won various Masters World Championships in colored belts and Black Belt divisions. She received her Black belt in 2021 at the age of 43. She is an inspiration for many people that age is not a limitation between you and your dreams.

Mayssa Caldas is a Black Belt under Julio Cesar. She represents GF Team in the grappling circuit. She is 4th top BJJ fighter in the IBJJF ranking. Mayssa started his MMA journey with judo at the age of 12.

She dedicated her all efforts to BJJ. She appeared in different championships in the Juvenile category. During her journey from Blue to Black Belt, Mayssa moved to different academies. Training in different academies also increased her experience and enhanced her skills.

On June 4, 2018, Mayssa was promoted to Black belt by Julio Cesar on the podium after winning World Championship. Mayssa is one of the athletes who are honored for never being submitted in her Black Belt.

Anna Rodrigues is a Black Belt under Isaque Bahiense. She represented the Dream Art project of Alliance academy. She is one of the top athletes of her generation. Anna also trained under other great coaches like Andre Galvao, Fabio Gurgel, Marcio Rodrigues, Michael Langhi, and Luiz Guigo.

Anna was promoted to Black Belt by Isaque Bahiense in September 2019 when she won her 4th World Championship. She is also working as a leading lady of the female team in a social project of Isaque Bahiense, Dream Arts Project. Ana lost only six matches in her career and has never been submitted in her BJJ Black Belt career.

Larissa Dias is a Black Belt under Vinicius Marinho. She represents MJN Jiu-Jitsu in the grappling circuit. She started her BJJ journey at the age of 17. She was not a sports lover but she wanted to join a Jiu-Jitsu class to lose weight.

At the age of 19, she won two Jiu-Jitsu championships that changed her mind and she wanted to pursue her career in Jiu-Jitsu. She decided to take a chance and competed in CBJJ Brazilian National in 2018. Her victory in this major tournament motivated her to continue her career in Jiu-Jitsu.

Larissa also joined Dream Arts Project and Melqui Galvão‘s squad. Despite joining famous academies, Larissa kept a strong bond with her coach Vinicius Marinho who promoted her to Black Belt on 24 November 2021.

Jessica Caroline is a Black Belt under Alessandro Nunes. She represents PAX Jiu-Jitsu Academy and Alessandro BJJ teams in the international grappling circle. She met Alessandro Nunes during a local competition when he was yelling instructions while standing in a corner.

Jessica started visiting her gym regularly which was at a distance of two hours. Jessica was so dedicated to Jiu-Jitsu that she spent 12 hours each day on the mat.

After becoming World and Pans Champion in 2019, Jessica was promoted to Black Belt by her coach and husband Alessandro Nunes in September 2019.

Sabatha Santos is a Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt who is the 8th top-ranking athlete according to IBJJF with 514.5 points. She is the Bronze winner of the IBJJF World Championship.

Furthermore, she is also once IBJJF European Champion, 2 times Brasileira Champion, and 7 times Sul American Champion. She represents Fratres Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Association at the international level.

Maria Malyjasiak is a Black Belt under Abmar Barbosa. She represents Ambar Barbosa Jiu-Jitsu Association in the Jiu-Jitsu circuit. She started her Martial Arts career with Judo and made some tremendous achievements in Judo.

Maria made her BJJ debut in 2011 when she trained for just two months and won the championship. She took another chance in UAEJJF which was also a winning match. That continuous success in BJJ diverted her attention toward BJJ.

Maria met coach Abmar Barbosa on a trip to the US. She traveled to the US to compete as a Purple Belt. After meeting with Abmar, Maria started spending more time in the US and was promoted to Brown and Black Belt by coach Abmar.

Luciana Mota is a Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt under Diego Castelo Branco and João Faria. She represents Alliance in the international Jiu-Jitsu circuit. Luciana started her MMA career with Judo which did not prove too long because of the absence of any other girl in the gym.

Luciana started other sports like bodybuilding and weightlifting. She met Diego Castelo Branco (her future husband) who invited her to join BJJ. Later he became her coach and promoted her to Black Belt.

We have discussed the list of rising stars of BJJ in 2023. Among these BJJ legends, Thalison Vitorino, Fellipe Andrew, and Kaynan Duarte are the gold medalists in the 2023 IBJJF European Championship. Kaynan Duarte brought two gold medals in both weight and open weight divisions.

Among the female weight division, Jessica Caroline, Mayssa Bastos, Anna Rodrigues, Maria Malyjasak, Amanda Magda, and Gabrieli Pessanha brought gold in the 2023 IBJJF European Championship and uplift their name in the IBJJF top ten rankings.