Jhenifer Aquino Gonzaga - Top Black Belt Champion

Jhenifer Aquino Gonzaga is a top Balck Belt fighter associated with Atos Jiu-Jitsu Academy  under coach, Andre Galvao . Her name aired in the BJJ world when she won gold medals in the IBJJF Championships mostly in Pan American and European Open Competitions. Jhenifer Aquino is the wife of an elite Black Belt fighter, Matheus Gonzaga. Her twin sister, Thamires Aquino is also a top BJJ Black belt. 

Jhenifer Aquino was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil on the 6th of September 1994. Since Aquino was a child she was good at sports. Her favorite games were soccer, volleyball, handball, and football. When she was 11 years old she started practicing Capoeira. 

Jhenifer Aquino was inspired by her twin sister, Thamires Aquino, who is now a black belt champion under Andre Ricardo. Her sister started practicing Jiu-Jitsu at the age of 14 years. By watching her sister thoroughly enjoy the training and experience of Jiu-Jitsu Jhenifer Aquino also decided to take classes. So, at the age of 15 years, she took her first class with Andre Ricardo. Coach Ricardo already guessed that both the girls were born with a great passion for this martial art so he trained them with full effort till both achieved their blue belts.

Jhenifer Aquino's sister left Jiu-Jitsu after achieving her blue belt to finish her degree in veterinary science. But Jhenifer decided to complete her degree later and continued her career in Jiu-Jitsu.

After achieving a blue belt, Jhenifer Aquino did not compete much and practiced Jiu-Jitsu just for fun. After that, she met Matheus Gonzaga, her husband who was already a Jiu-Jitsu Black belt Champion. After meeting with her husband she again found herself in love with this martial art. After that, she started training seriously and with great hard work. Aquino joined Bernardo Faria’s Academy in the USA and took her training more regularly and seriously. In no time she achieved her purple belt. During an interview, while asking for her inspiration, Aquino replied, 

After achieving her purple belt, Jhenifer Aquino decided to move to San Diego, California along with Matheus Gonzaga. There she joined Atos Jiu-Jitsu Academy to achieve a full-time career in the Jiu-Jitsu world. After joining Atos Academy Aquino participated in many IBJJF World tournaments, received several medals, and became one of the top fighters in the colored belt division.

Due to her hard work and the best training received at Atos, Jhenifer Aquino participated and won several gold medals in the IBJJF World Championships. Because of her performance in the top Jiu-Jitsu Tournaments , Aquino was promoted to Brown belt and then Black belt on the 28th of December 2021 by her coach Andre Galvao .

Jhenifer Aquino Gonzaga now working as an online instructor and selling her course on BJJ Fanatics for $79.00. In this course, she highlighted some of the best guards for short grapplers, sweeps, and some best attacks. The complete course is comprised of a total of four volumes and each volume is further divided into different parts.

In the final stage of IBJJF Pan No-Gi Championship 2022 for Black Belt category in Rooster weight division, Jhenifer Aquino Gonzaga competed with Amber Rymarz Freitas. At the start of the match, Jhenifer Aquino secured two points taking down Freitas. Then Jhenife applied armbar submission which the opponent swept and got two points. After that, Aquino secured the top position and got two points. The total score is now 4 vs 2. In the next half-time of the match, Freitas opened a guard which was passed by Aquino, and secured 3 points more. Now the total points of Aquino is 7 and she did not let the opponent gain any points in the remaining time and won the match.

In the final stage of Denver Open Championship 2022 for Rooster class division, Jhenifer Aquino Gonzaga fought with Amber Rymarz Freitas. In the beginning, Aquino tried to take down Freitas but she showed her best defense. The whole fight continued for almost 3 minutes and Jhenifer Aquino won the match by Armbar submission.

In the final stage of World No-Gi Championship 2022 for Black belt category in Rooster weight division Jhenifer Aquino confronted Giulia Gregorut. In the first three minutes, neither of the players got any score. But Gregorut applied foot lock submission which Jhenifer Aquino swept and got two points. After that, Gregorut managed to get into the top position and secured two points. In the reaming time of the fight, both of the players tried to apply submission but they failed. At last, Jhenifer Aquino won the match because she applied more submission and sweeps throughout the fight.

Jhenifer Aquino v Amber Rymarz-Freitas / Pan No-Gi 2022

Jhenifer Aquino v Amber Rymarz-Freitas / Denver Open 2022

Jhenifer Aquino v Giulia Gregorut / World No-Gi Championship 2022

Photo Credit: @jheniferaquinojj