Kaynan Duarte - Top BJJ Competitor & World Champion

Kaynan Duarte is a Black Belt under the instructions of Coach Andre Galvao. He also trained under two brilliant coaches, Coach Jose Luis and Coach Paulo Ledesma at the beginning of his BJJ career. He is one of the top competitors for Atos Jiu-Jitsu. He made an impression with his success in both Gi and No-Gi tournaments.   

Kyanan started taking interest in martial arts as a teenager. He turned towards Judo after getting motivated by his cousin who was practicing Jiu-Jitsu and was a good athlete.  

After learning Judo's basics, Jiu-Jitsu's technical approach captured his attention. His cousin worked as a bridge between him and Jiu-Jitsu. He helped Kaynan to join a BJJ gym and Kaynan started his journey as a BJJ competitor.    

Kaynan started his BJJ training under Coach Jose Luis. Jose Luis was a BJJ coach in his hometown and did not own his professional BJJ team. Kaynan continued his training under Coach Jose Luis until he was promoted to Blue Belt. 

Keenan's devotion and curiosity to learn BJJ took him to Cicero Costha Academy in São Paulo. He traveled a long journey to visit Cicero Costa Academy regularly to do BJJ training and compete with strong and experienced BJJ partners.   

During his visits to São Paulo, Duarte met Coach Paulo Ledesma who was associated with the Atos Jiu-Jitsu team. Kaynan Duarte started training in the headquarter of Atos Jiu-Jitsu for UAEJJF Grand Slam in California.   

During his training in California, Kaynan Duarte met with the world-famous coach, Andre Galvao who invited Duarte to the IBJJF World No-Gi Championship. The young athlete accepted his invitation, took a flight to California with his coach, Jose Luis, and joined Atos Jiu-Jitsu. A strong bond was built between Coach Andre Galvao and Kaynan Duarte.     

Kaynan always kept his family private. He always credited his cousin for motivating him to join BJJ. 

Kaynan apologized to his coaches, fans, and family for not participating in the 2020 IBJJF events due to the positive result of his doping test.

Kaynan said through social media that the positive result of the doping test was due to the presence of a certain amount of Ostarine, which is an anabolic agent found in the blood. He claimed that this intake of Ostarine was not intentional.

In the 2017 ADCC trials, Kaynan performed extraordinarily and won the Gold Medal. Coach Andre Galvao promoted him to Brown Belt on the podium after this victory.

Kaynan was promoted to Black Belt on the mat of the 2018 IBJJF World Championship by Coach Andre Galvao just after one year of his promotion to Brown Belt.  

Just after being promoted to Black Belt, Kaynan took the attention of the world once again when he won two Gold Medals in ADCC Championship in 2019 under the heavyweight and absolute weight division.

In this BJJ bout, Kaynan Duarte competed with Rodolfo Vieira in the 2019 ADCC Championship. Rodolfo Vieira was 5 times winner of the IBJJF Championship as Black Belt and had a longer fight history than Duarte.

Kaynan took down Vieira, grabbed him by his back, and did not allow him to escape. Kaynan just took two and a half minutes while submitting Vieira to the RNC.

This fight was between Kaynan Duarte and Patrick Gaudio in the 2019 IBJJF Pan Championship.

Petrick took down Duarte at the start of the match but later could not stand Duarte. Duarte managed to apply a Leg Lock but failed to get a submission but got two points. Petrick tried to submit Kaynan with a Knee Lock but Duarte succeeded to escape.

At the end of the match, Kaynan submitted Patrick by Ankle Lock.  

This fight between Kaynan Duarte and Luan Azevedo happened in the IBJJF World Championship 2021. 

Kaynan Duarte took the back and overcame Luan by mounting him in the initial seconds of the match and got 6 points. Duarte did not give his opponent a single chance to escape. He tried to choke his opponent from the back.

Duarte took two minutes to submit Luan by RNC.

This was a fight between Kaynan Duarte and Rider Zuchi on the mat of the 2022 IBJJF World Championship.

Kaynan took down his opponent at the start of the match and controlled his back. Then Duarte managed to apply Knee and Wrist Locks. Before Kaynan gets a submission, time runs out.

At the end of the match, Duarte won the match by an advantage.   

Kaynan Duarte vs Patrick Gaudio / Pan Championship 2019

Kaynan Duarte v Luan Azevedo / World Championship 2021

Kaynan Duarte VS Dimitrius Souza / World Championship 2019

Kaynan Duarte v Dimitrius Souza / World Championship 2022

Photo credit: @kaynanduarte