Liisi Vaht - First Estonian Female BJJ Black Belt

Liisi Vaht is an outstanding BJJ black belt from Estonia, under coach Priit Mihkelson, a 3rd degree BJJ black belt at the Estum Jiu-Jitsu Academy. Vaht has won a gold medal at the European Championships and a silver medal at the World Championships. She won two titles at the 2017 North American Grappling Association World Championship in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which was held in Dallas, Texas (both in Gi and No-Gi). Vaht became the ultimate champion of the Nordic nations in 2019 after winning the absolute gold medal in the women's brown and black belts. She works as a trainer in Globetrotters and Fairtex Training Academy.

Liisi Vaht was born in 1992 in Tallinn, Estonia. Since Vaht was a child she was pretty athletic. She participated in several ball games in her school. Her hobbies were dancing, skiing, and skating. In 2011, Vaht joined Estum Jiu-Jitsu Academy where she was trained under Priit Mihkelson, a 3rd degree BJJ black belt.

Soon after Vaht joined the Estum Academy, her interest in this sport built up. She got attracted to the sport where techniques are much more important than strength. In one of her interviews, she said:

Liisi Vaht got her blue belt in 2013; after that, she won the Nordic BJJ Open in 2016. It was a massive achievement for her, which led her to a purple belt. She won multiple medals during purple belt rank, and in 2018, she was promoted to brown belt. She won a gold in ACBJJ World Open Championship Gi & No-Gi 2021. Due to hard work and outstanding performance in the fights she was promoted to BJJ black belt on 28th July 2021, under her coach Priit Mihkelsonat at the Estum Jiu-Jitsu Academy. Vaht is the first female who got a BJJ black belt from Estonia.

Liisi Vaht is the first female BJJ grappler from Estonia. During her BJJ journey from colored belt ranks to black belt, she was awarded multiple medals. Vaht has won a gold medal at the European Championships and a silver medal at the World Championships. She won double gold at the 2017 NAGA World Championship in Brazilian jiu-jitsu in Gi and NoGi. She has also won the Nordic Open BJJ Championships during her colored belts.

After getting promoted to BJJ black belt, Vaht joined the Globetrotters BJJ Academy as a coach. Globetrotters is a training academy affiliated with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It is a kind of community with expert BJJ fighters. They travel worldwide, arranging various camps and jiu-jitsu classes. Liisi Vaht is an elite coach at the Globetrotters. During their Spring Camp in 2022, she prepared many individuals for BJJ by teaching best techniques to win a grappling fight. Currently, Vaht is a coach at the Fairtex Training Centre, teaching world-class BJJ techniques to young minds.

Photo credit: @liisivaht_bjj