Luanna Alzuguir - IBJJF Hall of Famer and Founder of AVIV JJ School

Luanna Alzuguir was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil on 16th August 1985. She represents Alliance in the international grappling circuit. She is one of the top-ranking athletes in BJJ. She won various major championships like World Gi and No-Gi, Pans, European Open, and CBJJ Brazilian Nationals. 

Luanna was a sports kid from her early childhood. Her mother wanted to enroll her daughters in martial arts. Luanna got an opportunity to join Jiu-Jitsu when a gym was opened near her house. That was a golden chance for Luanna to join the gym and start learning martial arts. 

In 1994, Luanna appeared in a “Paulista” trial, in Sao Paulo at the age of 9. It was her first coach, Marcelo Mathias who gave her the opportunity to compete and win a medal in that tournament. That was the first medal of Luanna’s BJJ career. Luanna achieved her Orange Belt under Marcelo Mathias.

Luanna was not fully satisfied with the training regime of Marcelo’s gym. She decided to pursue Jiu-Jitsu with more devotion and wanted to train under more competitive training partners. At that time, Luanna heard about the famous training center under Godoi/ Macaco.

She went there and started her training with coach Celso Brito. Under the distinctive training of Celso Brito, Luanna Alzuguir was promoted to Blue Belt.

Luanna was distracted from Jiu-Jitsu when Jorge “Macaco” Patino and Roberto Godoi got into an argument and their partnership was terminated. Luanna was disappointed when she did not find any consistent way to navigate through her grappling martial art career.

All these circumstances discouraged and demotivated her to continue Jiu-Jitsu training. After leaving Jiu-Jitsu, she was diverted toward journalism. 

Luanna had a thirst for Jiu-Jitsu but due to inconvenient circumstances, she was discouraged. She got a chance to resume her Jiu-Jitsu career when there was a very competitive opportunity  to join her university team. She joined the Anhembi Morumbi University’s Jiu-Jitsu team.

During her university competitions, she met Marco Barbosa (who was also her former team member from Macaco/ Godoi). He invited Luanna to join their team as big tournaments were about to happen. Luanna took this opportunity and joined their team. She resumed her Jiu-Jitsu career with full devotion.    

After the world championship of 2008, Luanna wanted to reschedule her training routine. To upgrade her skills and increase her potential, she preferred the world-famous BJJ academy, Alliance Jiu-Jitsu.

Luanna started her training for the World Championship under the “General”, Co-Founder of Alliance and Alliance head coach, Fabio Gurgel. Under the brilliant coaching of Master Fabio Gurgel, Luanna won three major championships including World, Pans, and CBJJ Brazilian National in 2009.  

Luanna wanted to pursue Jiu-Jitsu professionally as a career. So she joined her university Jiu-Jitsu team as a coach as a Brown Belt. She won various tournaments and earned a name in the list of top Brown Belts of her generation.

After her graduation, Luanna did not leave her coaching practice at the university along with her own Jiu-Jitsu training. She started training in Jiu-Jitsu as a professional Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. 

Now she is the founder of AVIV Jiu-Jitsu . AVIV Jiu-Jitsu was founded in 2018 and is running under two female world champions Luanna Alzugui and Ana Carolina Vieira.

AVIV Jiu-Jitsu is the first school in the world which is founded and coached by two female World Champions. This school provides a safe and supportive environment where women and kids can train, not only for competitions but also for self-defense.

Luanna Alzuguir made her MMA debut in October 2017. She fought her first MMA fight against Brittney Cloudy. Luanna defeated her with RNC in the third round. Another fight which was announced in November 2018 was canceled due to Alzuguir’s injury.

After that Alzuguir did not appear in any MMA fights. Now she is ineligible for regional ranking because she is inactive in MMA for four years.

Luanna Alzuguir and Ana Caroline Vieira married each other in 2018 and appeared as the first openly married gay couple in BJJ. They moved to Boynton Beach and opened a Jiu-Jitsu institute, AVIV Jiu-Jitsu.

After a successful Brown Belt career, Luanna was promoted to Black Belt by coach Marco Barbosa in December 2007. 

Luanna Alzuguir is a five times world champion in Gi and a one-time World Champion in No-Gi. She maintained her title of World Champion for five consecutive years, 2009 to 2013. In 2009, she executed an excellent performance against Kyra Gracie in the finals to become World Champion.

Luanna became four times IBJJF Pans Champion, three times in the weight division and once in the absolute division. She won gold medals for three consecutive years from 2010 to 2012. In 2011, she received two golds in Pans Championship, in both weight and absolute divisions.

Luanna received five gold medals in the European Open. She was the 2011 lightweight champion of the European Open. In 2013 and 2014, she won both weight and absolute divisions.

After achieving gold medals in various big championships from 2009 to 2014, Luanna Alzuguir was inducted into the IBJJF Hall of Fame in 2014. 

After winning five World Championships, Luanna Alzuguir was honored to be the IBJJF Top Ranked Female Adult Black Belt, in 2013. 

Luanna Alzuguir suffered from a severe injury of broken ribs in 2011. But she did not take this injury to affect her career and continued training. The same year, she won the World Championship with all fights ending with submissions.  

Luanna Gracie faced Kyra Gracie in the final of the IBJJF World Championship 2009. Luanna started the fight with half guard and Kyra on her top. Kyra tried to take benefit of the top position and attempted to control her. She strangled her with her right sleeve and left leg.

But Luanna changed the situation in the next moment with a sweep and took the top position. Luanna’s scoreboard showed two points for that sweep. Luanna controlled the right part of Kyra by putting her leg on her and strangling her leg.

Kyra’s right leg was completely under Luanna’s leg. She freed her hand but could not escape. Kyra altered the situation in the next few minutes with a brilliant and quick move.

She strangled the same leg of Luanna which was on her body and almost took her back. Kyra balanced the scoreboard and scored two points with a  brilliant sweep. Luanna countered by applying an inverted guard and did not let Kyra control from the back. Again Luanna secured her top position. After a memorable sweep, Luanna again leads the scoreboard with two points.

At the end of the match, Luanna won the match by two points against the former World Champion and became IBJJF World Champion 2009.   

Luanna Alzuguir faced Yasmine Wilson in the final of London No-Gi Open in 2014. Both fighters showcased their brilliant skills. After two minutes of the match, Luanna Alzuguir applied a pulling guard and established a strong grip of her legs around Yasmin’s groin.

Luanna Alzuguir felt in danger when tried to sit but Yasmin Wilson did not let her. Luanna Alzuguir used another strategy and applied a triangle choke. In just one and a half minutes, Luanna submitted Yasmin with a Triangle Choke.

Luanna Alzuguir faced Luiza Monteiro in the final of the World Championship 2011. Luiza started the match by applying a half-guard. Luanna took the top position and escaped her leg from half guard. She put her weight on Luiza’s right leg and restricted her movement.

Luanna quickly strangled her right leg and took the back of Luiza. Luanna grabbed her collar and applied Collar Choke. She submitted the Luiza with this Collar Choke. 

Luanna Alzuguir VS Kyra Gracie / World Championship 2009

Luanna Alzuguir vs Claudia Doval / World NoGi 2018

Luanna Alzuguir v Nivian Oliveira / World Master 2020

Photo Credit: @muitomaisacaojiujitsu and @awakeningfighters