Margot Ciccarelli - Italian BJJ World Champion

Margot Ciccarelli was born in London, United Kingdom, on November 17, 1993. Her BJJ career involved winning multiple championships in her weight division and medals as a black belt. Ciccarelli lived in London until her 19th birthday. She then traveled to North London to Mill Hill BJJ club to learn BJJ. Now, Ciccarelli is an international coach who trains new generations. 

Ciccarelli was raised in the UK by her Italian father and Chinese mother. She was drawn to martial arts at an early age, learning Wushu before the age of 6. During her teenage years, Ciccarelli practiced Chinese kickboxing and Wing Chun as a form of self-improvement rather than a competitive pursuit. When she was in her mid-teens, Ciccarelli took an interest in bodybuilding and decided to pursue powerlifting.

During her mid-teens, Ciccarelli came to learn about jiu-jitsu from a training partner who was already practicing jiu-jitsu. At the age of 19, Ciccarelli went for her first BJJ class in North London with her colleagues, Nick Brooks, Daniel Strauss, and Oliver Geddes.

After getting into BJJ, Ciccarelli worked with many coaches, such as Rodrigo Caporal, Jude Samuel, and Guilherme Mendes. She was also promoted to jiu-jitsu Black Belt under the instructorship of Murilo Santana.

During her early career, Ciccarelli trained at many academies and climbed up the colored belt ranks. In Hong Kong, she was promoted to a blue belt at Atos Academy. While in London she was promoted to a purple belt at Inglorious Grapplers. She then went on to win the IBJJF World Championship, Abu Dhabi World Professional Championship, and the Asian Open Championship as a purple belt. After that, Ciccarelli started training under Murilo Santana.

Ciccarelli participated and won in IBJJF World, World Pro, and World No-Gi competitions for colored belts. As a  black belt, she won the IBJJF World Championship three times.

In May 2021, Ciccarelli was promoted to a black belt by Murilo Santana. During her early black belt career, Ciccarelli won many silver and bronze medals in various BJJ championships. Recently on July 7, she won a gold medal in the 2023 IBJJF Asian Open Championship. 

Ciccarelli won the IBJJF World Championship twice as a purple belt and once as a brown belt. She also won the IBJJF Pan Championship twice as a purple belt and once as a black belt.

Ciccarelli was nicknamed “Mars” or “Nomadic Mars” on social media. Margot explained that she got that title because of her nomadic lifestyle of traveling and living in multiple countries since she was 19 years old. She considers the U.K., Hong Kong, and the U.S. as her home.

Ciccarelli did not come from a jiu-jitsu background before she discovered martial arts at an early age. She identifies herself as pansexual. Ciccarelli met her partner Meg He in 2019 through BJJ and married her in December 2022.

While Ciccarelli was training in jiu-jitsu, she also took time to learn hip-hop dance, contemporary dance, and circus skills. According to Ciccardelli, her intent was not to win just for the sake of winning, but to do so with grace and stylish movement.

Ciccarelli created a platform called The Nomadic Lab by Margot Ciccarelli to train BJJ students and pass on her BJJ skills. She is respected and well-known for her excellent teaching skills and fierce competitive nature.

Ciccarelli faced Fernanda Figueira in a lightweight black belt match at the 2022 Pan Championship. At the start of the match, Ciccarellit tried to take Figuiera down by grabbing and putting all her weight on her opponent’s legs; however, Figuiera managed to escape. Both tried to grasp each other’s BJJ gis to try and get the upper hand. Ciccarelli dominated throughout the entire match. Figueira tried to pull a half-guard, but Ciccarelli was able to escape. In the end, Margot won via an advantage score.

At the 2021 Charleston Summer Open Championship, Ciccarelli fought with Michelle Welti in the black belt absolute division. Ciccarelli scored the first point by pinning Welti down, then applied pressure with her leg to win the match.

At the 2021 IBJJF World No-Gi Championship, Ciccarelli faced Jessica Buchman as a black belt. Both Margot and Jesica played very well during the whole game by trying to submit their opponent. But both of them have good defending games, In the end, Ciccarelli defeated Buchman via a straight ankle lock within a minute.

Claire North vs Margot Ciccarelli / World No-Gi Championship 2022

Anna Rodrigues vs Margot Ciccarelli / Pan Championship 2023

Nathalie Ribeiro v Margot Ciccarelli / Pan Championship 2021

Margot Ciccarelli v Kathleen Egan / American National 2020

Photo Credit: @margotciccarelli