Thalison Soares - Multiple Times IBJJF World Champion

Thalison Soares is a BJJ Black Belt under Cicero Costha. He represented the Projeto Social Lutando Pelo Bem (PSLPB) which was led by Cicero Costha. Today, Thalison Soares is the founder and head coach of The Academy Byron Bay. Thalison Soares is one of the best Roosterweight fighters of Team PSLPB. He became a famous grappler even when he was a colored belt.

Thalison Soares was born in Manacapuru, Amazonas, Brazil on 21 May 1999. He was later brought up in Manaus.

Thalison was an active child. He took part in almost every extra-curricular activity in school. He was on the school’s football team. Other than football, he was an efficient swimmer from a young age.

When Thalison turned 10, he came to know about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He instantly liked the sport and wanted to learn it. He joined a BJJ academy but unfortunately, had to leave the academy because of his parents’ separation. Thalison then moved to another town with his father and left BJJ.

He wanted to learn BJJ but little did he know that he would end up as a BJJ champion.

For almost two years, Thalison didn’t practice BJJ. It was because of his father’s health. Thalison then suffered the loss of his father as he died after 2 years. Though it was a great loss for Thalison but being a strong guy, he handled himself very well.

After his father’s death, Thalison came back to Manaus and decided to join a BJJ academy. It was a tough time for him to survive on his own, so he returned to Manaus.

At that time Laercio Junior and Robson Corriea had started a BJJ project where they invited people to enhance the sport of BJJ. They aimed to train practitioners to form a strong BJJ team. They even started free classes to grab the attention of people.

They met Thalison and offered him to join their class. Thalison himself was interested in BJJ, so he took the offer. He trained under the two Black Belts and sharpened his techniques that he had learned a long time ago.

It was Laercio Junior and Robson Corriea who promoted Thalison to his Green Belt. They even encouraged him to compete in BJJ competitions. At that time Thalison practiced and competed in BJJ as a distraction to accept his father’s sudden death. He competed in every tournament that was conducted in the Amazonas. He wanted to compete in big tournaments but Amaonas didn’t have many opportunities.

To collect money, Thalison sold raffle tickets so that he could pay competitions’ entrance fees.

Mr. Melqui Galvão, father of Mica Galvão, discussed with Thalison about moving to Sao Paulo as Sao Paulo had greater opportunities for young and struggling grapplers. It was then that Thalison thought of training under Master Cicero Costha.

Thalison had already decided to pursue BJJ professionally, he just wanted to refine his skills and to earn money by winning championships. Melqui Galvão helped Thalison a lot in moving to Sao Paulo, and he was the one who introduced Thalison to Master Cicero Costha.

Thalison’s mother supported him in his endeavor. When Melqui Galvão told Cicero Costha about Thalison, Costha agreed to train him after seeing the young talent and his mother’s consent.

Thalison Soares was only 15 years old when he moved to Sao Paulo to train under the legendary Master Cicero Costha. Cicero Costha allowed him to stay at the team PSLPB’s “Fighter House”.

Team PSLPB (Projeto Social Lutando Pelo Bem) was led by Master Cicero Costha and the practitioners of the team used to stay at the “Fighter House”.

Living together with different fighters at the “Fighter House”,  gave Thalison a chance to learn from different other fighters. The Miyao brothers, Joao and Paulo Miyao, were also in the PSLPB team, due to which Thalison learned a lot from them. As his fighting style resembles the Miyao brothers, he was called “Little Miyao”.

In 2017, Thalison Soares had learned BJJ which ultimately made him financially stable. He had built the name of an accomplished grappler. In 2019, while he was competing in BJJ competitions, Thalison decided to open his own academy. He then opened his own academy in New South Wales, Australia, “The Academy Byron Bay ”.

In 2016, Thalison made his international debut at the IBJJF World Championship. It was Thalison’s first international championship. He won the championship by flying colors. He won the first place in the 2016 No-Gi IBJJF World championship as a Blue Belt.

The same year, 2016, Thalison won the first place in the IBJJF European Open Juvenile Championship.

Thalison became the IBJJF World Champion thrice in a row from 2017 to 2019 in the color belt division. He just wanted to be exposed to bigger championships and as soon as Thalison got the chance, he proved how efficient a fighter he is.

Not only did Thalison aced in Gi matches but also in No-Gi. He won the first place IBJJF World No-Gi Championship twice in a row, in 2017 and 2018.

In June 2019, Thalison Soares was promoted to Black Belt by Master Cicero Costha.

In 2019, Thalison won the first place at the IBJJF Pan Pac Championship as a Black Belt.

Later in 2022, Thalison Soares became the IBJJF Pan Champion.

Welerson Goncalves is a BJJ Black Belt under Polengue Dias. Open Guard, being his favorite technique, he grabbed Thalison by the grips and scored an advantage point. Thalison then grabbed a hold of Thalison’s Gi pants, locked his legs and gained a dominant position. Thalison climbed on Welerson’s back and kept him in position via his legs wrapped out around Welerson’s legs.

Thalison then applied the submission. He then submitted Welerson via Choke from Back and became the 2022 IBJJF European Open Champion.

Kristian Woodmansee is a BJJ Black Belt under Andre Galvao. During the start of the match, Kristian was the one on top of Thalison but within seconds, Thalison transitioned into a dominant position. This is the exceptional game of Thalison. He gives his opponent no time to adjust rather he goes for the transition and later submission.

Kristian resisted the submission, he tried to lift Thalison to break his grips but once Thalison had applied the submission he did not back off. He then submitted Kristian via Choke from Back in just 4 minutes and 37 seconds.

Thalison Soares faced Matheus Rossi in the quarterfinals of IBJJF Pan Championship 2022. As soon as Matheus got on the top, Thalison immediately spun under him grabbing his Gi. Thalison wrapped himself around Matheus so well that gave Matheus little to no movement. And that is why Thalison is sometimes termed as Berimbolo King. Thalison then transitioned to the footlock position and submitted Matheus Rossi via Botinha in just 1 minute and 34 seconds.

Thalison Soares VS Bruno Malfacine / European Championship 2020

Thalison Soares v Bebeto Oliveira / World Championship 2022

Thalison Soares VS Estevan Garcia / World Championship 2019

Thalison Soares v Welerson Gonçalves / European 2022

Thalison Soares v Cleber Sousa / World Championship 2022

Photo Credit: @academybyronbay, @thalisonvsoares