Top 10 BJJ Fighters With Highest Percentage Of Submissions

The ranking is based on the mathematical calculation of the submission percentage. This ranking does not define the superiority of any fighter. 

Rudson Mateus was born on July 15, 1995, in the state of Brazil Manacapuru. At the age of 9, Mateus started the practice of Jiu-Jitsu, the first martial sport with a structured curriculum. His coach Nilton Ricardo guided him to learn the basic foundations of BJJ grappling and motivated him to make a career in this martial art sport. His instructor trained him throughout junior belt levels and up to the blue belt. At this level, Rudson decided to become a professional Jiu-Jitsu fighter.

Mateus thought that his hometown is small for his martial art competition. He decided to move to Brazil for a better opportunity to grow in the sport. His motive and quest took him to the Vinicius Amaral, who made him one of the toughest fighters. Rudson Mateus is today one of Caio Terra's most immersive and respected representatives.

Rudson Mateus is one of the most devastating fighters. He has assured a phenomenal record of wins against exceptional opponents since he was a purple belt. Most of his notable wins have been recorded against Gabriel Almeida, Victor Bomfin, and Henrique Cardoso via armbar technique. Rudson's best wins came in 2017 as a brown belt when he won double God at the IBJJF Championship against Gustavo Batista in the absolute weight division. However, it was a tragic and historic fight when he lost against Gustavo Batista at Pan American in 2019.

Dante Leon was born in 1995 on May 6. In a small town in Essex which is located in Ontario Canada. Martial arts was a big part of Dante's upbringing, gratitude to his father who instructed him in the fighting game at the age of 6. Dante learned his combat-related conditioning and was introduced to BJJ at the age of 12. He learned boxing and other striking techniques afterward along the way.

Leon’s training in jiu-jitsu went under his instructor Gracie Humaita. Dante became more ambitious and desired to excel viciously in martial art sports. Dante met through a close friend who introduced Dante to Abraham Marte and later to Vitor Oliveira of the GF team. The spectrum of his continuous improvements raised him to yield positive results. These results lead him to earn a black belt in June 2017 under Vitor And master Cesar Pereira. Dante was successful, in his multiple championships wins as colored belts. Dante made a great success at the international level as a black belt.

Dante Leon had some very interesting fights in his career, his win against Renato Canuto in 2020 by 5 points to 4 was epic. Dante's best tournament fight was held in 2019 against Jaakko Vilander via point methods in the IBJJF World No-Gi Championship. In the quarter-final, he fought Pedro Rocha and submitted him with an armbar. Furthermore, Felipe Cesar was his next opponent and Dante beat him by 4 points and was promoted into the final. Dante Leon won his first No-Gi world title as a black belt against Jamie Cnauto defeating him 4 points. Dante has been crowned the NO-GI World Champion, a definite achievement of his career. Dante won another No-Gi Championship in 2019 at all stages and it became his best historic fight of all time.

Aaron Michael Johnson, famously known as Tax Johnson was born in 1986 on 1st April, in the United States of America. Aaron moved regularly and lived across the country due to his father's military occupation. During his teenage years, Tex joined the high school football program, a sport he played for four years. He later added wrestling to his weekly activity list, competing as a heavyweight. With little experience in grappling, one of the main combat disciplines for a cage fighter. Johnson later chose to add jiu-jitsu to his training schedule under coach Steve Headen. Headen’s encouragement led him to affiliate with Alliance Jiu Jitsu Headquarters when he was at the rank of brown belt.

In 2014, Aron took more interest in competitive BJJ fights. He was a great fan of his coaching style of Lucas, After a successful run at the NYC Open, Aron decided to remain in New York to train full time with the Unity Team, a position he maintained until 2019.

Tex Johosn has his great fight history filled with surprising wins. However, Tex became one of only four athletes to have submitted Felipe Pena in a competition, he is the first non-Brazilian and the first in the No-Gi category. Felipe Preguiça, who was the 2017 ADCC Absolute Champion and two times title runner-up and Jiu-Jitsu World Champion was submitted by Tex Johnson via tight lock heel.

Espen Mathiesen was born in a small town on May 10, 1995, situated on the coastal area of Norway. Espen holds the exceptional professional record of 49-21-0. He spent some time in soccer and later got involved in skiing. These healthy sport activities kept him from any other occupation. After half a year of inconsistent training, Espen stopped playing football and dedicated himself to BJJ. His grades were always good in physics, his parents wanted him to pursue a practical career like engineering, but life had other plans for him.

In 2016, Espen relocated to Haugesund to become a professional fighter and train in an elite athletic environment. In the coaching of Jose, Espen upgraded his skills to a higher level. After the competitive year of 2017, in which Espen won a Silver    Medal at Copa Lightweight Grand Prix, his coach Jose Carlos promoted him to Black Belt. This proved his dedication to his passion in front of his family, prompting his decision to not attend university and follow a full-time career in Jiu Jitsu.

In 2018, Espen suffered an injury against Lucas Barbosa at the King of the Mats. During his recovery time, he decided to use this time to get his deviated septum repaired, which has been affecting his breathing. The procedure and his injury took longer to heal than expected, so he took the majority of 2019 off from competing. 

Espen Mathiesen’s best match was against Dego Borges in the finals at Copa Podio. This match won him the title. This was one of the first big tournaments Espen won as a professional competitor.

Josh Hinger was one of the famous Black belt BJJ athletes under Andre Galvao. He received his early education from the Atos Jiu Jitsu Academy. As the middleweight, he is proficient in BJJ Gi and No-Gi Jiu Jitsu techniques. Josh won several medals and awards. He was born in the USA on 28 May 1982. He earned success in wrestling during a school-level competition in 2000. After finishing three years of wrestling career, Hunger decided to excel his career in Jiu-Jitsu.

Hinger joined the Jiu-Jitsu academy and began his training Hinger made his Mixed Martial Arts career in 2003. Hinger progressed in MMA in 2005 and extended to 4-1-0. Brennan made him able to transition from white to purple belt under his guidance. In the quest for more Hunger joined the Atos Jiu-Jitsu academy in San Diego while working under his uncle Andre Galvao at Atos. Hinger received a black belt for his great efforts in 2013.

Josh Hinger was a stunning BJJ athlete with outstanding record of winning streak in IBJJF Championships. Hinger made his historic debut in the annual Long Beach Open Event in 2018 held in the US. Josh Hinger defeated Gabriel Almeida twice at the same stage of the Long Beach open via Guillotine and the Kata Gatame methods.

During the match with Gabriel, Hinger thought if these techniques were used against his opponent and made his game plan accordingly. Hinger took Almeida down after applying a collar tie with his back foot and securing the back control position. In his professional career, this bout was among his best fights where he submitted Gabriel twice and created a winning streak against the same opponent in the 2018 Long Beach Open event.

Nicholas Meregali was famous for his Jiu-Jitsu and earned a lot of success in BJJ. He was born on 27 May 1994 in Brazil. Meregali was a student of Mario Reis well known for his use of guards, attacks, and aggressive jiu-jitsu style. He represented Alliance Jiu-jitsu Academy. Meregali earned that status in BJJ while he won double gold medals in tournaments such as the Word Championship in 2016, Nicolas was highlighted by BJJ Heroes as a New Black Belt prospect of 2017.

Meregali often gives credit to his younger brother for encouraging him to start Jiu-Jitsu. After learning some techniques from his brother, Meregali started professional training under Santo Antonio at the age of 16. While training, Meregali received his  blue belt. With plenty of his winning record, Nicholas Meregali raised his competition to the next level. As a purple and brown belt fighter, Meregali was widely regarded as the best-colored belt contestant.

Meregali has a great record of his winning streak in the IBJJF Worlds Championship against many competitive fighters. Meregali was promoted to the black belt after defeating Leandro Lo. However, Meregali defeated Leandro Lo and secured gold for his heavyweight division in the 2017 IBJJF World Championship.

However, Meregali was predominantly in his open guard and defeated his opponent. During the bout Meregali seized the position with the cross collar grip, Mregali was able to control the posture of his opponent while monitoring the side of his opponent. Meregali knew how to take advantage of the opponent's side when his elbow was far away from his opponent's body. 

Craig Jones was born on July 17, 1991, in South Australia. Growing up Jones wanted to be in professional football or basketball teams while also briefly training in martial arts. Craig started training jiu-jitsu at age of 15 and took it seriously to build his career. Jones started to practice with his cousin and under his guidance, he became a great BJJ practitioner. Due to this start, he was able to join the Maromba Academy in Melbourne, under Lachlan Giles, he took training as a purple belt and raised his quest in BJJ to grow more.

Craig was famous for his vicious lower body attacks, aggressive Jiu-Jitsu style, and all-rounded swift demeanor. Craig had a great story when he came to Finland in 2017. Craig started his career and submitted the 5 times black belt champion and most favorite Leandro Lo. Also, Craig has submitted the most talented unity coach and competitor Murilo Santana.

Craig knew the techniques of his opponent Leandro Lo. It was a dream of Jones to submit Leandro Lo. Jones was excited to have this fight with Leandro Lo, a 5-times black belt champion who has defeated many well-known players like Gordan Ryan. For Craig, Leandro Lo is a legend and he was excited to fight with him. Craig knew exactly how to submit Leandro Lo. Craig devastatingly submitted the Leandro Lo in the 2017 ADCC Championship via rear neck choke and raised his portfolio with one more marvelous win.

Jones said that for Leandro Lo:

 “I knew a guy who taps easily on anything other than chokes, and the guy knows some wrestling too.”

Gordon Ryan is a legendary grappler and Ex senior member of the well-known group, Danaher Death squad. Ryan is a submission-oriented competitor and one of the leading Jiu-Jitsu figures of his generation, Gordon cemented his name as one of the top brown belts in 2015. He was born in Monroe, United States of America on 8th July 1995. Ryan began the journey of jiu-jitsu at age of 15 under Miguel Benitez. After taking months of training, Gordon met Gary Tonon and started training at his academy. Gordon developed his skill and technical abilities under Tonon's guidance.

After a stellar 6-month brown belt run, where Ryan won important tournaments such as the Newaza Challenge and the World Championship, In 2016, Gordon was awarded his black belt by Garry Tonon in a ceremony endorsed and commemorated by the presence of Tom, Ricardo Almeida. and Danaher,  who shared the honor of the new belt rank of Gorden Ryan.

Gordan Ryan has his winning streaks representing the Renzo Gracie fight team. He trains alongside No-Gi specialists Garry Tonon. He received his first black belt at age of 20 to win the Open Weight EBI 6 Tournament. Gordon Ryan won all of his annual ADCC Championships in 2017 except against Felipe Pena. However, in August 2022, Gordon and Felipe fought again at WNO 14 and won the match by verbal Tap. Ryan defeated Pena after 44 minutes of No-Gi brawl.

Brandon Walenskty was born on 5 April 1992 in California. Brandon started his Jiu Jitsu training at age of 13. Brandon joined judo classes and ended up with a loving experience. After 2 years Welansky added some Jiu-Jitsu to his training schedule before opting to focus solely on the submission aspects of grappling.

Walensky developed his BJJ style and techniques and practices under coach Fernando Augusto and earned a brown belt. On December 16. In 2016, after a string of outstanding results as a brown belt, he was promoted to black belt by Clark Gracie.

Brandon Walensky maintained his double win against Carlos Quintero at the Mexico City Open in 2017. Walensky's best match was against Carlos Quintero in the final at Mexico City Open. This match won him the tournament and was among the two best same-year victories  via triangle and bow and arrow submission methods. As a professional competitor, this was one of the first big tournament wins of Brandon Walenskry.

Alexandre Vieira belongs to Gen-Z fighters and was born on 12 April 1990 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Vieira holds a prestigious position in jiu-jitsu. However, the ancient fighting style of Capoeira was Alexandre Vieira’s first experience, one he practiced quite persistently  till the age of 15. Master Rodrigo Escorpiao was his favorite coach, Rodrigo was also responsible for teaching Alexandre the real essence of Martial Arts.

Vieira earned his black belt On December 17, 2014, from Murilo Bustamante. He would later reconsider his plans of becoming a professional cage fighter and dedicated his full time to learning martial arts.

Historic Fight

Alexandre Vieira fought with some of the best Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu grapplers. His style of submission grappling has taken many Jiu-Jitsu grapplers by surprise. One of Alexandre's best wins came against the famous Japanese black belt Tomoshige Sera. He fought at UAEJJF Abu Dhabi Tokyo Grand Slam in 2017, after submitting Tomoshige in the quarter-final with a rear naked choke. Alexandre received worldwide fame and reverence. He also won the Bronze Medal against Tomosshige Sera.