It is not much of a surprise that the vast majority of Jiu-Jitsu world champions are Brazilians that were born in Rio de Janeiro, but how about other countries and other Brazilian states?
First in terms of countries.
At male black belt adult in the Gi, since 1996:
96 world champions have been Brazilians.
3 were Americans (Bj Penn, Robert Drysdale who is half Brazilian half American and Rafael Lovato Jr).
1 Angolan (Joao Roque).
At female black belt, the figures are a bit more in favour of foreigners:
54 world champions were Brazilians
3 Americans (Mackenzie Dern who is half Brazilian, Lana Stefanec, Hillary Williams)
2 Japanese ( Rikako Yuasa and Shiho Yaginuma)
1 French (Laurence Couisin Fouillat)
1 Canadian (Emily Kwok)
1 South African (Penny Thomas)
1 Swede (Janni Larsson)
1 Finn (Venla Luukkonen)
1 Lithuanian (Dominyka Obelenyte)
Brazilian BJJ website BJJ Forum gathered some interesting data dating from the first world championships (Mundial) in 1996 to the present day, and we can see just how other Brazilian states have produced world champions at male and female adult black belt in the Gi.
Check out the complete data in the list below:
New hegemony Jiu-jitsu in São Paulo in recent years is becoming a new power.
– 7 fighters from Manaus (AM) managed to put the Amazone state in 3rd place with 23 titles, 12 of which were from the Ribeiro brothers (5 Saulo and Xande 7).
– Minas Gerais , in 4 th place, has 18 titles won by 6 athletes. The current absolute champion Bernardo Faria and Romulo Barral, both with four titles each, and one of the best grapplers of all time Marcelo Garcia with 5.
– Rio Grande do Sul is 5th, thanks to great jiu-jitsu names like Ze Mario Sperry, Mário Reis and UFC champion Fabricio Werdum.
– Paraná has 6 titles, of which 5 are for Rubens Charles Cobrinha.
– Pernambuco is close behind with 5 from Braulio Estima and Otavio Souza.
– Ronaldo Jacare with his 3 titles helped the Espirito Santo in the rankings.
– Roberto “Roleta” Magalhães put Sergipe on the map with his 4 world titles.
– Brasilia (DF) (2 titles), Goias (1 title) and Para (1 title) are the ushers.
– BJ Penn, Robert Drysdale and Rafael Lovato Jr add 3 titles for the United States , while Joao Roque, of Angola , won his gold medal in 1998.
Full list of winners:
Alexandre Paiva
Amaury Biteti (2x)
Augusto Mendes
Bruno Malfacine (7x)
Caio Terra (2x)
Carlos Lemos
Celso Vinicius (3x)
Daniel Moraes (2x)
Daniel Otelo
Delson Heleno
Fabio Gurgel (4x)
Felipe Costa
Fernando Augusto (2x)
Fernando Vasconcelos
Francisco Fernandes
Gabriel Gonzaga
Gilbert Burns
Hélio Moreira
Jefferson Moura
Leo Leite (2x)
Leo Vieira
Luiz Guilherme
Marcelo Pereira
Marcio Cruz (3x)
Marcio Feitosa (3x)
Marcos Barreto
Murilo Bustamente
Paulo Barroso
Rafael Correa
Ricardo Libório
Ricardo Vieira
Roberto Correa
Roberto Traven (2x)
Robson Moura (5x)
Rodolfo Vieira (5x)
Rodrigo Medeiros (2x)
Roger Gracie (10x)
Royler Gracie (4x)
Vitor Ribeiro (3x)
SÃO PAULO (38 Títulos, 15 Atletas)
André Galvão (2x)
Claudio Calasans
Fabio Leopoldo
Fernando Pontes (2x)
Gabriel Vella (2x)
Guilherme Mendes (4x)
Leandro Lo (4x)
Leo Nogueira (2x)
Lucas Leite
Marcus Almeida (6x)
Michael Langhi (3x)
Rafael Mendes (5x)
Rodrigo Cavaca
Sergio Moraes (2x)
Tarsis Humphreys
AMAZONAS (25 Títulos, 8 Atletas)
Antônio Braga Neto (2x)
Bibiano Fernandes (3x)
Fernando Vieira
Fredson Paixao (3x)
Gabriel Moraes (2x)
Omar Salum (2x)
Saulo Ribeiro (5x)
Xande Ribeiro (7x)
MINAS GERAIS (19 Títulos, 7 Atletas)
Bernardo Faria (4x)
Erik Wanderlei
Lucas Lepri (2x)
Marcelo Garcia (5x)
Pablo Silva
Romulo Barral (4x)
Samuel Braga (2x)
RIO GRANDE DO SUL (8 Títulos, 4 Atletas)
Fabricio Werdum (2x)
Marcio Corleta
Mario Reis (2x)
Mario Sperry (3x)
PARANA (6 Títulos, 2 Atletas)
Paulo Miyao
Rubens Charles (5x)
PERNAMBUCO (5 Títulos, 2 Atletas)
Braulio Estima (3x)
Otavio Souza (2x)
ESPÍRITO SANTO (4 Títulos, 2 Atletas)
Gabriel Lucas
Ronaldo Souza (3x)
SERGIPE (4 Títulos, 1 Atleta)
Roberto Magalhães (4x)
BRASILIA (2 Títulos, 2 Atletas)
Bernardo Pitel
Cassio Werneck
PARÁ (1 Título, 1 Atleta)
Marcos Norat
GOIAS (1 Título, 1 Atleta)
Fernando Marques
ESTADOS UNIDOS (3 Títulos, 3 Atletas)
BJ Penn
Rafael Lovato Jr
Robert Drysdale
ANGOLA (1 Título, 1 Atleta)
João Roque
