# Erich Munis

> Brazilian heavyweight world champion, 2024 IBJJF absolute king, and one of the dominant gi athletes of the 2020s.

- **Canonical page:** https://ossmeta.com/athletes/erich-munis
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- **Source site:** Ossmeta (https://ossmeta.com)
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-18

## Identity

- **Name:** Erich Munis
- **Full name:** Erich Munis dos Santos
- **Belt:** black belt
- **Team:** Soldiers Jiu-Jitsu
- **Nationality:** Brazil
- **Born:** 1997-12-19
- **Birthplace:** Panorama, Sao Paulo, Brazil
- **Weight class:** Heavyweight / Super Heavyweight (94-100+ kg gi; absolute)

## Biography

Erich Munis dos Santos is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt from Panorama, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the youngest of the three Munis brothers, alongside Alex and Anderson. BJJ Heroes records that their father pushed the brothers toward sport and martial arts, and that Erich began training in 2013 when jiu-jitsu arrived in Panorama under the Raca team banner. The brothers soon chased the sport seriously, first through Nova Uniao and Clube Feijao connections, with Erich following Alex and Anderson to Rodrigo Feijao's Maringa training camp after finishing school commitments.

Munis' early path was not a straight prodigy story. In a 2020 BJJ Heroes interview he described spending roughly two years at blue belt without winning a tournament and being overshadowed by his older brothers. His career changed at purple belt, when double-gold runs at major IBJJF events put him on the international map. Financial pressure still made travel difficult, but a social-media request for support brought contact from Israel Bahiense and the Dream Art project, giving the Munis brothers a professional training structure around Isaque Bahiense's team.

At Dream Art, Munis became one of the defining colored belts of his generation. In 2019 he won weight and absolute at the IBJJF World, Pan, European, and Brazilian Nationals as a purple belt, and also made history by winning Copa Podio's heavyweight grand prix as a brown belt, the first non-black belt to win that professional tournament. He repeated double gold at the 2020 European Championship as a brown belt before receiving his black belt on September 28, 2020, from Isaque Bahiense and Gabriel Figueiro in the same ceremony as his brothers.

His black-belt career quickly became a sustained run at the top of the gi heavyweight field. Munis won the IBJJF World Championship at super heavy in 2021, 2022, and 2023, added the 2024 absolute world title while representing Fratres, and then swept weight and absolute at the 2025 Worlds with Soldiers Jiu-Jitsu. FloGrappling's result pages and athlete record show his 2025 season as undefeated, including IBJJF Brasileiro double gold and another IBJJF The Crown title run. By 2026, JiuJitsu.net and BJJ Metrics listed him as a Soldiers Jiu-Jitsu athlete with additional absolute gold at the Brazilian Nationals and IBJJF Worlds, confirming his place as one of the era's most consistent big-man champions.

Technically, Munis is best known for a heavy but versatile gi game: open guard, sweeping exchanges, pressure passing, and a high-volume armbar threat. BJJ Heroes' match data credits armbar as his leading submission, with triangles, back chokes, Ezekiel variations, kata-gatame, toe holds, and straight ankle locks also recurring. That mix of size, guard sophistication, and finishing ability has made him difficult to solve across both weight and absolute divisions.

## Instructors

- Isaque Bahiense
- Gabriel Figueiro
- Rodrigo Feijao

## Signature techniques / game

- Open guard
- Armbar
- Triangle choke
- Choke from the back
- Ezekiel choke
- Kata-gatame
- Straight ankle lock
- Toe hold

## Major achievements

- 1st Place IBJJF World Championship — black belt (2021 / 2022 / 2023 / 2024 absolute / 2025 weight and absolute / 2026 absolute)
- 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship — black belt (2022 absolute / 2023 super heavy)
- 1st Place IBJJF European Championship — black belt super heavy (2024)
- 1st Place CBJJ Brazilian Nationals — black belt (2021 weight and absolute / 2025 weight and absolute / 2026 absolute)
- IBJJF The Crown Champion — ultra-heavyweight (2023 / 2024 / 2025)
- 1st Place AJP Abu Dhabi World Pro — black belt 94 kg (2021)
- 1st Place AJP Grand Slam Rio de Janeiro — black belt (2021)
- BJJ Stars 10 Absolute Grand Prix Champion (2023)
- 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship — black belt absolute (2022 / 2023) and super heavy (2024 / 2026)

## Colored belt highlights

- 1st Place IBJJF World Championship — purple belt weight and absolute (2019)
- 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship — purple belt weight and absolute (2019)
- 1st Place IBJJF European Open — purple belt weight and absolute (2019); brown belt weight and absolute (2020)
- 1st Place CBJJ Brazilian Nationals — blue belt (2017); purple belt weight and absolute (2019)
- 1st Place AJP World Pro — purple belt (2018)
- 1st Place AJP Grand Slam Abu Dhabi and Los Angeles — brown belt (2019)
- 1st Place Copa Podio Heavyweight Grand Prix (2019) — first non-black belt tournament winner

## Official / social links

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erichmunisbjj/

## Sources

- [BJJ Heroes — Erich Munis](https://www.bjjheroes.com/bjj-fighters/erichmunis)
- [BJJ Heroes — Erich Munis interview](https://www.bjjheroes.com/interview/erich-munis-worlds-best-colored-belt-i-was-the-worst-blue-belt-you-can-imagine)
- [FloGrappling — Erich Munis athlete page](https://www.flograppling.com/people/6787643-erich-munis)
- [FloGrappling — IBJJF The Crown 2024 highlight](https://www.flograppling.com/articles/13038343-watch-erich-munis-win-the-mens-ultra-heavyweight-title-ibjjf-the-crown)
- [Instagram — Erich Munis](https://www.instagram.com/erichmunisbjj/)
- [JiuJitsu.net — Erich Munis dos Santos](https://www.jiujitsu.net/athlete/erich-munis-dos-santos)
- [BJJ Metrics — Erich Munis Dos Santos](https://bjjmetrics.com/fighter/erich-munis-dos-santos)
- [Digitsu — Erich Munis](https://www.digitsu.com/people/erich-munis)

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