Mayssa Bastos

Mayssa Caldas Pereira Bastos was born on October 23, 1997, in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and spent important formative years in nearby Maricá. Her first combat-sport influence was judo, which she practiced alongside family before switching to Brazilian jiu-jitsu at age 12. Bastos began at a Grappling Fight Team school in Maricá under Jair Court and also traveled to the GFTeam headquarters in Méier to learn from Júlio César Pereira. Brazilian media later attached the nickname “Pequena Notável” (“The Remarkable Little One”) to her because she routinely attacked absolute divisions as one of the smallest athletes in the bracket.

Her colored-belt rise was unusually complete. As a juvenile blue belt she won major IBJJF titles, then as a purple belt captured World, European, and Pan gold in 2015 and 2016. As a brown belt she added European, Pan, UAEJJF Grand Slam, and Abu Dhabi World Pro titles, reached the 2018 IBJJF World Championship brown-belt final, and was promoted to black belt by Júlio César on June 4, 2018, on the Worlds podium. To sharpen for major events outside Brazil she spent significant time with Murilo Santana at Unity Jiu-Jitsu in New York and at GFTeam Orange County before moving to Art of Jiu Jitsu in Costa Mesa in 2023 to train under Rafael and Guilherme Mendes.

At black belt, Bastos became the defining athlete of the women’s roosterweight era. She won her first IBJJF black-belt World Championship in 2019 by defeating four-time champion Rikako Yuasa, then added World titles in every held edition from 2021 through 2026. Her major-title run spans gi and no-gi: Pan, European, Brazilian Nationals, Asian, World No-Gi, AJP World Pro, and AJP Grand Slam wins, plus a 2023 IBJJF Grand Slam season at AOJ. FloGrappling lists her as the WNO 115 lb champion, and BJJ Heroes’ record database credits her with more than 140 wins and no submission losses.

No-gi and professional grappling broadened her reputation beyond the smallest IBJJF divisions. Bastos won EBI 18: The Strawweights in 2018, the WNO 115 lb Championship in 2021, and the 2022 ADCC South American Trials at −60 kg despite regularly competing much lighter. She made her ONE Championship debut in March 2024, won the ONE Women’s Atomweight Submission Grappling World Title from Danielle Kelly in August 2024, and defended it in their December rematch. Her style is built around dynamic guard retention, berimbolo entries, back exposure, and relentless finishing sequences—chokes from the back, rear naked chokes, tarikoplatas, armbars, and leg attacks—while her willingness to face larger opponents has kept her relevant in ADCC, WNO, and ONE rule sets.