Tarcisio Santos

Tarcisio Damasceno Santos was born in Salvador, Brazil, in September 2006 and grew up in Senhor do Bonfim, a small city in the state of Bahia. He started Jiu-Jitsu at age 9, when a gym opened near his home. His first coaches were Marcos Wolf, of Nova União, and Vugner Silva, who gave him his blue belt.

While still a juvenile blue belt he began training with Marcio André, who has coached him ever since. He won the South Americans in 2022. In 2023 he won the Brazilian Nationals and the American Nationals in both his weight class and the open class, plus the juvenile open class at the IBJJF Worlds and double gold at No-Gi Worlds.

As a purple belt, in 2024 and early 2025, he collected nine lightweight golds at IBJJF tournaments and took bronze at Pans both years and at the 2025 Worlds. As a brown belt he won the American Nationals in his weight class and the open class, and the Jiu-Jitsu CON. In December 2025 he won No-Gi Worlds and got his black belt from Marcio André right on the podium.

Less than three months into black belt, he won his weight class and the open class at the LA Open in early 2026, beating Daniel Sathler and Dudu Granzotto at lightweight. Over the season he collected six lightweight golds and three open class golds at IBJJF Opens.

At Pans he lost to Pablo Lavaselli in the round of 16. At Worlds in June he beat Andy Murasaki, reached the lightweight semifinal and took bronze after losing to Jackson Nagai. He then moved up to middleweight and won the American Nationals and the Jiu-Jitsu CON, where he also took the open class.

His next event is The Crown on November 8, in the middleweight bracket, the same one as Mica Galvão. After that he is registered for the IBJJF No-Gi Worlds in December at lightweight.