Ághata Rabelo

Ághata Adriane Rabelo Fernandes was born in April 2002 in Curitiba, Brazil. She started Jiu-Jitsu at age 9, during school break, at a CheckMat affiliate, with coach Jason Golden. With him she went through the kids’ belts and blue and purple belt.

At purple belt she decided to compete for a living. She put college on hold, began training full time and moved to CheckMat’s headquarters in the state of Paraná, with Sebastian Lalli. She won the Brazilian Nationals in 2023 and 2024 and Worlds in 2024, at purple belt. At brown belt she won the 2024 No-Gi Worlds and the 2025 Worlds at medium-heavyweight, and submitted Sarah Galvão in the open class, where she took silver. She got her black belt from Lalli on the podium.

As a black belt she won the American Nationals and the Jiu-Jitsu CON still in 2025. In February 2026 she had a no-gi superfight with Helena Crevar at the IBJJF Absolute Grand Prix and was submitted with a D’Arce choke. At Pans, at middleweight, she submitted two opponents and lost in the semifinal to Lillian Marchand. At Worlds she lost in the quarterfinals to Larissa Martins on points.

Her top result of the year came at the American Nationals. After bronze at middleweight, where she was submitted by Eliza Nascimento, she entered the open class, beat Sarah Galvão on points in the semifinal and submitted Maca Vicentini with an Estima lock in the final. In September she won the Jiu-Jitsu CON again, at middleweight.

“Beating any specific athlete wouldn’t change how big my name is, and I know that from experience! I recently beat one of the most famous athletes of today and nothing changed. So winning the $20,000 is definitely worth more.”

Ághata Rabelo, to VF Comunica, September 2026. Translated from Portuguese. Read the story (in Portuguese)

At The Crown on November 8, she drops to lightweight.