Yara Soares

Yara Soares do Nascimento was born on November 7, 1995, in Guarapari, in the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo. She started Jiu-Jitsu in April 2014, in her hometown, with coach Tony Bergamo, and got her blue belt from Thiago Oliveira, at Striker. A scholarship took her to São Paulo to train with Luiz Guilherme, known as Guigo.

She spent stretches with Lloyd Irvin’s team in the United States. She was world champion at purple belt in 2018 and, in 2019, won Europeans and Pans in her weight class and the open class. Irvin promoted her to brown belt in March of that year and, after her open class world title, to black belt in December.

As a black belt she has represented Dream Art since 2021. That year she won the open class at Pans and super-heavyweight at the Brazilian Nationals, and was Worlds runner-up in her weight class and the open class. She took silver at Worlds again in 2022 and 2024. In both of those years she lost the super-heavyweight final to Gabrieli Pessanha. In November 2024 she won the World Pro in Abu Dhabi, in the 95 kg (209 lb) division.

In 2025 she dropped to heavyweight. She won the Brazilian Nationals, with wins over Izadora Cristina, Melissa Cueto and Tamiris Silva, and reached the Worlds final, where she lost to Larissa Dias. In 2026 she won Europeans and the Brazilian Nationals. At Worlds she took bronze: she was submitted by Larissa Dias with a toe hold in the semifinal.

In September she competed at the ADCC World Championship in Kraków, in the over 65 kg (143 lb) division, and did not make the podium. The 2026 Crown is the first of her career.