Michelle Nicolini

Michelle Nicolini was born in Itu, in the interior of São Paulo state, on January 1, 1982. She got into martial arts through capoeira at 14, and three years later switched to Jiu-Jitsu under Robert Drysdale, who gave her every belt, from blue to black.

She won the IBJJF World Championship in 2006 and, the following year, took both her weight class and the open class. In 2010, by then training at Rodrigo Cavaca’s academy in Santos, she surprised everyone by fighting the Worlds four weight classes above her own, after a teammate challenged her to enter the same division so they could close out the final together. She won that year and the next four, through 2014.

She was inducted into the IBJJF Hall of Fame in 2014.