Luiza Monteiro

Luiza Monteiro announced her retirement on the mat at the 2024 Worlds, right after winning her third world title, holding up a shirt with Leandro Lo’s face on it. According to the IBJJF, it was her 12th Worlds final as a black belt. A year later she was back in the final in Long Beach.

Born in Salvador, in the Brazilian state of Bahia, on November 21, 1988, she grew up in Niterói, near Rio de Janeiro. She did Muay Thai from age 12 and found Jiu-Jitsu as a teenager, brought by a school friend, at Equipe Luiz Paulo under coach Júnior Duarte. She got her purple belt from Fabrício Medeiros, her brown belt from Leo Vieira and her black belt from Rodrigo Cavaca, in December 2010.

Her first black belt world title came in 2015, at middleweight, with Cícero Costha’s team. The second came in 2017, now at lightweight, with New School Brotherhood, Leandro Lo’s team. In January 2018 she moved to San Diego, California, and joined Atos.

In the years that followed she came close several times, finishing as world runner-up in 2018, 2019 and 2021. In no-gi she had already won No-Gi Worlds from 2012 to 2014. In 2022, the year she lost her father and her friend Leandro Lo, she competed only once.

Her comeback began with The Crown title at lightweight in 2023, beating Nathalie Ribeiro in the final. At the 2024 Worlds, Luiza submitted every opponent: Emily Hernandez with an Ezekiel choke, Stéphanie Faure with a triangle and Brianna Ste-Marie with a toe hold in the final.

Her return in 2025 brought two silvers. She lost the Pans and Worlds finals to Janaína Lebre, the Worlds final 4-2, on a sweep by her opponent with 25 seconds left. She has not been back at the biggest IBJJF tournaments since.