Penny Thomas

Penny Thomas reached six straight medium-heavyweight finals at the Worlds, from 2007 to 2012, and won two of them. In 2007, still a brown belt and representing Rickson Gracie, she beat Christina Thomas in the final in Long Beach, in the division that combined brown and black belts. In 2009, now a black belt competing for Gracie Humaitá, she beat Valerie Worthington in the final and also took bronze in the open class, won by Lana Stefanac.

Born on July 2, 1979, in Durban, South Africa, she opened one of the country’s first jiu-jitsu academies with Micah Atkinson, set up in a garage, before moving to Hawaii in 2006 and to San Diego the following year. She received her black belt from Luis Heredia in 2008 and also trained with Leticia Ribeiro.

In her other four world finals she took silver against Ana Laura Cordeiro in 2008, Michelle Nicolini in 2010, Talita Nogueira in 2011 and Fernanda Mazzelli in 2012. In 2011 she also won bronze in the open class. At ADCC she won the over-67 kg division in 2007, beating Shannon Hooper, Celita Schutz and Lana Stefanac, and was runner-up over 60 kg in 2009.

She lives on Maui, Hawaii, where she teaches jiu-jitsu and yoga. In 2019 she won silver at the World Masters.