Thaynara Victoria

Thaynara Victoria Soares da Silva is a black belt, the 2025 IBJJF Pan champion and a world champion at blue and brown belt. On October 8, 2026, in her UFC BJJ debut, she submitted Danielle Kelly with an armbar at 2:53 of the first round at strawweight and earned one of the night’s submission bonuses.

Born in 2003 and raised in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, she started competing as a kid for PSLPB Cicero Costha. At orange belt she won the Brazilian Nationals in 2017 and 2018, and as a juvenile blue belt she won the 2019 South Americans.

In the adult division, now with DreamArt, she won the 2021 Worlds at blue belt in both her weight class and the open class. At purple belt she was world runner-up in 2022 and 2023, won the 2023 Pans and, in no-gi, won the Pans and the Brazilian Nationals and took silver at the Worlds in her division and the open class in 2022. At brown belt in 2024 she won the Pans and the Worlds at light-featherweight and took bronze at the Europeans.

She earned her black belt in 2024 and, less than a year later, won her first major title at the new belt. At the 2025 Pans she knocked out Mayssa Bastos in the semifinals, one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, and beat Shelby Murphey 2-0 in the final. “God has the best plans for us and at the right time it happens, I always think about that, with a lot of faith, hard work and dedication,” she wrote after the title. In the same post, she thanked her coach Marco Mendes, who trains with her every day.

Since then she has reached the podium at the 2026 Worlds and Europeans, with bronze at both, and won the 2026 Brazilian No-Gi Nationals at featherweight. She has also moved into pro events: at WNO 32 in March 2026, she submitted Mona Bailey at 2:55, avenging her loss to the American at the 2025 No-Gi Worlds.

Known for her leg attacks, she came into UFC BJJ training with Bruno Bastos and Cássia Moura, and won with an arm attack. Before the match she announced the challenge like this: “I’m back on the mats and ready for another challenge. I’ll be competing in the Strawweight division and I’m coming prepared to put on a great fight.”