João Nicolite

Joao Nicolite is a black belt under Davi Ramos and, in 2026, won the IBJJF American Nationals and the Jiu-Jitsu CON No-Gi, both at super-heavyweight. He returns to UFC BJJ on October 29, at UFC BJJ 13, against Mexico’s Martin Gonzalez at middleweight. In his debut, in June, he lost to Nick Rodriguez.

Born on October 28, 2002, in Armacao dos Buzios, a beach town in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he started Jiu-Jitsu at age seven, in January 2010, at a social project near his home, and began competing six months later. He spent two years there and then moved to a Checkmat-affiliated gym, also in Buzios, run by Igor Rodrigues, where he trained until purple belt.

Set on making a living from competition, he moved to the state capital and joined Atos Rio de Janeiro under Davi Ramos, an ADCC champion. As a brown belt in 2023, he won the No-Gi European Championship, took bronze at the Brazilian Nationals and finished the season as the No. 1 heavyweight in the CBJJ gi ranking and the IBJJF no-gi ranking. Ramos gave him his black belt in July 2023. His nickname, “Nicolitz,” came from a joke among training partners about the big throws he used to hit in matches, which they called “Nicolitz Airlines.”

In 2024 he went to the United States and started training at Caio Terra’s academy in San Jose, California, the team he then began to represent. That year he beat Gustavo Batista by decision at the ADCC Brazilian Trials, took silver at the American Nationals at heavyweight, losing the final to Adam Wardzinski, and won bronze in the open class at No-Gi Worlds. He was also invited to The Crown, the IBJJF’s invitation-only event, where he lost to Gustavo Batista in the first match of the heavyweight Grand Prix.

In 2025 he won the Jiu-Jitsu CON No-Gi at heavyweight. In 2026 he moved up a division. In the first two months of the year he competed at the IBJJF Opens in San Jose, Los Angeles, Albuquerque and Sacramento. In June he won the American Nationals. “Thank God, yesterday I won my first American national title, beating 2 world champions in the super-heavyweight division,” he wrote, in Portuguese. In September he won the Jiu-Jitsu CON again, this time at super-heavyweight, and showed up as No. 1 in the IBJJF no-gi ranking for the division. “Last year I finished the season as first in the ranking at heavyweight, and since the start of this year I have been testing myself in this division,” he posted.

His UFC BJJ debut came on June 4, 2026, at UFC BJJ 9, against Nick Rodriguez, who submitted him with a rear naked choke in the first round. “Yesterday I made my UFC BJJ debut. Unfortunately, I did not get the result I wanted. That is part of any athlete’s journey. We do not control the results, but we can always control how much we dedicate ourselves to something,” he wrote the next day. When he confirmed the match against Gonzalez, he celebrated: “Very excited to be back and to represent our country one more time!”

A guard passer by style, he gets a good share of his submissions from leg attacks: 11 of his 30 recorded submissions came by heel hook or straight ankle lock. Away from competition, he runs the kids competition program at Morgan Hill Jiu Jitsu, in California, where he teaches alongside his partner, Jaine Fragoso, who makes her UFC BJJ debut on the same event.