Emily Leyva

Emily Lynn Leyva was born and raised in San Diego, California. The daughter of a Mexican immigrant father, she and her sister were raised by two hardworking parents who taught them early a lesson she carries onto the mat: “you need to work for everything you want in life and nothing is handed to you.”

She started jiu-jitsu at 4. Her dad had friends whose kids already trained, and he thought the sport would be good for a high-energy girl. “I was a kid with a lot of energy who already liked to fight my cousins,” she recalls. Her first instructor was Kevin Hoosani at Ramona Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Ramona, in the San Diego area, where she earned belts up to grey-white.

When her family moved to Chula Vista, she switched to Gracie Humaitá, where Leticia Ribeiro promoted her from yellow-white up to blue belt. As a juvenile blue belt, she decided to take her career seriously and moved to Atos. “I saw the dream team traveling together and winning everything and I wanted to train with girls my age and with the same goals as me,” she said. From purple to black belt, she was promoted by André Galvão and Angélica Galvão.

With Atos, as a juvenile, she was the blue belt world runner-up in 2022 and 2023 and won her weight class and the open class at the 2023 Brazilian Nationals.

In the adult division she began collecting the biggest titles on the calendar at every belt. At blue belt in 2024 she won the Europeans, the Pans and the Brazilian Nationals, taking both her weight class and the open class at the Pans, and was the world runner-up in her weight class and the open class. At purple belt in 2025 she won the same three tournaments plus the Worlds at light-featherweight.

In 2026, at brown belt, she swept them all: Europeans, Pans, Brazilian Nationals and Worlds, all at light-featherweight. In the Worlds final she beat France’s Sana Ndiaye. In the open class she took bronze at the Brazilian Nationals and the Worlds. In no-gi, she had already won world titles at purple and brown belt.

Atos promoted her to black belt after the Worlds. In her debut, at the June 2026 American Nationals, she lost her first match to Esther Garwood but finished with two gold medals, in gi and no-gi, beating Garwood in the deciding match. She then also won the No-Gi Pans at black belt.

She had thought about a career in jiu-jitsu since juvenile, but it took shape at purple belt. “It really felt like a possibility in my purple belt when I started getting sponsors and invited to superfights,” she said. Among her biggest challenges, she points to injuries: “My biggest challenges have been coming back from injuries.” Among the achievements that shaped her path, she highlights her Grand Slams at purple and brown belt and her No-Gi Pans title at black belt.