Gabrieli “Gabi” Pessanha

Gabi Pessanha went into the 2026 Worlds tied with Bia Mesquita at ten titles each. She came out with 12 and alone at the top of the list of female champions. The InFight athlete from Rio de Janeiro won super-heavyweight and the open class for the sixth straight year and now shares the record for open class titles with Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida.

The math works out like this: six titles at super-heavyweight and six in the open class, always as a double, from 2021 to 2026. Adding her three No-Gi Worlds titles, from 2024 and 2025, makes 15. From 2022 to 2024 she went further and won her weight class and the open class at all four Grand Slam tournaments, Europeans, Pans, the Brazilian Nationals and Worlds, in all three seasons.

Gabrieli Pessanha de Souza Marinho was born on August 8, 2000, and grew up in Cidade de Deus, a neighborhood on the west side of Rio de Janeiro. She tried soccer, ballet and judo before starting Jiu-Jitsu at age 11, in the free classes Marcio de Deus had been teaching in the community since 2010.

She still has the same coach. It was Marcio de Deus, of InFight, who gave her the black belt in June 2019, when Gabi was 18. She got there after winning juvenile Worlds in 2016 and 2017, Worlds at purple belt in 2018, in her weight class and the open class, and Worlds at brown belt in 2019.

Not many people have beaten her as a black belt. She has ten losses in 276 matches. Four were to Yara Soares and two to Tayane Porfirio, most of them in 2021, her first full season as a black belt. Ana Vieira also beat her that year. Since then she has lost only to Tayane, in the super-heavyweight final of the 2025 Brazilian Nationals, to Elisabeth Clay, in the open class final of the 2025 No-Gi Worlds, to Sarah Galvão, in the open class final of the 2026 Pans, and to Anabel Lopez, by decision, in her ADCC debut in September 2026.

At the 2026 Worlds, Gabi submitted Simone Abreu with an ankle lock in about 30 seconds and beat Tayane Porfirio 9-0 in the super-heavyweight final. In the open class she beat Lillian Marchand 4-0, submitted Maria Vitória Ruffatto-Gilpin and beat Tayane again, 2-0, minutes after the first final. In September the IBJJF revised both podiums and moved the silver to Luane Carvalho, at super-heavyweight, and to Sarah Galvão, in the open class. Gabi’s titles did not change.

At The Crown, she has won all three editions at super-heavyweight, in 2023, 2024 and 2025. As of October 7 she was not among the athletes the IBJJF had confirmed for the 2026 edition, set for November 8.