Lana Stefanac

Lana Stefanac won heavyweight and the open class at the 2009 Worlds, in Long Beach, in the division that combined brown and black belts. Still a brown belt, she beat Luciana Dias in the weight final and, in the open class, got past Gabi Garcia in the semifinal and Kyra Gracie in the final, 5-2, with a takedown and a guard pass. She received her black belt right there, from Randy Bloom. “I got promoted on the podium after beating Kyra Gracie,” she told BJJ Legends.

According to GRACIEMAG, she was the first fighter from outside Brazil to win the open class of the top division at Worlds. Born on June 16, 1975, in Cleveland, she started Jiu-Jitsu in 2003, after training Muay Thai, and rose quickly through the colored belts, with Pans titles at blue belt in 2006 and at purple in 2007. That same year she was the ADCC runner-up over 67 kg, beaten by Penny Thomas.

In MMA she had six fights between 2006 and 2008 and won them all, four by submission. One of the decision wins came over Japan’s Megumi Yabushita, at Smackgirl.

In 2011 she returned to the Worlds podium with two bronzes, at heavyweight and in the open class, and announced she would leave competition to pursue a career in law enforcement.