Leo Souza

Leonardo Souza Oliveira, known as Leleu, was born in February 2002 and grew up in Riacho Fundo II, in Brazil’s Federal District, near Brasília. He tried karate as a kid, found Jiu-Jitsu around age 11 and entered his first competition at 13, training with Rodolfo Sales at Constrictor Team.

At 15, a loss to Anderson Duarte pushed him to treat the sport as a career. As a brown belt he joined We Flow, Pedro Maia’s team, and won the 2023 American Nationals. He got his black belt from Maia on November 10 of that year.

His first major title came at the 2025 Europeans, with four submissions in four matches. Months later he took bronze at Worlds.

He opened 2026 with a superfight at the IBJJF Grand Prix, losing on points to Mateo Cardona. He moved up to middleweight at Pans and took bronze after losing to Elijah Dorsey in the semifinal. At the Jiu-Jitsu CON he won the no-gi division at 79 kg (174 lb) and, in the gi, lost twice to Tarcisio Santos, in the middleweight semifinal and the open class semifinal. He also won gold in his weight class and the open class at the San Diego Open.

According to the IBJJF, he now represents Six Blades Jiu-Jitsu. At The Crown on November 8, he shares the middleweight bracket with Tarcisio.