Melissa Cueto

Melissa Cueto won the heavyweight division at Worlds twice, in 2021 and 2023, against different finalists: in 2021 she submitted Izadora Cristina; in 2023 she beat Larissa Dias on advantages.

Born in Pelotas, in southern Brazil, on June 21, 1990, she did about three years of taekwondo as a teenager and started Jiu-Jitsu at 17, against her parents’ wishes. Antônio Pedro Dias, known as Kapincho, took her from white belt to brown, and Leonardo Morosetti gave her a black belt in December 2018. That year, still a brown belt, she had won Worlds and the Brazilian Nationals.

She spent time on Diego Unfer’s team before joining Alliance in 2021, the year of her first black belt world title. Before that she had already taken bronze at the 2019 Worlds. In 2022 she won Pans.

In her 2023 run she beat Maria Gonçalves 4-0 and Nathiely de Jesus by referee decision before the final. At the same Worlds she took open class bronze, stopped by Gabi Pessanha in the semifinal. In 2024 she was back on the heavyweight podium with bronze, after losing to Tamiris Silva on advantages.

Since then she has been winning titles on both sides of the Atlantic. She won the 2025 Europeans at heavyweight, took silver at super-heavyweight at The Crown in 2024 and won Jiu-Jitsu CON in 2024 and 2025. At the 2026 Worlds she lost in the quarterfinals to Izadora Cristina on advantages. She now represents Alliance Inland Empire.