Meyram Maquiné

Meyram Maquiné became only the second featherweight in history to reach the open class podium at Worlds. In 2024 the Brazilian from Manaus won his division and then took on the heavyweights all the way to the open class semifinal, for a total of nine matches at the tournament by the IBJJF’s count. Before him, only Royler Gracie, in 1997, had done it.

Born in Manaus on October 29, 2000, he started in capoeira, brought by his father, and found Jiu-Jitsu as a kid. His first coach, Alcenor Alves, took him to blue belt and encouraged him to move to São Paulo, where he got a scholarship at Luiz “Guigo” Guilherme’s academy. Starting in 2016 he also trained in the United States, spending time every year with Lloyd Irvin’s team in Maryland.

Guigo gave him his black belt on June 20, 2020, at age 19, while tournaments were on hold because of the pandemic. At his first Worlds as a black belt, in 2021, he took bronze at light-featherweight. The next year, now with Dream Art, he won the division with submissions in three of his four matches and a referee decision in the final against teammate Diego “Pato” Oliveira.

In 2023 he left Dream Art for Fratres, part of a group of eight athletes who switched at the same time, and made the light-featherweight final at Worlds again, this time taking silver. In 2024 he moved up to featherweight and won his second world title, finishing Ademir Barreto with a choke from the back in the final.

He now represents Soldiers Jiu-Jitsu, a São Paulo academy he runs with brothers Alex and Erich Munis. With his new team he reached the Worlds final again in 2025 and lost the title to João “Bisnaga” Mendes by referee decision. In May 2026 he won the Brazilian Nationals at featherweight.

His schedule has gone beyond the IBJJF. In 2026 he made his Polaris debut, submitted Marco Mendes at UFC BJJ and had his first ONE Championship match, in August in Bangkok, where he lost a decision to Ruan Alvarenga. At the gi Worlds that year he withdrew from featherweight before his first match and left the open class after his first win.