Omar Nada

Omar Tariq Nada is 21, competes for Saudi Arabia and trains in New York. The IBJJF describes him as born in the United Kingdom and raised in Saudi Arabia, where he took up Jiu-Jitsu. He started in Jeddah in August 2016, at age 11, alongside his brother Abdullah.

Still a teenager, he began representing the Saudi national team at tournaments of the JJIF, the international ju-jitsu federation. He took bronze at the Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023, at 18, and won the federation’s world title in 2024, in the under-94 kg (207 lb) division. In the United States he studies at New York University and trains at Unity Jiu-Jitsu, Murilo Santana’s academy.

On the IBJJF circuit he won the open class world title at purple belt in 2024. At brown belt he won the 2025 Europeans at heavyweight and, at Worlds that year, took silver in the open class, in a run that included a win over José Steve, and bronze in his weight class.

The 2026 Worlds closed out his time in the colored belts. In a single day, May 28, he had six matches and won super-heavyweight and the open class. In the weight class final he beat Luiz Rigo, who had won Europeans, Pans and Brazilian Nationals that season. In the open class he got past Jeferson “Tijolo” Silva, the heavyweight champion, and beat Dominic Manno 4-0 in the final. “since i started training as an 11 year old in August 2016 i have been working hard for performances like these,” he wrote on Instagram.

According to the IBJJF, he finished brown belt as the No. 1 ranked athlete in the world at that rank. On September 23 he received his black belt from Murilo Santana at Unity.

Nine days later, on October 2, he won gold at the Asian Games in Nagoya, in the under-94 kg (207 lb) division, submitting South Korea’s Park Sung-hu in the final. It was Saudi Arabia’s first ju-jitsu gold in Asian Games history. The next day his brother Abdullah, 19, also won gold.

His game starts on the feet. The IBJJF points to his physicality, his guard passing and his takedowns, which decided the open class final at Worlds.

At The Crown on November 8 he competes at heavyweight and makes his black belt debut at an IBJJF tournament. In the bracket are five athletes with a world title or a Worlds podium at black belt: Fellipe Andrew, Gustavo “Braguinha” Batista, Vinicius Liberati, Leo Ferreira and Windson Torres. He has never faced any of the five.