Piter Frank

Piter Frank Almeida Silva was born on March 11, 1985, in Juquehy, a beach in São Sebastião, on the coast of São Paulo state, Brazil. He started Jiu-Jitsu at 24, late by the standards of the sport, and came up through the belts in Santos, where he also earned a degree in Physical Education. He is a black belt under Rodrigo Cavaca and now represents Alliance.

Based in California, he is a coach and co-owner at Alliance National City, in the San Diego area. The masters divisions, for athletes over 30, made him one of the best-known names in the IBJJF. He finished the 2022/23 season ranked second overall in Master 2, with gold in his weight class and in the open class at the 2022 World Master and the 2023 Europeans, plus titles at the Brazilian Nationals and the Pans. He won the World Master again at middleweight in 2023 and 2024.

His fame outside the federation circuit came at BJJ Stars, a Brazilian superfight event, through his rivalry with Caio Almeida and his flying armbar. Before their 2023 superfight, he summed up his own style to VF Comunica: “I am a finisher, I don’t care about points, I am a shark, I like to see blood (laughs).” In 2024 he beat Celsinho Venicius at BJJ Stars 12, and in 2025 he submitted Nicolas Renier with a reverse triangle at ADXC 9 in Paris.

At the 2024 Europeans in Paris, he gave Mica Galvão a private armbar lesson at the request of Melqui Galvão, Mica’s father and coach. In the interview he gave after the tournament, he argued that a masters athlete can make a living from competing: “I am here to prove that it is possible to earn a salary fighting, it is possible to earn a purse fighting, it is possible to travel to fight.” In 2026, now in Master 3, he won the Pans at middleweight.