Ruan Alvarenga

Ruan Tiago Alvarenga grew up inside one of the best-known academies in Minas Gerais. He is the son of Iran Brasileiro Alvarenga, the coach who developed Marcelo Garcia, and started training as a child at Academia Pantera Negra in Divinópolis. His father gave him his black belt, and with Marcelo Garcia at Alliance in New York he sharpened the no-gi game that became his trademark.

His colored-belt record already pointed to grappling. He won the Brazilian No-Gi Nationals as a juvenile blue belt in 2015 and as a purple belt in 2018, the same year he won the IBJJF No-Gi Worlds at featherweight. At brown belt in 2019 he won the No-Gi Pans and the South American No-Gi and took the Brazilian ADCC trials, which sent him to that year’s World Championship in Anaheim. He returned to ADCC in 2022.

At black belt he debuted on the IBJJF circuit with gold at the 2021 South American No-Gi, in a run that included a submission of Fabricio Andrey. In 2023 he moved up to lightweight and won the Brazilian No-Gi Nationals. “I am one of the best grapplers in Brazil, maybe the best. I am going to prove it,” he told VF Comunica before his 2024 rematch with Hokage at ADXC 3, which he lost by guillotine. At ADXC he also beat AJ Agazarm and Mukhammad Shakhbanov.

In September 2025 he won the under 70 kg Grand Prix at BJJ Stars 17 in São Paulo and took home R$100,000, beating Meyram Maquiné in the final. The title came a month after his sister’s death, and he dedicated it to her.

In ONE Championship he debuted in August 2026 with a unanimous decision win over that same Meyram Maquiné and, in October, beat Shoya Ishiguro by split decision. After the second win he told VF Comunica he wants a superfight one division up: “I am 2-0 in ONE. Maybe moving up to 77 and doing a superfight with Kade would be awesome, I like big trouble.”