Will Wilson

William James Wilson was born in September 2005 in Conway, Arkansas, and moved with his family to Maui, Hawaii, at age 2. He started Jiu-Jitsu at 4, brought in by his father, and trained with Christian Grandi at Carlson Gracie in Lahaina up to green belt.

The family later moved to Torrance, California, where he began training with André “Alemão” Vasconcelos, of Carlson Gracie. He was a juvenile world champion and, at purple belt in 2024, won the American Nationals and was Worlds runner-up. He got his black belt from Alemão in June 2025, at age 19. The team has ties to Marcio André’s academy in Arizona, where he often holds camps before major tournaments.

Still in 2025, now a black belt, he won Opens in Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and Seattle and was runner-up at the Jiu-Jitsu CON No-Gi. In January 2026 he won Europeans at lightweight, beating Mateo Cardona 2-0 in the final. In February he had a superfight with Cole Abate at the IBJJF Absolute Grand Prix and lost by one advantage.

At Pans he beat Eduardo Roque, Mateus Moraes and Gabriel Cardoso and lost the final to Jackson Nagai, also by one advantage. At Worlds he lost in the round of 16 to Rômulo Rocha. In the second half of the year he won the Honolulu Open at middleweight and the Chicago Open at lightweight.

At The Crown on November 8, he competes at featherweight, one weight class below the one he fought in at the season’s major tournaments.