Three UFC BJJ champions with their eyes on MMA
Musumeci and Lucas Valente gave up their belts, and Renato Canuto has a fight set for December; Claudia Gadelha says she wants careers for athletes who do not need to switch sports
In a few months, two UFC BJJ champions gave up their belts to focus on MMA, and the organization’s newest champion has an MMA fight scheduled for December. The trend came up at the UFC BJJ 12 press conference on Thursday, October 8, in Las Vegas, on the same night president Claudia Gadelha said the goal of the event is to offer a career to athletes who do not need to switch sports.
Musumeci: “Obsessed with training mma”
The most recent case is Mikey Musumeci. The American announced during UFC BJJ 12 that he was vacating the bantamweight title, without a loss in the organization. “I am 30 years old and have been obsessed with training mma and want to prioritize my training for mma!” he wrote. He said he still trains jiu-jitsu every day and plans to keep doing super fights in UFC BJJ.
Lucas Valente: three months as champion
Before him, it was Lucas Valente. The Brazilian, a two-time No-Gi world champion, won the lightweight title on April 2, when he submitted Carlos Henrique with a foot lock in the third round at UFC BJJ 7, and never defended it. According to the official UFC BJJ 12 broadcast, he gave up the title about three months later to focus on MMA, fatherhood and opening his own academy.
Canuto: a jiu-jitsu belt and an MMA fight in December
The title that was Valente’s now belongs to Renato Canuto, who beat Ethan Crelinsten at UFC BJJ 12. The new champion has an MMA fight scheduled for December and talked about both paths at the press conference. “I really want to be able to show my jiu-jitsu my next MMA fights,” he said.
Canuto made it clear, though, that he does not plan to drop the belt. “For now, we’ll be defending this title for a good while,” he said. Asked if he dreams of holding a title in UFC BJJ and another in the UFC, he answered: “I think in my head I’m the closest guy to be doing that at this moment.” He added that winning a belt in MMA is “far from now.”
What Claudia Gadelha says
When she talked about Canuto’s win, the UFC BJJ president explained what the organization is trying to do. “We want to build careers for athletes that don’t want or don’t have to now go fight MMA, and Renato Canuto is the proof of our work here,” said Gadelha, who added that the Brazilian and his wife bought a house with the money they made in the UFC’s jiu-jitsu events.
Asked if she would like the champion to take it easier on MMA, she answered by talking about his next challenges in jiu-jitsu. “I don’t think his life is going to get any easier as the UFC BJJ champion,” she said. About Musumeci, she said she is sure he will be good at MMA and that he can make it to the UFC.
The road also goes the other way
UFC BJJ 12 itself had an example of the opposite route. Gilbert Burns ended his MMA career in April, went back to jiu-jitsu and, according to Gadelha, asked to compete against the best. Gadelha herself is a former UFC fighter.
The subject divides even those who made the move. Max Gimenis, a black belt who now fights in the UFC, recently gave advice to anyone thinking about switching: “Don’t go.” In his view, jiu-jitsu already offers enough opportunities for an athlete to build a career without changing sports.
Lightweight has had three champions in less than a year and a half
Valente’s exit helps explain why the belt Renato Canuto won is the one that has changed hands the most among the men in UFC BJJ. Since the first event, in June 2025, the division has had three champions, all of them Brazilian. In the other men’s weight classes, no champion has lost a title match so far.
The first owner of the belt was Carlos Henrique. The athlete from Manaus, in northern Brazil, beat Danilo Moreira at UFC BJJ 1, on June 25, 2025, and became the first Brazilian champion in the organization. In October of that year, he defended the title against Matheus Gabriel at UFC BJJ 3.
His career almost ended before that. He told VF Comunica after winning the belt that, before he moved to Sao Paulo to train, he was close to quitting because he thought the sport was not for him.
With the belt vacant, the organization matched Renato Canuto against Canada’s Ethan Crelinsten. It was the Brazilian’s second title match in UFC BJJ. In July 2025, he challenged Andrew Tackett at welterweight and was submitted in the first round. After two decision wins, he moved down a weight class and beat Crelinsten by unanimous decision.
In December 2024, when he was still competing at the UFC Fight Pass Invitational, Canuto told VF Comunica he was looking for someone who would value the Jiu-Jitsu he had invested in for so long. His full career is on Renato Canuto’s athlete page.
Who is next in line
The first challenge for the new champion is to do what only Carlos Henrique has done in this division: defend the belt. At UFC BJJ 12 itself, two lightweights won. Landon Elmore submitted Max Livingston in the first round, and John Chandler beat Raphael Gomez by decision to go 2-0 in the organization. At UFC BJJ 13, on October 29, Tristan Sainz faces David Weintraub in the same division.
Among the women, featherweight is in a similar situation, with three champions since December 2025: Aurelie Le Vern, Rebeca Lima and Brianna Ste-Marie.
Can UFC BJJ keep its champions in jiu-jitsu? Leave your opinion in the comments.
