VF Comunica Data: the 20 black belts who submit the most in jiu-jitsu in 2026
First edition of the study looked at 1,093 adult black belt matches at the IBJJF Europeans, Pans, Brazilian Nationals and Worlds
Tainan Dalpra won 15 matches at the four biggest gi tournaments of 2026 and finished 14 of them by submission. That number opens the first edition of VF Comunica Data, a study that measured who submits the most among adult black belts at the IBJJF Europeans, Pans, Brazilian Nationals and Worlds. In jiu-jitsu, these four events are known as the Grand Slam.
The study looked at 1,093 matches and 538 athletes, men and women. To make the ranking, an athlete needed at least five wins across the four tournaments. The rate is the number of submissions divided by total wins. The result shows the AOJ middleweight far ahead among the athletes who competed the most, one name with a perfect 100% and women taking half of the top 20.
Tainan Dalpra: 14 submissions in 15 wins
Dalpra won the middleweight division at all four tournaments. He closed the Grand Slam season unbeaten, with a 93.3% submission rate. Eight of the submissions were chokes from the back, including all four of his matches at Worlds, where he beat Natan Chueng in the final.
His only win on points was the Pans final against Elijah Dorsey, 9-0. In the other three finals he got the tap: José Steve at the Europeans with a choke from the back, Steve again at the Brazilian Nationals with a toe hold, and Chueng at Worlds.
Andy Murasaki, the only one at 100%
First place in percentage went to another AOJ athlete. Andy Murasaki submitted all four opponents on his way to the lightweight title at the Brazilian Nationals and won his first match at Worlds by submission too, before losing to Tarcisio Santos on advantages. That is five wins and five submissions.
The gap in volume between him and Dalpra is large, and it matters when reading the ranking. With the cutoff at five wins, Murasaki leads. If the minimum goes up to eight, first place goes to Dalpra, followed by Elisabeth Clay and Jalen Fonacier.
Half of the top 20 are women
Ten of the twenty names are women, and four of them are in the top seven. Clay submitted nine of the ten opponents she beat, seven times by attacking the legs, with toe holds, straight ankle locks, a kneebar and a calf slicer. She won the middleweight title at the Brazilian Nationals by submitting Lillian Marchand in the final.
Mayssa Bastos is fourth, with six submissions in seven wins. In her title runs at the Brazilian Nationals and Worlds, at rooster weight, she submitted every opponent. Larissa Dias won Pans and Worlds at heavyweight without a loss, with four submissions in five matches, three of them by toe hold. Janaína Lebre, the lightweight world champion, has the same four in five.
Who had the most submissions in total
In raw numbers, Dalpra also leads, with 14. Right behind him are Gabrieli Pessanha and Sarah Galvão, with 13 submissions each, Pessanha in 20 wins and Galvão in 19. Pessanha lost one match in the whole sample, the open class final at Pans, to Galvão.
Erich Munis is second among the men in volume, with 11 submissions in his 16 wins, seven of them by armbar. He won the open class at both the Brazilian Nationals and Worlds.
The VF Comunica Data top 20
| Rank | Athlete | Team | Submissions | Wins | Submission rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andy Murasaki | AOJ | 5 | 5 | 100% |
| 2 | Tainan Dalpra | AOJ | 14 | 15 | 93.3% |
| 3 | Elisabeth Clay | Six Blades | 9 | 10 | 90% |
| 4 | Mayssa Bastos | AOJ | 6 | 7 | 85.7% |
| 5 | Matheus Luna | CheckMat | 5 | 6 | 83.3% |
| 6 | Larissa Dias | Elementum | 4 | 5 | 80% |
| 7 | Janaína Lebre | Lebre JJ | 4 | 5 | 80% |
| 8 | Jalen Fonacier | Alliance | 6 | 8 | 75% |
| 9 | Lillian Marchand | Atos | 9 | 13 | 69.2% |
| 10 | Erich Munis | Soldiers | 11 | 16 | 68.8% |
| 11 | Sarah Galvão | Atos | 13 | 19 | 68.4% |
| 12 | Leonardo “Leo” Ferreira | Alliance | 6 | 9 | 66.7% |
| 13 | Nicholas Maglicic | Atos | 4 | 6 | 66.7% |
| 14 | Gabrieli Pessanha | Infight | 13 | 20 | 65% |
| 15 | Jackson Nagai | CheckMat | 5 | 8 | 62.5% |
| 16 | Jansen Gomes | CheckMat | 3 | 5 | 60% |
| 17 | Yara Soares | Fratres | 3 | 5 | 60% |
| 18 | Larissa Campos | AOJ | 3 | 5 | 60% |
| 19 | Ashlee Funegra | AOJ | 7 | 12 | 58.3% |
| 20 | Harryson Pereira | Ataque Duplo | 7 | 14 | 50% |
When two athletes have the same rate, the one with more submissions ranks higher, then the one with more wins, then the one with fewer losses. AOJ is the team with the most names on the list, five. In more than half of the cases, the athlete’s most used submission was the choke from the back.
The study also shows champions with the opposite profile. Cole Abate won Pans and Worlds at featherweight with one submission in 11 wins.
How the study was done
VF Comunica Data counted only adult black belt matches, in the gi, at the Europeans (January), Pans (March), Brazilian Nationals and Worlds (both in May). The matches came from the brackets of the four tournaments. The method of each win was taken from each athlete’s match record and checked against the IBJJF’s official recaps.
Wins by walkover, by no-show and closeouts, when teammates meet and do not fight, were left out. Wins by disqualification or by an opponent’s injury count as wins without a submission. Open tournaments, no-gi events, ADCC and superfights are not part of the sample.
Seven athletes with five or more wins were left out because the method of all their wins could not be confirmed: Anderson Kauan Gomes, Igor Ribeiro, Simone Abreu, Gabriel Ávila Machado, Ethan Major, João Victor Viera and Windson Torres. Matheus Luna has one win at Pans with no confirmed method, counted here as a non-submission.
