Charlotte von Baumgarten

Charlotte Von Baumgarten was born on October 12, 1987, in Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany — a city that produced a fighter with an exceptional appetite for competition. From adolescence, she pursued striking disciplines with uncommon breadth, accumulating approximately 40 amateur bouts across Muay Thai, boxing, kickboxing, full-contact, K1, and karate, supplemented by a handful of professional appearances. That range of experience forged a well-rounded athletic foundation that would later sharpen her instincts on the grappling mat.

Her striking career earned significant international recognition. In 2006, she claimed the IFMA European Cup title at -60 kg, and the following year she captured the WKA Muay Thai World title at the same weight class, establishing herself among the top competitors on the European striking circuit. In 2009, she briefly extended her competitive reach into mixed martial arts, taking two MMA bouts. Though her time in the cage was short, it reflected a defining trait — a consistent willingness to test herself across different formats and rulesets, a characteristic that would shape her entire athletic career.

First Steps on the Mat

Charlotte Von Baumgarten's path into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu began in 2006, driven by a growing fascination with MMA and the ground game. A pivotal catalyst came after she watched Choke, the documentary following Rickson Gracie, which deepened her interest in grappling's technical and philosophical dimensions. That same year, she began attending grappling classes in Würzburg, laying the first bricks of what would become a decade-long competitive ascent through the belt ranks.

Alliance Germany and the Colored Belt Years

In 2007, Von Baumgarten relocated to Berlin to pursue veterinary medicine — a move that proved equally consequential for her BJJ development. In Berlin, she joined Alliance Germany and began training under coach Ulf Ehlert, who became the central figure in her jiu-jitsu education. Ehlert's structured methodology and mentorship shaped her technical game and competitive instincts throughout the colored belt years.

Her record across the lower belts reflects both consistency and ambition. She won gold at the IBJJF European Open at white belt in 2009, blue belt in 2010, and purple belt in 2013, demonstrating steady progression through each rank. At brown belt, she continued to raise the bar — capturing the IBJJF World Championship No-Gi title in 2014 and earning further European Open gold in 2017, results that signaled black belt-level capability well before the promotion arrived. On March 28, 2017, Ulf Ehlert awarded Von Baumgarten her black belt, a milestone that marked the culmination of nearly a decade of dedicated training and competition within the Alliance system.

After completing her veterinary medicine degree in Berlin, Von Baumgarten entered the professional medical field — a career demanding enough to create genuine tension with elite-level sport. The rigorous schedule of veterinary practice pulled her away from consistent mat time, forcing an ongoing negotiation between two deeply held commitments: a stable and meaningful career in medicine and an equally meaningful life in competitive jiu-jitsu.

The turning point came after she turned 30, when she made the deliberate decision to commit fully to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. That choice carried real personal weight, requiring her to step away from veterinary practice and leave Germany behind. She relocated to Madrid, Spain, to join Mathias Ribeiro Team, widely regarded as one of Europe's premier grappling academies. The move stands as a defining chapter in her story — a testament to the conviction required to pursue elite-level sport at an age when many athletes begin winding down.

Establishing Herself at the Top

Von Baumgarten's move to Mathias Ribeiro Team coincided with a sharp rise in her black belt competitive output, and the results validated her commitment to the sport. She established herself as one of the most consistent forces on the European circuit, building a medal record that spans multiple major international organizations.

A Run of Landmark Results

In 2018, she demonstrated global reach by winning UAEJJF Grand Slam titles in both London and Abu Dhabi in the same calendar year, while also reaching the podium at the IBJJF World Championship with a bronze medal finish. That same year, she claimed back-to-back gold at the IBJJF Masters European Open, having first won the title in 2017. The 2019 season represented her most complete performance calendar — she swept both the gi and no-gi formats of the IBJJF European Open and advanced to the final of the IBJJF World Championship, earning silver in the sport's most coveted event. She returned to the European Open podium in 2020, adding another silver medal to her growing collection.

Competing in the Peso Leve division (64 kg / 141.5 lbs), Von Baumgarten's results across the IBJJF and UAEJJF circuits reflect the kind of sustained, high-level consistency that defines elite black belt competition.

Beyond her contributions as a competitor, Charlotte Von Baumgarten serves on the instructional staff at Mathias Ribeiro Team in Madrid. The transition into coaching represents a natural progression, allowing her to channel a career spanning striking arts, colored belt competition across multiple continents, and black belt-level international titles into the development of the next generation of grapplers.

Her multidisciplinary background — encompassing Muay Thai, boxing, MMA, and over a decade of structured BJJ training — gives her a broad and nuanced perspective as an instructor, one that few coaches in European BJJ can match. Her dual role as competitor and coach reinforces Mathias Ribeiro Team's standing as one of Europe's leading grappling programs.