Chayse Diekema

Chayse Diekema was born on April 5, 1999, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, building a multi-sport foundation that would eventually carry her to the highest levels of competitive jiu-jitsu. From as young as four and five years old, she was already immersed in physical activity, taking up soccer, ballet, and taekwondo simultaneously. Among those early pursuits, taekwondo proved the most enduring — a defining discipline that shaped her athletic identity throughout her youth.

Diekema committed deeply to the Korean martial art, competing internationally at events such as the Euro-Asian Championship in Turkey and ultimately earning a 3rd-degree black belt before stepping away from the sport at age 19. Alongside taekwondo, she added lacrosse during her school years, pursuing it for approximately five years. When high school arrived, she transitioned to wrestling, competing for four years between the ages of 14 and 18 at both the school and club levels — all while continuing taekwondo in parallel. The ability to balance multiple demanding disciplines simultaneously reflected a competitive drive and work ethic that would later define her trajectory in jiu-jitsu.

Despite her extensive martial arts background, jiu-jitsu did not immediately capture Chayse Diekema's imagination. In 2015, at age 16, a close taekwondo training partner convinced her to try it. The early experience was humbling. After years of excelling in taekwondo and wrestling, she found that the submission game did not come naturally — a reality that sparked genuine frustration during those formative mat sessions.

It was her friend's persistence rather than her own enthusiasm that kept her returning. Gradually, her understanding of the sport deepened, and with that understanding came a genuine passion that grew to overtake her day-to-day life. What began as a reluctant experiment became a consuming pursuit. Recognizing that her local gym could no longer support her emerging competitive ambitions, Diekema made a decisive move at age 20: she relocated to Sherwood Park, Alberta, to train at Frontline under coach Pedro Lott. The willingness to uproot herself in pursuit of a higher level of training marked a clear turning point — the moment a casual practitioner became a dedicated competitive athlete.

Pedro Lott became one of the most influential figures in Chayse Diekema's development as a martial artist and competitor. From the moment she arrived at Frontline in Sherwood Park, Lott guided her through every belt rank from blue to black belt. The athlete-coach relationship proved highly productive, with Diekema's colored belt years generating consistent podium finishes at some of the most competitive events on the IBJJF calendar — results that validated both her commitment to the sport and the environment she had chosen.

The journey from reluctant beginner to black belt spanned approximately eight years. On June 13, 2023, that journey reached a formal milestone when Lott promoted Diekema to black belt in an official ceremony. She competes under the Frontline banner, affiliated with the Carlson Gracie Team, representing Canada on the global competition circuit in the Peso Leve division at 64 kg / 141.5 lbs.

Pan Championship Performances

Chayse Diekema's colored belt career established her as one of the most decorated Canadian competitors on the IBJJF circuit. Her performances at the IBJJF Pan Championship — among the sport's most prestigious annual events — stand as a defining highlight of this period. She claimed gold at the Pan Championship on two separate occasions as a purple belt, in 2020 and 2021, then returned to the podium as a brown belt in 2023 to earn silver. She also captured silver at the IBJJF Pan Championship No-Gi in 2021 as a purple belt, adding a meaningful no-gi dimension to an already impressive résumé.

European and International Results

Diekema's results at the IBJJF European Open further underscored the breadth of her competitive range. She won gold at the European Open as a blue belt in 2020 and repeated the achievement as a brown belt in 2023 — a demonstration of sustained excellence across belt levels that few competitors manage. In 2023, she also captured gold at the CBJJ Brazilian Nationals as a brown belt, a particularly meaningful result for a non-Brazilian athlete competing on home soil for her opponents.

Domestic Consistency

At the IBJJF American Nationals in 2022, Diekema reached the podium twice at brown belt — winning gold in one division and bronze in another — reflecting the depth and consistency that characterized her performances across both domestic and international stages.

Following her black belt promotion in June 2023, Chayse Diekema wasted little time demonstrating that her colored belt success translated directly to the elite division. Later in 2023, she won gold at the IBJJF JJ CON No-Gi event — a strong early signal of her ability to perform against elite-level competition. She followed that result with a gold medal at the IBJJF Nashville Open in 2023, continuing the pattern of tournament success that defined her pre-black belt years.

Competing under the Canadian flag, Diekema carries her country's representation into major IBJJF events on the international circuit. Her early black belt results point to a competitor who has made the transition to the elite division with confidence, drawing on a deep well of competitive experience accumulated across years of colored belt campaigning at the sport's highest-profile events.