Margot Ciccarelli

Margot Ciccarelli was born on November 17, 1993, in London, UK, where she spent the first nineteen years of her life before a journey that carried her across the UK, Hong Kong, and ultimately the United States. Her relationship with martial arts began at age six, when she started training Wushu — a foundation that instilled body coordination, discipline, and movement awareness that would prove invaluable throughout her athletic career. From Wushu, she progressed to Chinese kickboxing and Wing Chun Kung Fu, assembling a diverse striking and close-quarters background before discovering Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

An Analytical Mind and an Artistic Eye

Ciccarelli brings an unusually broad intellectual and creative background to her practice. Her studies in mechanical engineering cultivate a systems-oriented approach to movement and technique — a mindset that maps naturally onto the problem-solving demands of high-level grappling. She has also pursued music extensively, playing guitar and violin while working as a DJ, pursuits that reflect a deep sensitivity to rhythm, timing, and flow. These creative sensibilities would later find direct expression in her co-creation of Jitz Jamming, a practice that bridges jiu-jitsu and dance.

Ciccarelli transitioned into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu after years of grounding in traditional martial arts, adapting to the grappling environment with notable speed and sophistication. Her development was shaped by a diverse range of coaches — including Rodrigo Caporal, Jude Samuel, and Guilherme Mendes — each contributing distinct technical perspectives to her evolving game. She eventually settled under the guidance of Murilo Santana at Unity JJ Academy in New York City, where she would rise to the sport's highest ranks.

Purple Belt Dominance

Her purple belt years stand among the most decorated at that level in recent memory. Ciccarelli claimed gold at the IBJJF World Championship in both 2018 and 2019, along with back-to-back victories at the AJP Abu Dhabi World Pro in 2018 and 2019. She also captured multiple IBJJF Asian Open titles (2016, 2017, 2018) and the IBJJF European Open in 2017 and 2018, establishing herself as a dominant force on the global circuit well before reaching the black belt ranks.

Brown Belt and the Road to Black Belt

Ciccarelli carried that momentum into her brown belt years, adding IBJJF World NoGi gold in 2019, the IBJJF European Open in 2020, and both the IBJJF American Nationals and American National NoGi titles in 2020. In May 2021, Murilo Santana promoted her to black belt at Unity JJ Academy in New York City — a recognition of years of elite performance and technical mastery. Ciccarelli competes in the Peso Leve division (64 kg / 141.5 lbs) and represents the United States on the international stage.

Within the BJJ community, Ciccarelli is recognized for a distinctly modern and creative competitive style that places her among the most technically adventurous practitioners of her generation. Rather than relying on classical positional frameworks, her game is built around some of the most demanding techniques in contemporary competition jiu-jitsu. The Berimbolo — a rotational back-take sequence requiring exceptional body awareness and timing — serves as a cornerstone of her offensive system, enabling dynamic transitions from guard positions directly to back control.

A Cutting-Edge Positional Arsenal

Complementing the Berimbolo, Ciccarelli deploys the Crab Ride, various Lapel Guard configurations, and the Leg Drag as central weapons in her positional arsenal. These choices reflect a deliberate engagement with the sport's most recent technical developments, anchoring her game at the cutting edge of competitive BJJ. Her work with Guilherme Mendes — a renowned specialist in guard-oriented, modern jiu-jitsu — has clearly shaped the guard-centric, movement-heavy nature of her approach.

Underpinning all of these technical choices is a deep study of body movement and spatial awareness. Ciccarelli's command of how the body occupies and transitions through space distinguishes her not only as a skilled technician but as a student of movement in the broadest sense — a quality that connects her competitive game to her work in Jitz Jamming and her wider artistic and athletic pursuits.

Since earning her black belt in May 2021, Ciccarelli has consistently demonstrated that she belongs among the world's elite competitors. Her early black belt years delivered immediate results: a runner-up finish at the IBJJF Pan Championship, a final appearance at the AJP Abu Dhabi World Pro in 2021, and a bronze medal at the IBJJF World Championship that same year — a strong debut at the sport's highest level.

Sustained Elite-Level Results

The years that followed confirmed her standing as a top-tier international competitor. At the 2023 IBJJF Asia Open, Ciccarelli captured gold in both the weight and absolute divisions — a dual victory underscoring her ability to compete effectively across multiple weight classes. She also reached the IBJJF Pan Championship final in 2023 and earned another bronze at the IBJJF World Championship that year, demonstrating sustained consistency across the gi competition calendar.

In 2024, Ciccarelli added two of the most significant results of her career. She won the IBJJF European Championship — one of the most prestigious annual titles in gi competition — and, in the no-gi realm, claimed victory at the ADCC Europe & Africa Trials, earning qualification to the ADCC World Championship, the most coveted event in submission grappling. A third-place finish at the ADCC Asia & Oceania Trials in 2024 further highlighted her willingness to compete across multiple qualifying pathways and her effectiveness in both gi and no-gi formats.

From mid-2017, Ciccarelli has been developing one of her most distinctive contributions to the grappling world: Jitz Jamming, a practice she co-founded alongside Stephanie Lee. Jitz Jamming blends the movement vocabulary of jiu-jitsu with the expressive and rhythmic elements of dance, creating a softer, more fluid mode of grappling practice that diverges from the high-intensity demands of traditional sparring.

Accessibility and Depth

The concept was designed with accessibility at its core. For practitioners physically worn down from hard training — or for those new to jiu-jitsu seeking a gentler entry point — Jitz Jamming offers a way to engage with grappling movement without the demands of full-contact rolling. For experienced practitioners, it serves as a tool for deepening body awareness, refining movement quality, and exploring the aesthetic dimensions of jiu-jitsu that competition-focused training environments often leave unexamined.

A Living Practice

Ciccarelli's pursuit of movement excellence within Jitz Jamming has extended to formal dance training. She has taken ballet private lessons with Suzi Wilson, integrating classical movement principles into her methodology and expanding the physical vocabulary that informs the practice. Research and development for the project continues to evolve, with Ciccarelli treating Jitz Jamming as a living practice rather than a fixed system. Her workshops have reached beyond New York City, including sessions in Cologne, Germany, reflecting the growing international reach of the concept.

Her musical background — playing guitar and violin and working as a DJ — feeds naturally into the rhythmic and expressive core of Jitz Jamming, reinforcing the connection between her artistic sensibilities and her identity as a martial artist. The same analytical rigor she applies to competitive jiu-jitsu drives her ongoing refinement of Jitz Jamming, making it as much an intellectual pursuit as a physical one.