Maria Carolina Vicentini

Maria Carolina Vicentini was born on November 23, 2001, in São Paulo, the capital of the Brazilian state of São Paulo — the city where her lifelong relationship with grappling took root. Her introduction to the sport came through family: her father, an avid grappling practitioner, enrolled Maria Carolina and her brother at B9 at around four years of age. What began as a family habit quickly revealed itself as a calling.

The instructor who first shaped Vicentini's game was Marco Barbosa, affectionately known as "Barbosinha" — a historic figure in both judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu across the São Paulo region. Barbosa guided Maria Carolina from her earliest days on the mats through her brown belt, building the technical and competitive foundation upon which her entire career would stand. By age six, Vicentini was already competing in BJJ, establishing a consistent competitive habit that would define her trajectory through every rank that followed.

At fifteen, Vicentini expanded her athletic horizons by adding freestyle wrestling to her training schedule. For approximately a year, she competed in both BJJ and wrestling nearly every weekend — testing herself across two demanding combat sports simultaneously. The experience sharpened her mat attributes, but the relentless pace of a dual-sport competitive schedule ultimately proved unsustainable for a developing teenager.

After weighing both disciplines, Vicentini made the pragmatic decision to step away from wrestling and channel her full energy into jiu-jitsu. The choice paid dividends. By seventeen, she had made an even more deliberate commitment — not just to compete in BJJ, but to pursue it as a professional career. That decision set the stage for a rapid rise through the colored belt ranks on the international circuit, with the teenager, known to teammates and fans as "Maca," steadily building a reputation as one of the most promising competitors of her generation.

Dominant Performances on the International Stage

Vicentini's brown belt years produced some of the most consequential results of her competitive life. In 2023, she delivered a dominant run on the international stage, claiming gold at the IBJJF World Championship, the IBJJF Pan Championship, and the CBJJ Brazilian Nationals — all at brown belt — in a stretch that confirmed her readiness for the sport's highest level.

Joining Dream Art and Earning the Black Belt

That same year, Vicentini made the decision to leave her longtime training environment and join Dream Art, a world-champion team with a professional competitive structure suited to the next stage of her development. The transition proved seamless, and her momentum never stalled under the new banner.

The culmination of her colored belt journey arrived in June 2023, when Maria Carolina received her black belt in a ceremony led by Lucas Gualberto, the head of Dream Art, and Marcos Froede, her partner. The promotion closed a decorated run spanning the blue, purple, and brown belt divisions — a career that included multiple IBJJF World Championship podiums, continental titles, and national championships across both gi and no-gi formats.

The Move to Art of Jiu-Jitsu

Vicentini launched her black belt career with Dream Art following her June 2023 promotion, but 2024 brought a significant new chapter. She made the move to Art of Jiu-Jitsu (AOJ), the renowned academy in Costa Mesa, California, led by Guilherme Mendes — one of the most respected coaching environments in the sport. The transition represented a deliberate step toward elite development at the highest level of professional competition.

Early Black Belt Results

The competitive results backed the decision. At the 2024 IBJJF World Championship, Vicentini competed in the Medium Heavy division and earned a silver medal — a strong debut result at black belt Worlds that placed her firmly among the top competitors in her weight class. Later in 2024, she added a third-place finish at the CBJJ Brazilian Nationals (Brasileiro) at black belt, further demonstrating her consistency across the major events on the annual calendar.

Through her early black belt years, Vicentini showcased the versatility that has defined her entire career — performing at an elite level in both gi and no-gi formats, across multiple weight classes, and under different team structures. Her move to AOJ under Guilherme Mendes signals an athlete committed not only to competing at the top of her division, but to continuing to evolve her game within one of the sport's most high-performance environments.