Mayara Custodio

Mayara Custódio was born on February 17, 1987, in Londrina, Paraná, Brazil. Long before she set foot on a grappling mat, she had already established herself as a serious competitor. As an accomplished weightlifter and arm wrestler, Custódio demonstrated the kind of raw physical aptitude and competitive hunger that would later translate seamlessly to jiu-jitsu. In 2011, she claimed a state arm-wrestling title — a result that spoke volumes about her strength, composure under pressure, and instinct for head-to-head competition.

Jiu-jitsu entered Custódio's life at age 26, not by design, but through an act of sibling devotion. Her younger brother had grown up managing physical limitations stemming from a difficult labor, requiring multiple stages of physiotherapy throughout his childhood. When he turned ten, his physiotherapist recommended incorporating sport into his routine — identifying jiu-jitsu as a particularly beneficial option. Mayara brought her brother to a local gym in Londrina to support him, and stepped onto the mats herself. What began as solidarity became the foundation of a competitive career.

Both siblings trained under Norival Diego Rossi at a local Gracie Barra affiliate in Londrina, where Mayara spent the next four years building her technical foundation and progressing through the early belt ranks.

Custódio trained under Norival Diego Rossi at the Londrina Gracie Barra affiliate from her introduction to the sport through to her purple belt, steadily building a competitive record along the way. Committing to professional grappling was not a decision she made lightly — she was past 30 when she chose to make jiu-jitsu the central focus of her life, a threshold many athletes treat as a ceiling rather than a launching point.

The pivot came through a personal connection. Custódio began dating a member of Checkmat Paraná, which opened a direct line to coach Sebastian Lalli, one of the most respected instructors in competitive grappling. Recognizing the opportunity, she relocated from Londrina to Curitiba, training full-time with Checkmat Paraná under Lalli and living at the team facility under a training scholarship — a commitment that signaled both her ambition and the team's belief in her potential.

Within the Checkmat network, Custódio trained across the team's broader infrastructure, bringing her into contact with Leonardo Vieira in 2019 — a collaboration she returned to the following year. The culmination of this period came in August 2020, when Sebastian Lalli awarded Custódio her black belt in Paraná, marking the close of a colored belt career that had been anything but ordinary.

Despite beginning jiu-jitsu at 26 and not entering serious competition until after 30, Mayara Custódio assembled one of the more decorated colored belt records of her generation. Her climb from early promise to championship-level consistency was rapid and sustained across multiple belt levels and tournament formats.

Blue Belt Breakthrough

Her competitive debut registered immediate results. In 2015, she won the CBJJ Brazilian Nationals Novice division at blue belt — an early indicator of her competitive ceiling. The following year, she broke through at the international level, claiming gold at the IBJJF European Open at blue belt and adding a CBJJ Brazilian Nationals title in 2016, establishing herself as one of the stronger blue belt competitors in her division.

Purple Belt Dominance

The purple belt years represented the height of her colored belt output. Custódio won back-to-back CBJJ Brazilian Nationals titles in 2018 and 2019. In 2019, she also secured gold at the IBJJF European Open at purple belt and claimed the Masters World Championship title — a run that demonstrated both her consistency and her ability to perform across different tournament formats. Her performance at the 2019 IBJJF World Championship was particularly striking: she took second place in her weight division, but captured gold in the open class — a result that underscored her capacity to compete across weight categories and outlast heavier opponents in the absolute bracket.

Brown Belt and Black Belt Promotion

The brown belt chapter, though brief, continued the pattern. In 2019, Custódio won the IBJJF American Nationals at brown belt and added another Masters World Championship gold, having also claimed the Masters title at purple belt in 2018. By the time she received her black belt in August 2020, she had compiled titles across blue, purple, and brown belt divisions on both national and international stages — an unusually complete colored belt résumé for an athlete who came to the sport so late.

Immediate Black Belt Impact

Custódio's transition to black belt competition in 2020 came without any adjustment period. Competing at the Masters World Championship shortly after her promotion, she won gold in the weight division — a result that confirmed her standing among the best in her category. In the absolute final, she was edged out by Maria Malyjasiak by a 4-0 decision, taking silver in the open class. The performance was a nuanced one: dominant enough to reach both finals, sharp enough to claim a weight division title, but falling just short of a full sweep at the masters level. That same year, she reached the final of the IBJJF American Nationals Absolute, again taking second — a pattern of finals appearances that reflected both her consistency and the caliber of opposition she regularly faced.

World Championship No-Gi Title

The defining result of her black belt career arrived in 2021, when Custódio captured the IBJJF World Championship No-Gi title — the most prestigious no-gi event on the IBJJF calendar. The victory validated her submission grappling skill set and confirmed the completeness of her development across both gi and no-gi formats. For an athlete who came to the sport at 26 and made her first serious competitive commitment past 30, winning a world title at black belt stands as an achievement few in the sport's history can match in terms of trajectory.

Sustained Elite Competitiveness

Custódio has continued to perform at the highest levels following that title. In 2023, she reached the final of the IBJJF Pan Championship, earning silver in another demonstration of her longevity and sustained competitive edge. Competing in the Pesadíssimo division (79+kg / 175.0 lbs), she shows a consistent capacity to excel in both weight and absolute competition at the black belt level — making her one of the most compelling athletes to emerge from Checkmat Paraná's competitive program.