Pedro Crixel

Pedro Crixel was born on November 11, 1988, in Brazil. His relationship with martial arts began long before he ever stepped onto a BJJ mat. At 13, Crixel was introduced to kung fu under Master Adriano Jagsmin D'Ávila, a discipline that would consume the next decade of his life. Immersed in Chinese combat systems, he spent approximately ten years refining technique and deepening his understanding of traditional martial arts philosophy — eventually becoming an instructor himself, a reflection of both his investment in the arts and his natural inclination toward mastery.

The years under Master D'Ávila instilled in Crixel a defining philosophical framework: that martial arts is not merely a physical pursuit but a discipline of the whole person. That foundation would prove enduring, shaping every chapter of his development that followed.

After turning 22, Crixel recognized a meaningful gap in his combat education — grappling. The decision to pursue BJJ more seriously was deliberate and informed, driven by a desire to build a more complete skill set rather than any dissatisfaction with what he had already achieved. It was the beginning of a new chapter that would ultimately transform him into a world champion.

Porto Alegre to San Diego: The Early Competitive Foundation

Crixel's entry into competitive jiu-jitsu was shaped by two black belts — Gustavo and Guilherme Campos — at the Getho Academy in Porto Alegre. Through them, he discovered the sporting dimension of BJJ and developed a competitive appetite that would carry him around the world. Getho Academy's affiliation with Atos opened a critical door: access to training camps at the Atos headquarters in San Diego, California, where Crixel trained alongside and under André Galvão. That relationship proved especially formative for his no-gi game, delivering both technical refinement and exposure to an elite competitive environment.

New York to São Paulo: Finding a Permanent Home

As a purple belt, Crixel made a pivotal move to New York City to train with João Miyao and Paulo Miyao at Unity Academy. The time with the Miyao brothers sharpened his technique and forged a connection to their original coach, Cicero Costha, and the PSLPB system that would eventually become his permanent home.

Before making that final move, Crixel returned to Brazil to train with Pedro Marocco — a relationship that grew into one of the most influential of his career. Marocco reintroduced the principles of traditional martial arts into Crixel's jiu-jitsu at a moment when he had begun to view BJJ as a purely athletic pursuit. That philosophical reorientation proved transformative, reconnecting the competitive grappler with the traditional martial artist he had always been.

In 2017, Crixel relocated to São Paulo to join Cicero Costha's PSLPB Academy full-time. He described the environment as unlike anything he had previously experienced. Under Costha's direction, he earned his brown belt and, in June 2019, received his black belt — a promotion that came directly on the heels of three world championship titles at brown belt.

Blue Belt Breakthrough

From early in his colored belt career, Crixel competed aggressively on the international IBJJF circuit, establishing himself as one of the most dangerous figures in the rooster weight division (57.5 kg / 127.0 lbs). His breakout arrived in 2013, when he captured the IBJJF World Championship title in the gi at blue belt — a result that announced him as a serious force in the Peso Galo division.

Crixel built on that momentum with continued excellence at the sport's highest colored belt stages. In 2014, he won the IBJJF World No-Gi Championship at blue belt, proving that his skills translated effectively across both rulesets. That same year, he reached the final of the IBJJF World Championship (gi) at blue belt, finishing as runner-up — a result that underscored his remarkable consistency at the elite level. In 2015, he added the IBJJF Pan American Championship at blue belt, reinforcing his dominance in the rooster weight class at that rank.

Purple Belt Progression

The step up to purple belt brought stiffer competition, but Crixel continued to perform at the highest level. A third-place finish at the IBJJF World Championship at purple belt in 2016 confirmed that he remained among the division's best as he developed toward the upper ranks of the colored belt system.

The brown belt phase of Crixel's career, conducted under Cicero Costha at PSLPB, represented the most decorated stretch of his competitive journey before black belt. With the full benefit of the PSLPB training environment, Crixel elevated his performance to a new level in the rooster weight division.

He captured the IBJJF World No-Gi Championship at brown belt in 2017 and defended that title in 2018 — back-to-back victories demonstrating not only elite athletic ability but sustained excellence across multiple competitive seasons. He completed the brown belt era by winning the IBJJF World Championship in the gi in 2019, giving him three world titles at a single rank. That accumulation of titles directly precipitated Costha's decision to award Crixel the black belt in June 2019, validating both the athlete's preparation and the system that produced him.

Crixel's move to PSLPB in 2017 marked more than a change of training location — it represented the convergence of every thread in his martial arts career. In a July 2019 interview, he described the environment Cicero Costha built in direct terms: "The environment Cicero created here is unbelievable. It's a lot of people with the same goals on their minds, everyone living their dreams and struggling together. It is a magical place that transforms you, no doubt. You will learn how to be a champion here, all you need to do is pay the price in sweat."

That collective mentality reflects something Crixel had been searching for throughout his grappling career — a community defined not by individual ambition but by shared pursuit. His earlier time with Pedro Marocco had already begun to reframe how he thought about jiu-jitsu, drawing him back from a purely sport-focused mindset toward a more integrated view of what martial arts should be. The decade he spent as a student and instructor of Chinese combat systems under Master Adriano Jagsmin D'Ávila gave him a philosophical foundation that, once paired with the right environment, proved entirely compatible with high-level competitive BJJ.

Crixel's career arc — from kung fu practitioner to multi-time world champion — reflects a consistent underlying search for mastery. Each stage of his development, from the Getho Academy in Porto Alegre to the mats of Atos in San Diego, from Unity Academy in New York to the PSLPB headquarters in São Paulo, built toward something larger than athletic achievement. For Crixel, the discipline of championship competition and the discipline of traditional martial arts have never been separate pursuits — they are expressions of the same commitment.