Reon Niwa

Born on May 11, 2000, in Hiroshima, Japan, Reon Niwa relocated to Yokohama with his family at the age of two, where he spent the remainder of his childhood and teenage years. His path to jiu-jitsu was paved by his father, who took up the sport while Reon and his younger brother Hiryu were still young. The two boys regularly accompanied their father to the academy, and through those visits, a genuine curiosity for grappling took root in both of them.

For several years, that curiosity remained informal — the academy had yet to offer a dedicated kids' program. When classes for younger practitioners were finally introduced in 2008, Reon and Hiryu wasted no time joining. Their early development unfolded under João Paulo Kuraoka and João Carlos Kuraoka, with whom they trained consistently through the children's belt ranks and on to blue belt. As competition grew into a serious pursuit, the brothers transitioned to Takamasa Watanabe, who guided them through their purple and brown belt promotions.

A single tournament appearance in 2010 left a lasting imprint on Reon Niwa's trajectory in the sport. At the Rickson Gracie Cup held in Japan, Reon and Hiryu crossed paths with Guilherme Mendes and Rafael Mendes — two Brazilian competitors on the cusp of becoming the most dominant figures in the lighter weight divisions of competitive jiu-jitsu. The encounter made an immediate impression on both brothers, who became devoted followers of the Mendes' careers from that point forward, attending every seminar and workshop the brothers conducted in Japan.

Nearly a decade later, in 2019, Reon and Hiryu traveled to the United States for the first time to compete at the IBJJF World Championships. They did not capture the gold medals they had set their sights on, but the experience carried significance well beyond the results. Competing at the highest level made clear that sustaining elite performance would demand more than incremental improvements — it would require a fundamental change in environment.

Acting on that realization, the Niwa brothers made the difficult decision to freeze their university enrollment and relocate to Costa Mesa, California, to join Art Of Jiu-Jitsu — the competition team founded by the Mendes Brothers and led by Guilherme. What had begun as admiration from afar at a tournament in Japan had evolved, over the course of twelve years, into a commitment to train directly under the athletes who had inspired them.

Training full-time within the Art Of Jiu-Jitsu environment produced measurable results for Reon Niwa. His competitive record at the highest levels of the sport improved substantially, reflecting the direct impact of elite daily training on his overall game. A third-place finish at the 2021 IBJJF World Championship at brown belt signaled his steady rise through the ranks of international competition — a stepping stone to what would follow.

The clearest expression of that growth came at the 2022 IBJJF World No-Gi Championship, where Reon captured the gold medal as a brown belt — the defining achievement of his pre-black belt career. The performance was a statement: years of disciplined development under world-class instruction had translated directly into world-level results.

The 2022 IBJJF World No-Gi Championship proved to be a landmark occasion in more ways than one. On December 14, 2022, standing on the podium of that very event, Reon received his black belt promotion in a ceremony that carried unmistakable symbolic weight. The belt was tied by Guilherme Mendes himself — the same competitor Reon had first watched in awe at a tournament in Japan as a ten-year-old, and the coach who had shaped his development into a world-level athlete. It was a moment that brought full circle a journey spanning more than a decade of dedication, admiration, and ultimately, shared purpose on the mats.