Thiago Abud

Thiago Abud was born on August 3, 1984, in São Paulo, Brazil, and grew up on the southeast side of the state's capital. From an early age, he demonstrated a natural affinity for sport, competing across a remarkably diverse range of disciplines — swimming, tennis, soccer (as a goalkeeper at the international club level), and speed skating among them.

Martial arts entered Abud's life at the age of 12, driven by a desire to train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. His parents were resistant to the idea, viewing submission grappling as too violent a pursuit. As a compromise, Thiago enrolled in a judo club, where he spent nearly two years steadily persuading his mother to allow him to make the transition. That permission was eventually granted just before his 13th birthday, when he stepped onto the mats at a jiu-jitsu academy for the first time.

His first instructor was Fernando Yamasaki, a coach with wide-ranging experience across grappling disciplines. Under Yamasaki's guidance, Abud earned his yellow, orange, green, and blue belts, building the technical and competitive foundation that would define his later career.

Thiago Abud showed genuine early promise as a competitor, but his trajectory was sharply interrupted at the age of 16 when a severe arm injury kept him off the mats for 18 months. The setback proved to be more than physical — upon his return, Abud struggled to recover both his form and his confidence, and found it difficult to envision a future as a full-time competitor.

Faced with that uncertainty, he made the pragmatic decision to step away from professional BJJ aspirations and pursued law school instead. The transition proved successful, and Abud built a career as a legal attorney over the following years, leaving competitive sport entirely behind.

At the age of 22, he returned to BJJ — not with competitive ambitions, but for recreation, training three times per week to stay connected to the sport. His coach during this period was Murilo Santana, himself a product of the Fernando Yamasaki lineage, lending a meaningful continuity to Abud's development. That quiet reconnection to his grappling roots would prove more significant than he anticipated.

One of the defining chapters in Thiago Abud's life is the decision he made at age 30 to walk away from a successful entrepreneurial career and commit fully to professional grappling competition. The move was a rare and deliberate mid-life pivot — trading financial security for the demands of elite sport — and quickly drew attention across the BJJ community.

Years of recreational training under Murilo Santana at Unity JJ had quietly rebuilt Abud's technical foundation, and when he re-entered the competitive circuit, the results came quickly. Competing at brown belt, he reached the podium at multiple high-level IBJJF events — including a bronze at the IBJJF World Championship NoGi in 2017 and bronze finishes at the Pan Championship NoGi in both 2015 and 2018. The culmination of his brown belt career came in 2018, when Abud captured the IBJJF Masters World Championship title, a result that validated the sacrifices he had made to return to elite competition.

On February 23, 2019, Murilo Santana promoted Thiago Abud to black belt — a recognition of both his sustained competitive results and his unwavering commitment to the sport.

Thiago Abud competes in the Peso Pena division (70 kg / 154.5 lbs), representing Unity JJ on the international circuit. His first year at black belt, 2019, served as an immediate statement of intent. He claimed gold at the 2019 IBJJF Munich Open, the 2019 IBJJF Poznan Open, and the 2019 IBJJF Rome Spring Open, before adding a no-gi title at the 2019 IBJJF London Fall Open NoGi. At the major championship level, he earned bronze at the Pan Championship NoGi that same year — a result he replicated in 2021, demonstrating sustained consistency at elite events. A bronze at the CBJJ Brazilian Nationals NoGi in 2019 further cemented his standing among top-tier black belts.

Abud's competitive longevity has extended well into the Masters divisions, where he has continued to perform at a high level. In 2022, he won the CBJJ Brazilian Nationals NoGi in the Masters category and reached the silver medal match at the IBJJF European Open NoGi, while also collecting bronze medals at the IBJJF European Open across both gi and no-gi formats in 2022 and 2023. In 2025, Abud added one of the most significant titles of his career, winning gold at the 2025 IBJJF European Championship Masters — a result that underscores the remarkable arc of a competitor who returned to elite sport in his 30s and has continued to thrive well beyond that milestone.