Thiago Saboia

Thiago Robson Saboia Sousa was born on January 30, 2001, in Brazil, and displayed a natural inclination toward athletic competition from an early age. Before finding his calling on the mats, he explored swimming, futsal, and karate — building a broad athletic foundation that would later inform his development as a martial artist.

His first exposure to martial arts came through judo, which he began practicing at age 7. A year later, he tried jiu-jitsu for two sessions and took to it immediately — but his father's opposition cut that introduction short, and the Gentle Art was set aside for nearly a decade.

In December 2016, Saboia returned to jiu-jitsu through a local social project, training under Luiz "Majorzao" and Rômulo Morais. The experience reignited a passion that would prove impossible to contain. He threw himself into competition almost immediately, and with it came a clear ambition: reach the highest levels of the sport.

Saboia's competitive drive quickly outgrew his local surroundings. As a blue belt, he made the decisive move to São Paulo to train at Alliance headquarters under Michael Langhi and Fabio Gurgel — one of the most decorated academies in the history of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The move set him on a path of rapid and consistent ascent through the colored belt ranks.

A defining moment in his development came at the 2022 IBJJF World Championship, where Saboia claimed the purple belt title in the lightweight division — a performance that Michael Langhi himself highlighted as a milestone in his progression. He carried that momentum directly into his brown belt career.

In early 2023, Saboia captured gold at the 2023 IBJJF European Championship in the brown belt division, one of the most prestigious titles available to colored belt competitors. He followed that result with back-to-back CBJJ Brazilian Nationals titles in 2023 and 2024, establishing himself as the dominant force in his division on home soil.

Saboia stood at the center of Alliance's celebrated 2024 brown belt class — a generation widely regarded as one of the most accomplished the academy had produced in years. That group collectively earned 12 medals at the IBJJF World Championship in the brown belt division, a testament to Alliance's depth of development. Saboia competed at the top of that bracket, reaching the final of the 2024 IBJJF World Championship at brown belt. That performance cycle earned him his black belt promotion in June 2024, awarded by Michael Langhi.

Saboia's transition to black belt competition was immediate and productive. In 2024, he claimed gold at the IBJJF São Paulo Open, demonstrating that the competitive edge he had sharpened across years of colored belt competition translated directly to the sport's elite level. He also reached the final of both the 2024 IBJJF South American Championship and the 2024 IBJJF São Paulo BJJ Pro — results that confirmed his standing as a consistent presence at the sharp end of black belt competition.

Competing in the Peso Médio division at 82.30 kg / 181.5 lbs, Saboia represents Alliance on the international IBJJF circuit and carries forward the legacy of an academy that has long set the standard for competitive jiu-jitsu. Regarded as one of the most promising graduates of Alliance's 2024 black belt class, he enters this chapter of his career as a clear figure to watch at the highest levels of the sport.