Daniella Cicarelli is a former model and TV host, best known for her work on various MTV Brasil shows, and she was recently promoted to blue belt in BJJ. Cicarelli has been training under experienced black belts Luiz Ramos and Renata Bueno at an Alliance Jiu-Jitsu affiliate academy in the Vila Olimpia area of Sao Paulo. It took the Brazilian star just 6 months to reach that level, although she isn’t the first model to advance up the ranks quickly. The promotion still attracted some attention though, as reaching blue belt in under a year is more often associated with elite grapplers transitioning into the sport from Judo or wrestling backgrounds.
Legendary competitor and Alliance co-founder Fabio Gurgel actually weighed in on the promotion himself, explaining how she was able to advance so quickly:
“She trained four times a day, private classes and group classes. She basically lived at the academy. She completed 150 classes, which is Alliance’s requirement to be eligible for the blue belt exam. She took the exam, passed it, and was promoted.”
Gurgel didn’t just speak as the leader of the affiliation she trains at though; Cicarelli actually credits a conversation with him as what kickstarted her Jiu-Jitsu journey. Gurgel also talked about his specific conditions for belt promotion and compared it to general promotions in the sport, not just those that happen to celebrity BJJ practitioners. He explains that although he does face criticism for it, he believes that it is a necessary approach:
“People criticize this, but no one questions mass promotions at the end of the year. Do you really think 80 people all progressed equally? It’s impossible to manage a large academy based only on feeling. At some point, structure is mandatory.”
Raphaella Amorim shared the clip from an interview with Fabio Gurgel where he explains how Daniella Cicarelli was promoted to BJJ blue belt in 6 months to her official Instagram account:
