JitsCast #5 features Brianna Ste-Marie, one of the top BJJ competitors to ever come out of Canada in both gi and no gi grappling. She has found success in a number of different rulesets, from submission-only to Combat Jiu-Jitsu and from IBJJF to ADCC rules. Although Ste-Marie has reached the podium at a number of major events over the years, this interview took place immediately after one of the biggest wins of her career. She won the lightweight division of IBJJF: The Crown 2024 in a very impressive fashion, beating three of the best competitors in the world in order to do so.
We started out by discussing Ste-Marie’s transition into the sport, as she actually found her way into Jiu-Jitsu by pretty non-traditional means. She originally played Rugby at a high level in Canada before she started doing Jiu-Jitsu and it was interesting to discover how that background actually helped her when she first started training and competing. Ste-Marie also encountered some pretty big roadblocks during her journey through the colored belt ranks, thanks to bureaucracy in the province of Quebec. She shared how she worked around the fact that Jiu-Jitsu was banned there, and also how the situation has changed since then.
We went on to talk about her first appearances at ADCC Trials and her incredible performance at ADCC 2022 that saw her leave with a silver medal in the under 60kg division. We also discussed one of the most unique moments in her career, when she took part in a submission-only match that took her almost 3 hours to win. Ste-Marie was able to share some interesting insight into the mental aspect of being an elite competitor as well, including how she’s worked on that herself. Finally, we wanted to find out just how it felt to win The Crown and what plans she had for the future.
JitsCast #5 with Brianna Ste-Marie is now available to watch on the official JitsMagazine YouTube channel, click here to subscribe for more or check out the interview below:
