Mayssa Bastos has just become the latest top competitor to join Art of Jiu-Jitsu in order to start training under the legendary Mendes brothers. Bastos is one of the world’s best female grapplers in the lighter weightclasses and has won multiple IBJJF world championship gold medals both in the gi and in no gi. Not only is she known for her successes at around the 50kg weight limit, but she’s also moved up in weight on several occasions to take on bigger challenges. She was actually most likely the lightest woman to enter the under 60kg division at ADCC 2022 and she earned her invite to the tournament by winning the South American Trials.
Bastos was promoted to black belt in BJJ by Julio Cesar back in 2018 and since then she has only represented GF Team and Unity Jiu-Jitsu, so the move to AOJ may surprise a lot of fans. She’s actually just the latest in a long line of elite competitors who have decided to make the jump to train under the Mendes brothers, including Diego ‘Pato’ Oliveira. It makes sense though really, Rafael Mendes and Guilherme Mendes were among the best grapplers on the planet during their time as competitors and have built something amazing since they have retired.
The Mendes brothers have poured years of hard work into building AOJ into something special and they’ve had a keen eye on the future of the sport while doing so. Mayssa Bastos joining the ranks at Art of Jiu-Jitsu will no doubt be a huge boost to the training room there, while also allowing her to train alongside fellow impressive female grapplers like Jessa Khan. While she’s definitely joining the overall team, it’s unclear whether Bastos will be training at the original AOJ headquarters or whether she will be training at the second location that’s due to open soon.
The Mendes brothers announced that Mayssa Bastos was joining Art of Jiu-Jitsu to train under them in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
