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Hannette Quadros Staack

She could not afford to train until her first coach paid her fees; the world titles came later, and now she awards the black belts at her school in Chicago.

Biography

A gi — the jacket and trousers worn for training — cost about half of what Hannette Quadros Staack’s parents earned in a month, so she grew up in Rio de Janeiro playing other sports and never that one. She was 18 and just out of school when she found a grappling academy anyway, and the teacher there took her on although her family could not cover the fees. She has since won world titles in the gi and at the ADCC, built a school in Chicago, and helped run a free jiu-jitsu project in a Rio favela. Staack was born in São Luís do Maranhão, in northern Brazil, in 1979, and the family moved to Rio when she was two. Hannette is an uncommon name and was hard for her to introduce, so she became Nette — Tin to her mother, Anette or Auntie Nette to children. Jiu-jitsu reached her through rock climbing: she was a keen climber when a friend told her that her grip would make her a natural on the mat, and she has said she took one class and fell in love with it. The timing was hard. Soon after she started, her father left, and her mother raised her and her three sisters on very little. Her first teacher was a police officer at that academy, named in a later interview as Fernando Cruz. She could not pay the monthly fee, and in her own account of it Cruz sponsored her training; an earlier profile has her father covering half the tuition instead. The bargain was the same either way: she promised to give the sport everything she had, and she has said that she was not yet anybody in the sport, an unknown white belt, and that what he gave her was the best gift she ever got. For her first five months she was at the academy constantly, and she was the only woman in it. Some of the men did not understand what she was doing there, and many assumed she had come looking for a boyfriend. Convincing them otherwise was the first job. If a woman was too feminine, she has said, people took it as evidence that she was there for something other than jiu-jitsu; she never wore makeup to class and trained hard every minute she was on the mat, and after a couple of months they could see what she had come for. She was a blue belt within four months; Cruz gave her that one and, later, the purple. Her first competition came before she had trained three months — she beat an opponent more than 30 pounds heavier — and she won three tournaments as a white belt while her mother could barely stand to watch. At five months she reached the final of her first national championship and lost it, a defeat she later described as a good experience: it put her humility back in place and doubled her determination. Then she stopped. A boyfriend asked her to give up training and would not accept that she did it because she loved it; at 19 she was told to choose between him and jiu-jitsu, and she chose him, which she has called the wrong choice. A year and a half passed without training. When she left the relationship and came back to the mat, she made herself a promise that nobody would stop her doing what she wanted to do again. Flávio Figueiredo, the master who oversaw training at her first academy, made the introduction that shaped the rest of her career. As she has told it, he brought her to another gym where one of André Terêncio’s students got the better of her. Terêncio, known as Negão, was a brown belt then, and months went by while she put together the money to afford his classes; they met again at a club where she was dancing samba, started seeing each other, and she could train with him for nothing. She came to him, in BJJ Heroes’ description, a raw purple belt with the basics and a great deal of willpower, and it was Terêncio who began refining her technique. He also built the discipline her ambition needed once she had begun to imagine being a world champion, and the line she comes back to is his: “BELIEVE! You have to believe!!” The black belt came from him too, and she has said she did not want it when it was given to her. He later became her husband and her partner in business, and she names him as the reason she stayed in the sport. Her first world title, in 2002, says as much about the era as about her. She was a purple belt, and purple, brown and black belt women were put into one combined division; there was no women’s open class at all. She won it in five matches. The ADCC World Championship, an invitation-only grappling event, admitted women for the first time in 2005, with two weight classes. Getting there was its own contest. Staack knew nobody connected with the tournament, her invitation came late, and she spent the last hours before the trip at the Brazilian consulate arguing for permission to travel to the United States. She was then given a hotel room to share with Juliana Borges, who eliminated her and went on to become the first women’s absolute champion in ADCC history. The trophy stayed in their room. The same year, her knee went. She tore a knee ligament in a run of injuries she blamed on substandard judo instruction and had surgery, and she has joked that her bottom game — fighting from underneath — dates from that year, since being on top was too painful. Two years later, at the ADCC in Trenton, New Jersey, she won her weight class over Shayna Baszler, Stacy Cartwright and Kelly Paul, then entered the absolute, the open-weight bracket in which nobody is matched by size. She beat Kyra Gracie and Laura D’Auguste to reach the final and finished it quickly, catching Rosângela Conceição with a flying armbar, an arm lock taken by leaping into it from standing. The women’s absolute was held in 2005 and 2007 and then not again until 2024, which left Borges and Staack as its only champions for seventeen years. Staack won the IBJJF World No-Gi Championship the same year, and FloGrappling has called the run of world and ADCC titles around it career-defining, and part of what pushed the women’s side of the sport into view. At the IBJJF Worlds she took gold in 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2011, silver in 2006 and 2014, and bronze in 2005 and 2013; at brown belt she won the Brazilian Nationals in 2003. She won her ADCC weight class again in 2009 and took silver in 2011. The 2011 world final ended the way Trenton had: a flying armbar, seconds into the match. One year she skipped the Worlds altogether. The knee she had been competing on since 2005 popped during a warm-up in class just after the Pan American, and she decided that entering a world championship at 80 percent while everybody else was at 100 made no sense. She watched from the stands instead, as women’s black belts competed in a division of their own for the first time. She liked what she saw: her own weight class was bigger than the previous edition’s, and the change was pulling more women into the brown and black belt brackets. The level of the women who came after her is beautiful and getting more professional, she has said, and the prejudice that surrounded jiu-jitsu in the 1980s and 1990s is still there but much reduced, helped by a sport that now expects a competitor to be federated. She is one of eight women in the IBJJF Hall of Fame. Asked what that meant, she talked about memory rather than status: it lets people see the pioneers of the sport — she named herself and Bianca Andrade — so that they are “not aside anymore,” because people have short memories. Staack and Terêncio arrived in the United States in 2007 and started an academy in Chicago. Brazil 021 School of Jiu-Jitsu followed three years after that, founded by the two of them and named for the telephone code of Rio de Janeiro. The school describes itself as built to make more than champions, and the team now has academies in Brazil, Canada and the United States. Building it changed her competing: from 2010 she slowed down, she has said, because their focus was no longer only on competition, and because the titles had to be turned into something that could support them. Inside the school she is the one who promotes. The academy’s own description of how belts work there is short: no tests, no promotion fees and no fixed cycles. Stripes are handed out along the way, and Staack promotes a student, in class, when she judges that the student is ready. Two of those promotions are documented, and both fall in June 2017. Kristen Martin, a Chicagoan who found the academy around 2010, took her black belt from Staack’s hands on June 19, after winning her second IBJJF world title. Kristin Mikkelson, who had come from Cincinnati in 2011 already a second-degree black belt in taekwondo, was promoted the same month. BJJ Heroes’ profile of Mikkelson puts the influence plainly: Staack was the first successful female martial artist Mikkelson had met, and it was her coach’s character and leadership that drove her toward competition. In 2012 Mikkelson left a demanding business career for a job that left her time to train. The fullest description of her teaching comes from a women’s grappling camp at Princeton BJJ in November 2011. Every technique she taught there started from the same position and built on the one before it, and she gave the campers both time and a particular method for drilling them. Valerie Worthington, who was there, describes an instructor as likely to make a joke as to change how you see a position you thought you knew by adding a couple of details, and who will have your name by the time the conversation ends. Teaching does not stop for competition. Before a tournament she cuts her coaching back to train more, she has said, but never stops entirely: she is on the mats at least once a day, because coaching sharpens her own jiu-jitsu. She has also been plain about the resistance she has met in jiu-jitsu, both for being a woman and for not having the connections some people have. What she tells women on the days they doubt themselves is what Terêncio told her: don’t give up, follow the dream, believe. The project that ties her own beginning to the rest of it is in Rio. Brazil 021 started pro bono work at Morro do Borel, a poor community in the North Zone of the city, chosen because so many of the team’s students came from there and from the neighborhoods around it — students she called the real pioneers of jiu-jitsu in Borel. Mats came first, given by individuals and companies; gis and tournament entry fees were next. Terêncio, who runs the project with her and is named on the academy’s site as co-founder of the non-profit Brazil-021 Project, told Graciemag in 2012 that they wanted to leave their students a legacy rather than only produce athletes, that the bus company Litoral carried the children to championships, and that donations and publicity were always short. For the Christmas party announced for December 20, each child was to be given an academy T-shirt, school supplies, hygiene products and a photograph from the day. Earlier that year the two of them had made a short documentary about the team’s work in poor Rio neighborhoods and asked for gis — any kind, any size, new or old. Terêncio’s argument was practical: much of the Brazilian population can barely afford food, let alone an academy, and the gi is what lets a young person start. Staack’s argument is her own history. The sport’s biggest prodigies come out of poor communities, she has said, and she is one of them: when she started she could not pay the monthly fee, her coach sponsored her training, and she gave him her time and effort in return. The point of the project, as she puts it, is that the people in it value the chance they have. In 2015 it all arrived at once. The ligament and cartilage damage she had carried for nearly ten years reached the point where surgery could not be put off. She then learned she was pregnant, and she had a miscarriage. She told FloGrappling in 2017 that the combination put her into a depression: she had postponed having a family and had already given up competing for the academy, and her life in jiu-jitsu had been built on competition — it was her identity, and without it she felt she had no ground under her and no purpose in the sport. Recovery was slow. Toward the end of 2016 she was strong enough to train again and took up CrossFit, which gave her back the appetite for competing. Then one of the students from their social project in Brazil moved in with her and Terêncio, and she has said that seeing in him the drive she once had was what moved her to compete again. By October 2017, at 38 and two years off the competition mat, she was planning a return: competition, she said, had been her first love, from before jiu-jitsu, and she wanted it back in order to be at peace with it. In August 2022 she competed in Brazil for the first time in fifteen years, winning the black belt middleweight title at the Brasileiro Sem Kimono with a 9-0 final — an early takedown, a guard pass, and the mount, the position her BJJ Heroes profile names as her favorite. In October, at 43, she made her professional MMA debut on the main card of Shooto Brasil 111 in Rio de Janeiro and won it with a kimura, a shoulder lock, in the first round. She had been training at Nova União for a little over a year, and said she meant to make her jiu-jitsu and her experience the difference. Comparing the two sports, she said grappling and jiu-jitsu now pay well — and that the gap between men’s and women’s purses has not closed.

Sources for this profile

  • Wikipedia, "Hannette Staack", page last edited 3 April 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • Hannette Quadros Staack was born on 7 February 1979 in Sao Luis do Maranhao in northern Brazil, and her family moved to Rio de Janeiro when she was two years old.

      Where in the source: Biography, first sentence: "born on 7 February 1979 in Sao Luis do Maranhao"; infobox Born row.

      Accessed:

    • Wikipedia gives Staack's nationality as Brazilian/American and lists her medal record under "Representing Brazil".

      Where in the source: Infobox rows "Nationality" and "Medal record / Representing Brazil".

      Accessed:

    • Staack was born in Brazil and competed representing Brazil, placing her in the South America region.

      Where in the source: Infobox "Born ... Maranhao, Brazil" and "Medal record / Representing Brazil".

      Accessed:

    • Conflicting accounts

      Wikipedia describes Staack as a 4th degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.

      Where in the source: Lead sentence "4th degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) black belt"; infobox "Rank" row.

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    • Her IBJJF World Championship record is gold in 2002 (-69kg), 2004 (-64kg), 2008 (-69kg), 2009 (-69kg) and 2011 (-69kg); silver in 2006 (-64kg) and 2014 (-74kg); bronze in 2005 (-64kg) and 2013 (-74kg). At the ADCC World Championship she took gold in 2007 at -67kg and in the absolute division, gold in 2009 at +60kg, and silver in 2011 at +60kg. She also won the IBJJF World No-Gi Championship in 2007 at -66.5kg. The 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2006 Worlds were held in Rio de Janeiro and the 2008-2014 Worlds in California; ADCC 2007 was in New Jersey, 2009 in Barcelona and 2011 in Nottingham.

      Where in the source: Infobox "Medal record" table, rows under ADCC World Championship, World Championship and World No-Gi Championship; medal colour from the G/S/B badge on each row.

      Accessed:

    • Conflicting accounts

      Staack competed in the first women's divisions at the ADCC World Championships on 27 and 28 May 2005 and was beaten by Juliana Borges in the over-60kg division.

      Where in the source: Biography sentence beginning "Staack competed in the first women's divisions".

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    • Staack won her MMA debut in Rio de Janeiro on 28 October 2022 at Shooto Brazil 111, submitting Lorrany Maui with a kimura at 2:39 of the first round.

      Where in the source: Biography sentence "In October 2022, Staack made her professional MMA debut"; Mixed martial arts record table, single row.

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  • BJJ Heroes, "Hannette Staack", undated profile page.(opens in a new tab)

    • BJJ Heroes gives her full name as Hannette Quadros Staack, born 7 February 1979 in Sao Luis do Maranhao in northern Brazil, who moved to Rio de Janeiro at the age of two.

      Where in the source: Section "Hannette Staack Biography", opening sentence; and "Full Name" line above it.

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    • BJJ Heroes describes Staack as a black belt who earned the rank from Andre Terencio and gives her team as Brazil 021 School of Jiu-Jitsu.

      Where in the source: Lead paragraph "a rank she earned from Andre Terencio"; line "Association/Team: Brazil 021 School of Jiu-Jitsu".

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    • Her two common nicknames are "Tin", used mainly by her mother, and "Nette", which came into use because Hannette is an uncommon name that was hard for her to introduce; children came to know her as Anette or Auntie Nette.

      Where in the source: Line beginning "Nickname: The most common are".

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    • BJJ Heroes gives her lineage as Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie (senior) > Helio Gracie > Francisco Mansor > Carlos Henrique > Andre "Negao" Terencio > Hannette Staack, and names mount as her favourite position.

      Where in the source: Lines "Lineage:" and "Favorite Position/Technique: Mount".

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    • She began training at 18 with "Professor" Fernando Cruz and Master Flavio Figueiredo; most of her training was with Cruz, who gave her both her blue and her purple belt, while Figueiredo frequented the academy and oversaw training.

      Where in the source: Biography, sentences beginning "Hannette began her jiu-jitsu training when she was 18".

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    • After Fernando Cruz gave up teaching, Flavio Figueiredo introduced Staack to Andre "Negao" Terencio. She was then a raw purple belt with a good grasp of the basics and a lot of willpower, and it was Terencio who began refining her training and technique.

      Where in the source: Biography, sentences beginning "Soon after Hannette received her purple belt" and "At the time when Hannette Staack started training with Terencio".

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    • Staack has said her greatest inspiration to continue in jiu-jitsu came from Andre Terencio, who is now her husband, because he always inspired her to believe in the sport.

      Where in the source: Paragraph beginning "Hannette states that her greatest inspiration".

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    • BJJ Heroes lists her main achievements as first place at the IBJJF World Championship in 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2011; first place at the ADCC World Championship in 2007 (weight and absolute) and 2009; first place at the IBJJF World No-Gi Championship in 2007; second place at the Worlds in 2006 and 2014; second at the ADCC in 2011; third at the Worlds in 2005 and 2013; and, at coloured belt, first place at the CBJJ Brazilian Nationals in 2003 as a brown belt.

      Where in the source: Lists "Main Achievements" and "Main Achievements (Colored Belts)", with the footnote "** Weight and absolute".

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    • Her first big moment came in 2002, when she won her first world championship after five matches in the women's combined purple/brown/black belt division.

      Where in the source: Sentence beginning "Hannette's first big moment came in 2002".

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    • BJJ Heroes names the 2007 ADCC absolute final against Rosangela Conceicao as her most memorable match, won by flying armbar, and says it was then that she became internationally recognised, opening a new phase in her career.

      Where in the source: Line beginning "Most Memorable Match".

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    • BJJ Heroes says Staack is one of the founding members of the Brazil 021 team, that she and Terencio realised a dream in their own academy in Chicago, and that the team was formed between Andre Negao, Hannette Staack and Carlos Henrique, Terencio's own professor.

      Where in the source: Lead paragraph "one of the founding members of the Brazil 021 Team"; closing sentence of the biography.

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  • IBJJF, "Athlete Results - Hannette Staack", athlete ranking page.(opens in a new tab)

    • The IBJJF's own athlete page lists Hannette Staack at black belt, representing Brazil 021 School of Jiu-Jitsu.

      Where in the source: Athlete card: name, team line "Brazil 021 School of Jiu-Jitsu", belt marker "Black".

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  • Graciemag, "Hannette Staack: Profile of a champion and eternal optimist", by Valerie Worthington, 3 January 2012.(opens in a new tab)

    • As a child Staack took part in sport but never jiu-jitsu, because the cost was prohibitive: for her family a gi cost the equivalent of half her parents' monthly salary.

      Where in the source: Paragraph beginning "As a child, Hannette had always participated in sports".

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    • She found her first grappling academy at 18, just out of school; her first instructor was a police officer who took her on even though her father could only afford half the tuition, and she promised in return to give her all.

      Where in the source: Same paragraph, sentences beginning "Overcoming this, she found her way" and "Her first instructor was a police officer".

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    • For her first five months of training she was at the academy constantly and was the only woman there; it was hard because the men did not always understand what she was doing there, and many assumed she had come looking for a boyfriend.

      Where in the source: Paragraph beginning "For the first 5 months of her training".

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    • She earned her blue belt after four months, started competing early and won three tournaments as a white belt, with her mother barely able to watch for nerves; it was after competing that she realised she loved jiu-jitsu and competition.

      Where in the source: Paragraph beginning "As evidenced by the fact that she earned her blue belt in 4 months".

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    • After five months of training she lost the final of her first national competition in Brazil; she described the defeat as a good experience that put her back in her "humble shoes" and made her redouble her determination.

      Where in the source: Paragraph beginning "After a certain amount of success, she lost in the final".

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    • Shortly after earning her blue belt she began a relationship with a man who asked her to stop training and did not accept that she trained because she loved the sport; she gave up training for a year and a half to be with him, then left the relationship and returned to jiu-jitsu.

      Where in the source: Paragraph beginning "Things took an unexpected turn".

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    • Her instructor Master Flavio took her to another academy to train, where a student got the better of her; that student's instructor was Andre Terencio, then a brown belt. Months passed while she put money together to afford training with him, until they met at a club where she was dancing samba, started dating, and she was then able to train with him for free. She decided she would never stop training again for anyone or anything.

      Where in the source: Paragraphs beginning "Her instructor, Master Flavio, brought her to a different academy" and "But eventually, they ran into each other at a club".

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    • Terencio helped her build the discipline she needed once she had begun to entertain the dream of becoming a world champion, and she returns to his mantra for her: "BELIEVE! You have to believe!!" The article also records that she still gets nervous when she competes and that she did not want her black belt when it was awarded to her.

      Where in the source: Paragraphs beginning "In addition to becoming the man she would marry" and "Despite the fact that she still gets nervous".

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    • Staack has described the treatment of women at that first ADCC: the event was invitation-only and she had no connections, she fought at the Brazilian consulate until the eleventh hour for permission to travel to the United States after finally receiving an invitation, there were two women's weight classes, and she had to share a hotel room with her opponent Juliana Borges and see the trophy in their room. She said she also had difficulty when she returned in 2007 because she knew no one connected to the tournament.

      Where in the source: Paragraphs beginning "2005 was the first year the ADCC tournament was open to women" and "Hannette ruminated about the treatment of women in those early days".

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    • In 2005 she had a run of bad luck including a torn ACL and other injuries that she attributed to substandard judo instruction; she had surgery, and jokes that this was the year she developed a bottom game because playing on top was too painful.

      Where in the source: Paragraph beginning "For example, in 2005, she had a run of bad luck".

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    • At the Mundial in June 2011 she won her division by executing a textbook flying armbar seconds into the final.

      Where in the source: Sentence beginning "At the most recent Mundial in June 2011".

      Accessed:

    • Conflicting accounts

      Graciemag describes Staack as one of the most decorated competitors in the world, male or female, with eight world titles at brown and black belt and three ADCC gold medals, and says her first three world titles came consecutively as a purple belt, a brown belt and a black belt.

      Where in the source: Second paragraph, "eight world titles at the brown/black level"; paragraph beginning "In addition to becoming the man she would marry", last sentence.

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    • Staack was the featured instructor at the Women's Grappling Camp held at Princeton BJJ in Princeton, New Jersey, from 11 to 13 November 2011, teaching a weekend of technique, training and stories, and also ran a co-ed seminar on the afternoon of 13 November. The article records that the techniques she taught all started from the same position and built sequentially and logically on one another, and that she gave the campers time and a distinctive method for drilling them.

      Where in the source: Paragraph beginning "Hannette demonstrated all of these facets of her personality".

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    • Worthington describes Staack as a warm, funny and caring person as well as a technical, detailed instructor who is as likely to crack a joke as to change how you see a technique you thought you knew by adding a few details, and writes that if you meet her she will know your name by the time the conversation is over. She also writes that Staack has faced difficulties in jiu-jitsu because of her gender and because she lacks the connections some people have, and records Staack's advice to women in grappling on the days they doubt themselves: never give up, follow your dreams, and believe.

      Where in the source: Paragraph beginning "What you might not have had the opportunity to learn"; closing paragraph beginning "In short, Hannette has experienced challenges".

      Accessed:

  • FloGrappling, "With Dark Days In The Past, Hannette Staack Plans Comeback To Competition", by Heather Raftery, 31 October 2017.(opens in a new tab)

    • Staack was an avid rock climber when a friend suggested her grips would make her a natural at jiu-jitsu; she said she took one class and fell in love with it.

      Where in the source: Paragraph beginning "Twenty years ago in Rio de Janeiro"; quote "I did my first class and I fell in love."

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    • Soon after she started training, her father left the family, and her mother raised Staack and her three sisters alone with little money; her first professor, Fernando Cruz, saw her dedication and gave her a full sponsorship to train. Staack said she was just a white belt coming through the door and that he gave her the best gift.

      Where in the source: Paragraphs beginning "That wasn't her only struggle" and "If her first professor, Fernando Cruz"; quote "I wasn't Hannette Staack at the time."

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    • Staack said that as the only woman in an academy full of men her first challenge was convincing them she was there for the right reasons: if a woman was too feminine, people assumed she was there for something other than jiu-jitsu. She never wore make-up to class, trained hard every moment she was on the mat, and said the men came to respect her once they saw she was there for jiu-jitsu.

      Where in the source: Paragraphs beginning "The only woman in an academy full of men".

      Accessed:

    • After less than three months of training she entered her first competition and beat an opponent more than 30 pounds heavier.

      Where in the source: Sentence beginning "After less than three months of training".

      Accessed:

    • Staack said a boyfriend told her when she was 19 to choose between him and jiu-jitsu and that she made the wrong choice and chose him; after she got away from the situation she promised herself that no one would ever stop her doing what she wanted to do, which was jiu-jitsu.

      Where in the source: Paragraph beginning "Then she ran into another obstacle"; quote "you have to choose me or jiu-jitsu".

      Accessed:

    • FloGrappling describes her run of back-to-back IBJJF World and ADCC titles as a career-defining stretch that helped bring women's jiu-jitsu to the forefront, and gives the 2007 ADCC absolute final in Trenton, New Jersey, where she threw a flying armbar on Rosangela Conceicao, as its example.

      Where in the source: Paragraph beginning "So began an impressive streak" and the following example paragraph.

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    • Staack told FloGrappling that in 2015 the ACL and meniscus injuries she had lived with for nearly ten years worsened until surgery became unavoidable, that she then learned she was pregnant and had a miscarriage, and that the combination drove her into depression. She said she had postponed having a family and then sacrificed her competitive career for the academy, that her life in jiu-jitsu had been built on competition and was her identity, and that when it was taken away she felt she had no ground and no purpose in the sport.

      Where in the source: Paragraph beginning "Then in 2015, a perfect storm of events", and the quotations that follow it.

      Accessed:

    • Recovery from surgery was slow, but towards the end of 2016 she felt strong enough to train again and took up CrossFit, which gave her back the competitive spark. One of Staack and Terencio's students from a social project in Brazil then came to live with them, and she said seeing that he had the same drive she once had motivated her to compete again. By October 2017, at 38 and after two years away, she was planning a return to competition, saying that competition was her first love from before jiu-jitsu and that she wanted to compete to be at peace with it.

      Where in the source: Paragraphs beginning "Recovery from surgery was excruciatingly slow" and "Her career on the competition mat felt unfinished"; the block quote about her first love.

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    • In 2007 Staack and her husband and coach Andre "Negao" Terencio moved to the United States and opened an academy in Chicago, and three years later Brazil 021 School of Jiu-Jitsu was founded. She said that from 2010 she slowed down in competition because they were building Brazil 021, that her focus was no longer wholly on competing, and that the business was in effect a life investment: she had the titles and the accomplishments, and had to turn them into something that could support them.

      Where in the source: Paragraph beginning "That same year, Staack and her husband"; quote beginning "In 2010, I started slowing down in the competitions".

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  • BJJ Heroes and DSTRYRsg, "Hannette Staack Interview Part 2", undated interview page.(opens in a new tab)

    • Staack said that at her first Worlds she was a purple belt competing against purple, brown and black belts all together in one division, that there was not even a female open class division at the time, and that sponsorships were rare; she said the Hall of Fame lets people see the pioneers of the sport, naming herself and Bianca Andrade, so that they are "not aside anymore", because people have short memories.

      Where in the source: Pull quote "My first Worlds I was a purple belt"; answer to the Hall of Fame question.

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    • Staack said she had had a torn ACL since 2005 and that her knee popped during a warm-up in class right after that year's Pan American; she decided not to compete at the Worlds on an 80 per cent knee when everyone else would be at 100, and watched from the stands instead. She said she liked what she saw in the first edition of the women's black-belt-only division, that the weight class she would have been in was larger than the previous edition, and that the change motivated more women to compete at black and brown belt.

      Where in the source: Answers to the questions about watching from the stands, about the black-belt-only division, and about the injury.

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    • Staack said she was focused on her business, on projects in Brazil, on her students in Chicago and on the schools she managed there, and that she had seminars and camps booked. She said the second Brazil 021 camp had been better than the first because they used feedback from those who attended, and thanked Professor Andre Terencio, her personal trainer Erik Salum and her teammates in Brazil and Chicago.

      Where in the source: Answers to the questions about plans, about the camp, and the closing thanks.

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  • FloGrappling (Portuguese), "Juliana Borges e Hannette Staack: As primeiras campeas absolutas do ADCC", by Carlos Arthur Jr., 9 July 2024.(opens in a new tab)

    • Conflicting accounts

      At ADCC 2005 in California, Juliana Borges beat Hannette Staack in the quarter-finals of the over-60kg division on her way to double gold, becoming the first women's absolute champion in ADCC history.

      Where in the source: Paragraph beginning "A divisao feminina do ADCC teve apenas duas chaves de peso aberto"; phrase "passou por Hannette Staack nas quartas".

      Accessed:

    • At ADCC 2007 in Trenton, New Jersey, Staack won the -67kg division by beating Shayna Baszler, Stacy Cartwright and Kelly Paul, then won the absolute division by beating Kyra Gracie in the quarter-finals and Laura D'Auguste in the semi-finals before catching Rosangela "Zanza" Conceicao with a quick flying armlock in the final. The women's absolute was held only in 2005 and 2007 before returning in 2024 after a seventeen-year gap, which leaves Borges and Staack as its only champions until then.

      Where in the source: Paragraphs beginning "Dois anos depois, o ADCC 2007 chegou a Trenton" and the opening paragraph on the return of the absolute in 2024.

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, "Brasileiro Sem Kimono Results: Atos and Dream Art Win Male And Female Titles", championship news.(opens in a new tab)

    • At the 2022 Brasileiro Sem Kimono, held on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 August, IBJJF Hall of Fame member Hannette Staack returned to Brazil to compete in her home country for the first time in fifteen years and won the adult black belt female middleweight division, beating Joslea Silva Rodrigues 9-0 in the final after an early takedown that led to a guard pass and the mount.

      Where in the source: Paragraph beginning "IBJJF Hall of Fame member Hannette Staack returned to Brazil"; champions list, Female / Middle.

      Accessed:

  • Portal do Vale Tudo, "Aos 43 anos, Hannette Staack, lenda do Jiu-Jitsu e ADCC estreia no MMA nesta sexta", by Alan Oliveira, 28 October 2022.(opens in a new tab)

    • On 28 October 2022, at 43, Staack made her MMA debut against Lorrany Pinheiro on the main card of Shooto Brasil 111 at the Upper Arena in Rio de Janeiro. She told the site she had been training at Nova Uniao for a little over a year, that she intended to use her jiu-jitsu and her experience as her edge, and that she might not have much time in MMA but wanted to inspire people and achieve big things. Comparing the two sports, she said that grappling and jiu-jitsu now pay well, while adding that there is still a difference between men's and women's purses, and that adapting was easy because in jiu-jitsu she trained to fight several times in one night whereas in MMA you train for one fight.

      Where in the source: Standfirst "Nesta sexta, Hannette Staack faz sua estreia no MMA"; the two block quotes; card listing "Hannette Staack vs Lorrany Pinheiro".

      Accessed:

  • BJJ Heroes, "Hannette Staack Interview", undated interview page.(opens in a new tab)

    • Asked how she had stayed at the top for so long, Staack said the only formula was work and dedication, that her workload at the academy meant she could not compete as much as she would like, and that she therefore committed fully to every tournament she entered. She said that before a competition she cuts back her coaching to train more, but never stops teaching entirely and is on the mats coaching at least once a day, because coaching helps refine her own jiu-jitsu.

      Where in the source: Answer to the first question, beginning "Through a lot of work and dedication".

      Accessed:

    • Staack said Brazil 021 was launching a pro bono project in the Borel favela in Rio de Janeiro, chosen because so many of their students came from that and neighbouring communities and because those students were the real pioneers of jiu-jitsu in Borel; people and companies had already donated mats, and kimonos and tournament entry fees were next. Asked about athletes who come from the favelas, she said the biggest prodigies in the sport have come from poor communities and that she is an example: when she started she could not pay the monthly fee, her coach sponsored her training, and in exchange she gave it all her time and effort. She said the project's main aim is that people value their opportunities, and that she and Terencio lead by example.

      Where in the source: Answers to the questions about the Borel project and about athletes from the favelas.

      Accessed:

    • Asked about the new generation of women competitors, Staack said she loves watching women fight, that in most cases there is more action, technique and agility, that the level is beautiful and becoming more professional, and that the sport needs to evolve further. Asked about the reputation jiu-jitsu had in the 1980s and 1990s, she said prejudice still exists but has improved greatly, and credited the professionalisation of the sport, since a competitor now has to be federated to enter a tournament or be respected in the sport.

      Where in the source: Answers to the questions about the female division and about the sport's old reputation.

      Accessed:

  • Brazil 021 Chicago, "About Brazil 021 Chicago", academy website, read 13 September 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • Brazil 021 School of Jiu Jitsu says on its own site that it was founded by black belts Andre "Negao" Terencio and Hannette Staack with the aim of building more than champions: a team that helps students become stronger citizens, family members and individuals. It says the school has welcomed men, women and children of all backgrounds from the start, including people unsure of their own abilities, and was never meant to be a place only for the tough. The name and logo pay tribute to Rio de Janeiro, 021 being the city's telephone code, and the team today has schools in Brazil, the United States and Canada.

      Where in the source: Opening three paragraphs under the heading "Brazil-021 Chicago Jiu Jitsu"; sections "Our Mission" and "Family Friendly And Family First".

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "During Christmas in Rio de Janeiro: Jiu-Jitsu, Presents and Solidarity", Redacao Graciemag, 12 December 2012.(opens in a new tab)

    • Graciemag reported in December 2012 that Terencio and Staack, leaders of Brazil 021 in Chicago, ran a social project at Morro do Borel, an impoverished community in Rio de Janeiro's North Zone, and wanted to leave a legacy for their pupils rather than only produce athletes. Terencio said the project had the support of some friends and of the bus company Litoral, which transported the children to championships, but was always short of donations and publicity. The article announced a Christmas party at the academy for 20 December, at which each child was to be given a kit with an academy T-shirt, school supplies, personal hygiene products and a photograph from the event.

      Where in the source: Paragraphs beginning "At Morro do Borel, an impoverished community" and "The party will be held December 20".

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "Donate a Jiu-Jitsu gi and help change children's lives in Rio", Redacao Graciemag, 26 March 2012.(opens in a new tab)

    • In March 2012 Graciemag reported that Terencio and Staack had made a short documentary about Brazil 021's work in poor Rio neighbourhoods. Terencio said the team ran schools in two communities in the Tijuca district of Rio with the help of unofficial partners and of students who pay a symbolic fee covering only the teacher and the upkeep of the premises, that he wanted everyone eventually to train for free, and that the campaign's aim was to collect gis of every kind and size, new and old, because a large part of the Brazilian population can barely afford food, let alone an academy, and a gi is what lets a young person start.

      Where in the source: Paragraph beginning "Teachers at Brazil 021"; section "FREE JIU-JITSU" and the quotation that follows.

      Accessed:

  • Brazil 021 Chicago, "Professor Andre Terencio", academy website, read 13 September 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • Brazil 021 Chicago describes Andre Fernando Alves Terencio as a tournament director and co-founder both of Brazil-021 School of Jiu-jitsu and of the Brazil-021 Project, a non-profit organisation, and as co-owner of Brazil-021 Chicago. It says he refereed five years at FJJRio and fifteen years as head referee at the IBJJF, and is currently head referee at Gracie Barra COMPNET Illinois and at PRIDE BJJ, which he has organised in Chicago since 2019.

      Where in the source: Opening paragraph of the instructor page.

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "Brazil 021 School of Jiu-Jitsu", GMA academy entry, 9 July 2013.(opens in a new tab)

    • Graciemag's Brazil 021 entry says the school was founded by black belts Andre "Negao" Terencio and Hannette Staack, that it was created not only to train champions but to help its members become good citizens and family members, that it is not reserved for the tough and powerful but also welcomes women, children and people unsure of their abilities, and that 021 is the telephone area code for Rio de Janeiro, where jiu-jitsu was first most strongly developed. It lists the main Chicago address as 401 W. Ontario Suite 400 and branches in Rio de Janeiro, Chicago and Arlington Heights in Illinois, Houston in Texas and Jacksonville in North Carolina.

      Where in the source: Academy entry text and the branch list.

      Accessed:

  • Brazil 021 Chicago, "How Long Does It Take To Get A Blue Belt In BJJ In Chicago?", academy website, read 13 September 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • Brazil 021 Chicago states that belt promotions at the academy are done by Professor Hannette Staack, that promotions happen formally during class with stripes awarded along the way, and that there are no tests, no fees and no scheduled promotion cycles: she promotes students when she assesses that they are ready.

      Where in the source: Section "Belt Promotions At Brazil-021: What The Process Looks Like".

      Accessed:

  • BJJ Heroes, "Kristen Martin", undated profile page.(opens in a new tab)

    • Kristen Martin is a black belt under Hannette Staack and Andre Terencio and one of the main figures of the Brazil 021 competition team. Born in 1991 on the South Side of Chicago, she came to jiu-jitsu in 2010 or 2011 looking for a new challenge and joined Brazil 021, and BJJ Heroes says Staack and Terencio were by her side throughout her career from white to black belt. On 19 June 2017, after winning her second IBJJF World title, Martin received her black belt from Staack's hands. Her record includes IBJJF world titles in 2014 at purple belt and 2017 at brown belt and a Pan American title in 2016 at brown belt.

      Where in the source: Lead paragraph; "Lineage" line ending "Hannette Staack > Kristen Martin"; biography, final paragraph "On June 19th, 2017".

      Accessed:

  • BJJ Heroes, "Kristin Mikkelson", undated profile page.(opens in a new tab)

    • Kristin Mikkelson is a black belt under Hannette Staack and a leading representative of Brazil 021. Born in Cincinnati in 1988, she reached second-degree black belt in taekwondo before moving to Chicago in 2011 and finding Brazil 021. BJJ Heroes writes that her fascination with grappling was greatly influenced by her coach Hannette, because Staack was the first successful female martial artist Mikkelson had met, and that Staack's strong character and leadership drove her towards competition; in 2012 she left a business career for a less demanding job so she could train. Staack promoted her to black belt in June 2017. Her coloured belt record includes an IBJJF world title at blue belt in 2013 and a no-gi world title at brown belt in 2016.

      Where in the source: Lead paragraph; "Lineage" line ending "Hannette Staack > Kristin Mikkelson"; biography paragraphs beginning "Mikkelson felt the connection" and "The reward for her hard work".

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, "Hall of fame", federation website, read 13 September 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • The IBJJF's own Hall of Fame page lists HANNETTE QUADROS STAACK among the eight women in its Hall of Fame, alongside Beatriz Mesquita, Bianca Andrade, Gabrielle Garcia, Kyra Gracie, Leticia Ribeiro, Luanna Alzuguir and Michelle Nicolini.

      Where in the source: Hall of Fame page, FEMALE tab, inductee card labelled HANNETTE QUADROS STAACK.

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "Jiu-Jitsu: A arte da defesa pessoal, com a faixa-preta Hannette Staack", Redacao Graciemag, 10 June 2014.(opens in a new tab)

    • Graciemag introduced Staack in June 2014 as the 2014 world runner-up and a member of the IBJJF Hall of Fame, and published a video in which she demonstrated how the knowledge gained in jiu-jitsu works in practice as self-defence.

      Where in the source: Standfirst beginning "Vice-campea mundial em 2014 e integrante do Hall da Fama da IBJJF".

      Accessed:

  • Brazil 021 Chicago, "Chicago Women's Self Defense Classes", academy website, read 13 September 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • Brazil 021 Chicago advertises a six-week women's self-defence programme built on jiu-jitsu techniques for women with no previous experience, in small classes, covering awareness and prevention, escapes from grabs and holds, and leverage-based technique. The page names Hannette Staack as the instructor and describes her approach as clear instruction, correct technique and building real confidence on and off the mat. At the time of reading the page was marked "Coming Soon" with a sign-up interest list.

      Where in the source: Banner "Coming Soon - Women's Self Defense Classes In Chicago"; sections "ABOUT THE PROGRAM" and "MEET YOUR INSTRUCTOR".

      Accessed:

  • Brazil 021 Chicago, "Professor Hannette Staack", academy website, read 13 September 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • Conflicting accounts

      Brazil 021 Chicago's instructor page for Hannette Staack lists her achievements as three-time Brazilian National Champion, twice in the absolute; seven-time World Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Champion; World Champion at the No-Gi World Championship; and three-time ADCC Champion, twice in a weight division and once in the absolute. It repeats the BJJ Heroes text about her nicknames.

      Where in the source: Section "Main Achievements/Successes" on the instructor page; the nickname paragraph above it.

      Accessed:

Competition results

Recorded tournament results, newest first
YearEventResultDivision
2011IBJJF World ChampionshipSource: en.wikipedia.org-69 kgGiVerified1st place-69 kgGiVerified
2009IBJJF World ChampionshipSource: en.wikipedia.org-69 kgGiVerified1st place-69 kgGiVerified
2008IBJJF World ChampionshipSource: en.wikipedia.org-69 kgGiVerified1st place-69 kgGiVerified
2007IBJJF World ChampionshipSource: en.wikipedia.org-64 kgGiVerified1st place-64 kgGiVerified
2004IBJJF World ChampionshipSource: en.wikipedia.org-64 kgGiVerified1st place-64 kgGiVerified
2003IBJJF World ChampionshipSource: en.wikipedia.org-64 kgGiVerified1st place-64 kgGiVerified
2002IBJJF World ChampionshipSource: en.wikipedia.org-64 kgGiVerified1st place-64 kgGiVerified

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