Helena Crevar
Studied John Danaher's videos in Las Vegas, joined his academy in Austin at 15, and won ADCC gold at 19 by submitting every opponent.
Biography
Sources for this profile
IBJJF, "2025 No-Gi Worlds | Black Belt Day 2 Recap", by Kaelan Crisosto, published 12/14/25.(opens in a new tab)
Helena Crevar won the women's black belt medium-heavyweight division at the 2025 IBJJF No-Gi World Championship, in her black belt debut at the event, finishing the final with a rear-naked choke.
Where in the source: Female Divisions, Crevar paragraph — "black belt debut"; champions list: "Medium-Heavyweight: Helena Crevar"
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According to the IBJJF recap, Crevar won all four of her matches at the tournament by submission.
Where in the source: Female Divisions, Crevar paragraph — "100% submission rate across four matches"
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At the 2025 No-Gi World Championship, the IBJJF listed Crevar as representing Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu and described her as eighteen years old.
Where in the source: Female Divisions, Crevar paragraph — "representing Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu"; "eighteen years old"
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ONE Championship, "‘My Heroes Became My Coaches’ – Inside 18-Year-Old Helena Crevar’s Fairytale Journey To ONE Championship", by Chris Mohan, January 8, 2026 (interview with onefc.com).(opens in a new tab)
Crevar was born in Las Vegas. She first trained in a martial arts gym at age three, studying Kajukenbo for about five years, and has said she always loved wrestling and liked the wrestling and jiu-jitsu brought into the children’s classes.
Where in the source: Section on how she started, opening paragraphs — "Kajukenbo"
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At age eight she tried a single jiu-jitsu class at a local gym where she had gone to try a strength and conditioning class; by her own account, she wanted to compete within two to three months.
Where in the source: Section on how she started, her quote — "try that out"
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According to the feature, by age 14 she was winning regularly on the Las Vegas jiu-jitsu circuit, and her most significant development in Las Vegas came at Cobrinha Las Vegas under Professor Hector Vasquez.
Where in the source: Section on the move to Texas, first paragraphs — "Cobrinha Las Vegas"
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While still training in Las Vegas, she studied Gordon Ryan’s matches and bought John Danaher’s instructional videos, trying out their techniques in her own training.
Where in the source: Section on the move to Texas, her quote — "instructionals"
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The academy where Danaher coaches in Austin, Texas, Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu, was formerly known as New Wave Jiu-Jitsu.
Where in the source: Section on the move to Texas — "formerly known as" New Wave Jiu-Jitsu
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In 2022, at age 15, she met Gordon Ryan for the first time and was invited to try a class at the academy’s then-private facility in Texas.
Where in the source: Section on the move to Texas, paragraph opening with the year 2022
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At the Austin academy she trained alongside Danaher, Gordon Ryan, Garry Tonon and Giancarlo Bodoni; she has said she noticed rapid improvement from the first month and felt like a different athlete after three to four months.
Where in the source: Section on training at Kingsway, her quotes — "different athlete"
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By her own account, she was promoted to purple belt in September 2024, to brown belt in December 2024 while still 17, and to black belt in June 2025 at 18.
Where in the source: Section on training at Kingsway, her quote on belts — "September 2024"
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ONE Championship describes her as the first woman to receive a black belt from John Danaher.
Where in the source: Section on training at Kingsway — "first woman"
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Crevar joined the ONE Championship roster in July 2025; ONE described her as an American prodigy ahead of her promotional debut against Teshya Noelani Alo.
Where in the source: Opening paragraphs and closing section — "roster"
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In January 2026 ONE Championship described her as training daily under John Danaher at Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu in Austin, Texas.
Where in the source: Opening paragraphs — "tutelage"
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At 17 she won silver at the 2024 ADCC World Championship, which ONE Championship describes as making her the youngest podium finisher in ADCC history.
Where in the source: Section on her competition career — "silver medal"
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BJJ Heroes, "Helena Crevar" (fighter profile, first published September 10, 2024, last modified October 3, 2026).(opens in a new tab)
BJJ Heroes records her 2025 WNO 31 match against Julia Boscher as a win by Aoki lock.
Where in the source: Fight history table — row "WNO 31"
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BJJ Heroes records her four matches at the 2025 IBJJF No-Gi World Championship as submission wins over Bethany Wright, Salla Simola, Gabriela Miranda and, in the final, Ane Svendsen by rear-naked choke.
Where in the source: Fight history table — rows "World NoGi" 2025
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BJJ Heroes lists her belt promotions as blue belt from Hector Vasquez on August 2, 2022, at 15, then purple (September 2, 2024), brown (December 21, 2024) and black belt (June 3, 2025, at 18), all from John Danaher.
Where in the source: Belt promotions list under the biography — "Blue Belt by Hector Vasquez"
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At the 2024 ADCC World Championship she won her quarterfinal with an outside heel hook, which BJJ Heroes describes as the first heel hook finish in the ADCC women’s division, beat Brianna Ste-Marie on points in the semifinal and lost the final to Ana Vieira on points.
Where in the source: Opening paragraph — "first athlete to successfully finish"; fight history rows for ADCC 2024
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BJJ Heroes’ fight history records a points loss to Morgan Black in the final of the 2023 ADCC East Coast Trials, followed by a points win over Black in the final of the 2024 West Coast Trials; the 2024 ADCC world final loss to Ana Vieira; and a 2025 referee-decision loss to Sula Lowenthal at Polaris 32, followed by a submission win over Lowenthal at Polaris 34 the same year.
Where in the source: Fight history table — rows "Morgan Black", "Sula Lowenthal"
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Among her coloured-belt and juvenile results, BJJ Heroes lists IBJJF World and Pan Championship titles at brown belt in 2025, and juvenile IBJJF world titles in the gi (2023) and no-gi (2023 and 2024).
Where in the source: Achievement lists for coloured belts and juvenile divisions
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BJJ Heroes describes her as a guard player and lists her weight division as 65 kg.
Where in the source: Profile summary — "Guard Player"
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FloGrappling, "Helena Crevar Promoted To Black Belt In Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu", by Joe Gilpin, June 2, 2025.(opens in a new tab)
John Danaher promoted Crevar to black belt at age 18 at Roka HQ in Austin, Texas, as reported by FloGrappling on June 2, 2025, after she had won an IBJJF World Championship at brown belt that weekend.
Where in the source: Article lead and first paragraph — "Roka HQ"
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In her promotion announcement, quoted by FloGrappling, Crevar wrote that Danaher had promoted her at every belt from purple to black, that she had been with the team for two and a half years, and that she had competed against black belts since she was 14, as a green belt, whenever competitions allowed it.
Where in the source: Quoted Instagram post — "third time I was promoted"
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FloGrappling described the academy where she trained under Danaher as the newly renamed Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu in June 2025, and characterised her game as an aggressive guard with a submission-heavy style.
Where in the source: Paragraph after the quoted post — "newly-renamed Kingsway"; "submission-heavy style"
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FloGrappling, "Helana Crevar Becomes Youngest ADCC Finalist Ever" [sic], by Kylie Rodriguez, August 18, 2024.(opens in a new tab)
At the 2024 ADCC World Championship in Las Vegas, Crevar, an ADCC North American Trials champion and New Wave Jiu-Jitsu student, beat Brianna Ste-Marie 3-0 in the -65 kg semifinal on August 18, 2024, becoming the youngest ADCC World Championship finalist ever at 17.
Where in the source: Article lead and opening paragraphs — "North American Trials champion"; "3-0"
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Her opponent in the 2024 ADCC -65 kg final was Ana Vieira.
Where in the source: Paragraph after the semifinal result — "Ana Vieira"
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ONE Championship, "‘I Knew That I Could Finish Her’ – Helena Crevar Reflects On Impressive ONE Debut Against Teshya Noelani Alo", by Kriel Ibarrola, January 27, 2026.(opens in a new tab)
In her ONE Championship debut at ONE Fight Night 39 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok on January 24, 2026, Crevar submitted Teshya Noelani Alo with an Estima lock 100 seconds into their submission grappling match, after defending Alo’s early headlock and kneebar attacks.
Where in the source: Opening paragraphs — "Estima Lock"; paragraph on the match — "kneebar"
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After the debut she said she had been competing for almost ten years, that ankle locks are among her favourite submissions and the one she looks to attack first, and she rated her own performance a seven out of ten.
Where in the source: Her post-match quotes — "Ankle locks are some of my favorite"
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Crevar and Alo had met once before as coloured belts about three years earlier, when Crevar won a close match on a penalty.
Where in the source: Section on the rivalry — "by penalty"
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After the debut she said she would take on anyone at 155 lb or openweight in ONE and hoped for a ONE title shot.
Where in the source: Closing quote — "title shot"
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ONE Championship, athlete page "Helena Crevar" (ONE Championship records), as read on October 6, 2026.(opens in a new tab)
ONE Championship lists her country as the United States and records two submission grappling wins in the promotion: a first-round submission of Teshya Noelani Alo on January 24, 2026 at ONE Fight Night 39, and a unanimous decision over Paige Ivette Clymer on July 17, 2026 at ONE Friday Fights 162 & The Inner Circle 22.
Where in the source: Athlete page, header and Event Results table — "Country"; rows dated Jan 24, 2026 and Jul 17, 2026
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ONE Championship, "Helena Crevar, Pawel Jaworski Make History With Gold Medal Performances At The 2026 ADCC World Championships", by Kriel Ibarrola, September 14, 2026.(opens in a new tab)
Seeded first, Crevar won the women’s +65 kg division at the 2026 ADCC World Championship in Kraków, Poland, finishing every match by submission, according to ONE: Matilda Reid by rear-naked choke at 9:11 in the quarterfinal, Elizabeth Mitrovic by straight ankle lock at 5:19 in the semifinal, and Anabel Lopez by a choke from the back at 6:04 in the final.
Where in the source: Section on Crevar’s run — "#1 seed"; finishing times "9:11", "5:19", "6:04"
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ONE Championship wrote that at 19 she became the youngest female champion in ADCC World Championship history and the first woman to win all of her matches at the tournament by submission.
Where in the source: Section on Crevar’s run, closing paragraph — "youngest female champion"
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Paige Ivette Clymer, whom Crevar beat by unanimous decision at The Inner Circle 22 in July 2026, went on to take bronze in the same +65 kg ADCC bracket.
Where in the source: Section on Crevar’s run, second paragraph — "eventual ADCC bronze medalist"
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FloGrappling, "A Look Back: Here’s Every Female Champion In ADCC World Championship History", by Tobias Linkin, August 3, 2026.(opens in a new tab)
In FloGrappling’s women’s pound-for-pound no-gi rankings published on August 3, 2026, Crevar was ranked first, listed with Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu and the USA, and also first in the previous edition.
Where in the source: Rankings list near the end — "Helena Crevar — Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu — USA — Previous: 1"
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FloGrappling’s list of ADCC female champions gives Ana Carolina Vieira as the 2024 -65 kg champion, the division in which Crevar reached the final.
Where in the source: Champions list, 2024 — "-65 kg: Ana Carolina Vieira"
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FloGrappling, "Helena Crevar Becomes Youngest WNO Champ By Submission Over Elisabeth Clay", by Caden Senn, April 19, 2025.(opens in a new tab)
On April 18, 2025, at WNO 27 in Round Rock, Texas, Crevar, then 2-0 in Who’s Number One, submitted Elisabeth Clay with a rear-naked choke early in their women’s featherweight championship match; at 18 she became the youngest champion in WNO history.
Where in the source: Article lead and match paragraphs — "youngest champion"; "2-0"
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ONE Championship, "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Superstar Helena Crevar Signs With ONE Championship", by Carlos Cinco, July 19, 2025.(opens in a new tab)
ONE Championship announced on July 19, 2025 that it had signed the 18-year-old Crevar for its submission grappling division, describing her as a product of the New Wave team under John Danaher who had moved to Austin at 15 to train with him.
Where in the source: Article opening paragraphs — "officially signed"; "New Wave Team"
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According to ONE Championship, her record before signing included the Polaris 70 kg title in 2024 and IBJJF World and Pan Championship titles at several belt levels.
Where in the source: Paragraph on her resume — "Polaris 70-Kilogram Title"
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ONE Championship wrote that her black belt promotion in June 2025 came ten years after she first stepped onto the mats.
Where in the source: Paragraph on the promotion — "10 years"
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FloGrappling, "Craig Jones Invitational 2 Results: Here’s Who Won At CJI", by Andy Schamma, September 1, 2025.(opens in a new tab)
At the Craig Jones Invitational 2 in Las Vegas (August 30–31, 2025), the event’s first women’s bracket was a four-woman open-weight tournament for $100,000 with Adele Fornarino, Crevar, Ana Carolina Vieira and Sarah Galvão; Crevar advanced past Fornarino and then submitted Galvão with an Aoki lock in the final to win the $100,000.
Where in the source: Results list — "Women’s $100K Bracket Winner"; day-one results; entrant list under "Women’s $100k Bracket"
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ONE Championship, "‘Love A Title Shot’ – Helena Crevar Eyes ONE Championship Gold After Dominant Win At The Inner Circle 22", by Fachrul Sidiq, July 20, 2026.(opens in a new tab)
At The Inner Circle 22 at Lumpinee Stadium on July 17, 2026, Crevar took mount within the first seconds against the larger Paige Ivette Clymer, moved to the back with a body triangle and spent much of the 10-minute openweight match hunting a rear-naked choke; Clymer defended throughout and Crevar won by unanimous decision.
Where in the source: Match paragraphs and her quotes — "within 15 seconds"; "body triangle"
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After that win she said she had been undefeated in no-gi for over a year, that the match showed she could move up a weight class and still dominate, and that she wanted a ONE world title shot.
Where in the source: Section on a world title opportunity, her quotes — "undefeated for over a year"
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ONE Championship, "‘Always A Submission’ — Helena Crevar Hunting Another Finish Against Paige Ivette Clymer At The Inner Circle 22", by Kriel Ibarrola, July 15, 2026.(opens in a new tab)
Before the Clymer match she described her game as very submission-oriented and said she prepared for bigger opponents by training with as many bigger partners at the gym as she could.
Where in the source: Her quotes on the matchup and preparation — "very submission-oriented"; "bigger training partners"
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ONE Championship, "‘Everything Looks Amazing’ – Helena Crevar Reveals Why She Signed With ONE Championship", by Fachrul Sidiq, December 11, 2025.(opens in a new tab)
In December 2025 she described her style as attacking throughout a match — getting control and then the submission — and said ONE’s 10-minute, submission-only rule set had been her favourite since she started competing in no-gi.
Where in the source: Section on her style, her quotes — "attacking the whole time"; "submission only"
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Texas Monthly, "This Quiet Texas Teenager Is the Best Female Grappler in the World", by Laura Mallonee, February 19, 2026.(opens in a new tab)
Helena Crevar was born in Las Vegas in 2007.
Where in the source: Section on her childhood — "in 2007"
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Before jiu-jitsu she tried several sports and earned a junior black belt in kajukenbo; she took up Brazilian jiu-jitsu at eight and entered her first tournament at nine, winning her match by choke.
Where in the source: Section on her childhood, paragraph on her first tournament
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Her coach from those early years, Ruben Delgadillo, remembers her researching jiu-jitsu obsessively and following instructions with almost machine-like precision; he compared her to an android.
Where in the source: Paragraph quoting her early coach — "android"
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At twelve, as an orange belt, she entered a Jiu Jitsu World League tournament where there were no girls of her rank to face; she declined a refund, competed against adult blue belts instead and won both matches.
Where in the source: Section on her early competition — "blue belts"
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Shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic she began training at a Las Vegas MMA gym run by Hector Vasquez, who says she was beaten up at first but kept coming back twice a day; two years in she was beating visiting black belts and professional MMA fighters, and she held her own in a 25-minute training match with UFC fighter Donald Cerrone.
Where in the source: Section on Hector Vasquez — "Donald Cerrone"
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In October 2022 John Danaher had described his failure to produce a female champion as the greatest failure of his coaching career; that same month the 15-year-old Crevar first came to Kingsway, the Austin gym Danaher co-founded with Gordon Ryan and Garry Tonon, after Ryan had told her at a tournament to come to Texas.
Where in the source: Section on the move to Austin — "October 2022"
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Danaher has described her as having steel-hard determination and said she was quiet not from fear but because she was industrious and thinking about how to become the best in the world.
Where in the source: Danaher quote in the section on Kingsway — "steel-hard determination"
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According to Texas Monthly, as a blue belt at the 2024 ADCC World Championship she trapped a black belt’s foot in what the magazine calls the first heel hook performed by a woman at ADCC World, and became the event’s youngest podium placer; she later went from purple to black belt in nine months.
Where in the source: Paragraph on her 2024 results — "first-ever heel hook"
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Xande Ribeiro, a world-champion black belt, called what she had done unprecedented, and Texas Monthly reports that higher-ranked belts sometimes refused to compete against her.
Where in the source: Same paragraph — "unprecedented"
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As a brown belt in March 2025 at UFC Fight Pass Invitational 10, she caught black belt Maggie Grindatti in a calf slicer about a minute into the match, then wrapped her arms around Grindatti’s neck and added pressure until the referee stopped it; Texas Monthly calls it a hybrid submission.
Where in the source: Section on her submissions — "calf slicer"
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Gordon Ryan has called her a catalyst to make women’s jiu-jitsu something people legitimately watch; Texas Monthly reports that her CJI 2 purse of $100,000 was half of what the male champions received but a record for a female competitor.
Where in the source: Section on women in the sport — "catalyst"
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In 2025 she turned down a lucrative exclusive UFC deal in order to compete where and how she wants; she has said jiu-jitsu is a rough fighting sport but not necessarily masculine, and that girls can do it as well.
Where in the source: Section on her career choices and her quote — "masculine"; "UFC deal"
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In late 2025 she defended her WNO title against veteran black belt Julia Boscher in Round Rock, Texas, making Boscher tap about five minutes in; less than two weeks later she won at the IBJJF No-Gi World Championship in her black belt debut there.
Where in the source: Closing section on the WNO title match
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She has said she would like to keep pushing the sport forward for women and eventually open her own gym, but that she takes one year at a time.
Where in the source: Closing section, her quote — "one year"
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BJJ Heroes, "2026 IBJJF Pan American No-Gi Championship Results" (October 2026).(opens in a new tab)
At the 2026 IBJJF Pan American No-Gi Championship in New Jersey (October 2026), Crevar, listed with Kingsway, won the women’s black belt super-heavy division, which had four entrants, with an armbar over Bridgett Brumbaugh in the semifinal and a straight ankle lock over Sara Resetar in the final.
Where in the source: Female black belt champions list — "+76KG: Helena Crevar (Kingsway)"; super-heavy bracket report
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FloGrappling, "Helena Crevar: From Prodigy to #1 Female Grappler in the World", written by Maka Vickers (byline Makahea Xhelili), December 3, 2025.(opens in a new tab)
In a December 2025 FloGrappling interview written by Maka Vickers, Crevar said that competing at events such as ADCC, WNO and CJI had made her more confident and shown her that she could compete with the best.
Where in the source: Section on achievements, her quote — "helped me become more confident"
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The same interview says she teaches seminars and classes and that coaching and teaching are among her plans; she said it is humbling to see girls and women copy her hairstyle and outfits, and that she would like to be remembered as someone who inspired a generation while staying humble but confident.
Where in the source: Sections on her impact and plans — "inspired a generation"
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FloGrappling, "2025 IBJJF Worlds Day Two Recap: Sarah Galvao, Helena Crevar, & More", by Joe Gilpin, May 31, 2025.(opens in a new tab)
Crevar won the brown belt middleweight division at the 2025 IBJJF World Championship (gi); in the final against Lillian Marchand of Atos she escaped a deep armbar seconds into the match and, behind on advantages, passed the guard with under thirty seconds left to win.
Where in the source: Section on the brown belt middle final — "less than thirty seconds left"
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