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Kyra Gracie

Creator credit recorded on the linked source page: Veritas~commonswiki (original uploader; author credited as 'self-made') · CC BY-SA 3.0

Kyra Gracie

The first Gracie woman to actively compete: four IBJJF world titles, three ADCC golds, and a black belt at 21 from her uncle Carlos Gracie Junior.

Biography

Kyra Gracie Guimarães was born in Rio de Janeiro on 29 May 1985. Her grandfather Robson Gracie was the second son of Carlos Gracie senior, who founded Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and she holds a fourth-degree black belt in the sport and a black belt in judo. Her lineage is recorded as Carlos Gracie to Helio Gracie to Carlos Gracie Junior to her. Wikipedia counts her as one of two Gracie women to hold a black belt in jiu-jitsu, and as the first Gracie woman to compete actively. Three of her uncles, Ralph, Renzo and Ryan Gracie, were black belts, and she grew up under the same roof as them. BJJ Heroes' entry has her playing at jiu-jitsu as a toddler, in regular classes at about eleven, and competing from yellow belt with her family behind her. That changed as she moved up. As a teenager at blue belt, the same source says, she had the men in the family against her, her uncles among them; they wanted her out of a sport they thought too rough. She carried on, competing through the coloured belts and into the black-belt divisions. She trained extensively with Alexandre Soca, and in 2005 moved to Gracie Barra's headquarters, the move bringing her nearer another uncle, Carlos Gracie Junior. He awarded her the black belt when she was 21, placing the promotion between May 2006 and May 2007. He is also the last teacher named in her lineage, so the line she is recorded in and the man who promoted her are one relationship seen twice. He is a different uncle from the three she grew up with. She enrolled in a law degree and gave it up after a year, choosing competition and teaching instead. Her record in the federation's own results begins before the black belt. At the 2004 World Championship she is listed second in the adult female feather division, behind Bianca Andrade of Gracie Barra/Alagoas, with Lenir Tavares and Bruna Gruppi sharing third; she competed for Gracie Barra, and Wikipedia's medal record carries the same placing for that year. The division heading is worth reading closely: purple, brown and black shared the adult women's brackets that year, with blue belts bracketed separately. So someone still short of black belt could end up placed in a bracket that included black belts. The 2006, 2008 and 2010 headings show the same grouping, narrowed to brown and black. Her first world title in a division containing black belts came in 2006. The federation lists her first in the adult female light division, ahead of Hannette Quadros of the Carlson Gracie Team, with Gracie Barra beside her name. By then she had already taken the first of her three golds at the ADCC World Championship, in Long Beach in 2005; the second came in Trenton in 2007, in the same weight class. The 2008 championship is where the record turns. The federation places her at the top of two divisions on one card: the adult female light division, ahead of Luana Alzuguir, and the open class, ahead of Ana Laura Cordeiro. The open class is the division where competitors are not matched by size, so a light entrant meets heavier ones; Wikipedia's infobox gives her height as five feet seven inches. Gracie Barra is the team beside her name in both. The medal record in that same infobox has her first at the Pan American Championship in 2005 and again in 2007, and at the Brazilian Nationals in 2005, with two more there in 2008, in the weight division and in the absolute. By the 2010 World Championship her affiliation had changed. The federation lists her for Gracie Elite Team, formed that year out of the academies of several of her relatives, and places her first again in the adult female light division, ahead of Alzuguir. Alzuguir is the name that keeps recurring: second to her in the light division in 2008 and again in 2010, then above her at the same championship in the open class, where Kyra Gracie is listed joint third behind Alzuguir and Gabrielle Garcia and level with Beatriz Mesquita. Her third ADCC gold came in Nottingham in 2011, all three taken in the same weight class across six years. BJJ Heroes' entry also has her taking Pan titles as a blue belt, in 2001 and 2002, and as a purple belt in 2003, with national titles in Brazil in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001. Around the competitive record there is a good deal of movement, and her occupation is recorded simply as jiu-jitsu instructor. Wikipedia records several years of living full time in the United States, and names two academies from those years: Gracie Barra, in Lake Forest, California, and the Renzo Gracie Academy in New York. Rio de Janeiro follows, with Gracie Barra again and the Evolve/Gordo academy alongside it; the same article's infobox names two teams for her, Renzo Gracie Combat Team and Gracie Barra/Osvaldo. Boxing entered the picture in 2009, under the coach Claudio Coelho, alongside judo with Leonardo Leite of the Brazilian Olympic team. She has also appeared on the television show Kunoichi, and announced that she was preparing for a debut in mixed martial arts. The placings are the frame rather than the point. The first woman in her family to actively compete was, on BJJ Heroes' telling, asked at blue belt to give it up by the men of that same family. She was 21 when another uncle awarded her the black belt. Wikipedia's honours list, citing a report from December 2021, records her entry to the ADCC Hall of Fame and has her as the first woman to go in.

Sources for this profile

  • Wikipedia, "Kyra Gracie", article infobox.(opens in a new tab)

    • Wikipedia gives her full name as Kyra Gracie Guimarães and her date of birth as 29 May 1985, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The infobox lists her at 5 ft 7 in (170 cm) and 130 lb (59 kg), competing in the feather division, with team given as Renzo Gracie Combat Team and Gracie Barra/Osvaldo, occupation BJJ instructor, and rank as 4th degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and black belt in judo.

      Where in the source: Article infobox, rows "Born", "Height", "Weight", "Division", "Style", "Team", "Rank" and "Occupation", read whole; the date additionally read from the machine-readable .bday element, which carries "1985-05-29"

      Accessed:

    • Wikipedia identifies Kyra as one of two Gracie women with BJJ black belts and describes her as the family's first active female competitor. It places her in the United States for several years, associating her with Gracie Barra in Lake Forest, California, and Renzo Gracie Academy in New York. It also names Gracie Barra and Evolve/Gordo among her Rio de Janeiro affiliations. For 2010, the article reports her move to Gracie Elite Team, whose competitors represented academies linked to several relatives, including the late Ryan Gracie.

      Where in the source: Section "Biography", read whole from the first sentence to the paragraph on the Gracie Elite Team

      Accessed:

    • Wikipedia’s medal record gives her three ADCC World Championship golds, all at -60 kg: 2005 in Long Beach, 2007 in Trenton and 2011 in Nottingham.

      Where in the source: Infobox "Medal record", the block headed "ADCC World Championship", read row by row with the medal colour taken from each row’s icon alt text

      Accessed:

    • The same medal record gives her four IBJJF World Championship golds - 2006 at -76.5 kg, 2008 at -76.5 kg, 2008 in the absolute and 2010 at -76.5 kg - and one silver, at -70 kg in 2004. It also lists Pan American golds in 2005 and 2007 and Brazilian National golds in 2005 and in 2008 in both the weight and absolute divisions.

      Where in the source: Infobox "Medal record", the blocks headed "World Championship", "Pan American Championship" and "Brazilian National Championship", read row by row with colour from each row’s icon alt text

      Accessed:

    • Wikipedia records that she was the first woman to be inducted into the ADCC Hall of Fame, citing a report headed "Kyra Gracie Becomes First Woman in ADCC Hall of Fame" dated 15 December 2021.

      Where in the source: The line reading "First woman to be inducted into the ADCC Hall of Fame" in the "Other achievements" list, where the entry immediately before it is "1x Asian Championship champion (2006)"; together with its numbered reference, which resolves to a report headed "Kyra Gracie Becomes First Woman in ADCC Hall of Fame" dated 15 December 2021

      Accessed:

  • BJJ Heroes, "Kyra Gracie", fighter database entry (undated).(opens in a new tab)

    • BJJ Heroes gives her full name as Kyra Gracie Guimarães and her date of birth as 29 May 1985, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

      Where in the source: Stat block at the head of the page, field "Full Name", and the first sentence of the section "Kyra Gracie Biography"

      Accessed:

    • BJJ Heroes gives her lineage as Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Carlos Gracie Jr > Kyra Gracie.

      Where in the source: Field "Lineage" in the stat block at the head of the page; one lineage only is listed

      Accessed:

    • BJJ Heroes records that she is the granddaughter of Robson Gracie, the second son of BJJ founder Carlos Gracie senior, and that she was raised in the same house as three of her uncles - Ralph, Ryan and Renzo Gracie, all black belts. She played at jiu-jitsu as a toddler and began taking regular classes around the age of 11, competing from yellow belt with her family’s support. By the time she reached blue belt as a teenager, the source says, the men in the family including her uncles tried to persuade her to give up what they saw as a rough sport, and she continued anyway. She trained extensively with Alexandre Soca before moving to Gracie Barra’s headquarters in 2005 to be closer to another uncle, Carlos Gracie Junior, who awarded her black belt when she was 21. She enrolled in a law degree and left it after the first year to compete and teach full time. In 2009 she took up boxing with the coach Claudio Coelho and trained judo with the Brazilian Olympic team member Leonardo Leite.

      Where in the source: Section "Kyra Gracie Biography", read whole in sequence from "Kyra Gracie was born" to the paragraph on Claudio Coelho and Leonardo Leite

      Accessed:

    • BJJ Heroes’ achievements list credits her with first place at the ADCC World Championship in 2005, 2007 and 2011; first at the IBJJF World Championship in 2004, 2006, 2008 (weight and absolute) and 2010; first at the IBJJF Pan Championship in 2005 and 2007; and first at the CBJJ Brazilian Nationals in 2005 and 2008. Under coloured belts it lists Pan titles at blue belt in 2001 and 2002 and at purple in 2003, and Brazilian National titles in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001.

      Where in the source: Section "Main Achievements" and the following section "Main Achievements (Colored Belts)", both read whole

      Accessed:

    • The publicly readable text of BJJ Heroes' Kyra Gracie fighter page gives tournament placements in its two Main Achievements lists, followed by a biography and two video captions. Those visible sections do not display bout-by-bout results or a method for any championship final.

      Where in the source: Headings 'Kyra Gracie Jiu-Jitsu' > 'Main Achievements:' and 'Main Achievements (Colored Belts):'; 'Kyra Gracie Biography' continues through 'In 2011 Kyra briefly trained with the Atos team.' and the two video captions.

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  • IBJJF, official results for the 2004 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship.(opens in a new tab)

    • The federation’s own 2004 World Championship results place Kyra Gracie SECOND, in the division listed as ADULT / PURPLE BROWN BLACK / FEMALE / FEATHER. The block reads: 1 Bianca Andrade (Gracie Barra/Alagoas), 2 Kyra Gracie (Gracie Barra), 3 Lenir Tavares (Araruama), 3 Bruna Gruppi (Behring).

      Where in the source: Division block headed "ADULT / PURPLE BROWN BLACK / FEMALE / FEATHER", read whole, first through joint third

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, official results for the 2006 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship.(opens in a new tab)

    • The federation’s 2006 World Championship results place Kyra Gracie first in ADULT / BROWN BLACK / FEMALE / LIGHT, ahead of Hannette Quadros of Carlson Gracie Team. She is listed for Gracie Barra.

      Where in the source: Division block headed "ADULT / BROWN BLACK / FEMALE / LIGHT", read whole

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, official results for the 2008 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship.(opens in a new tab)

    • The federation’s 2008 World Championship results place Kyra Gracie first in two divisions on the same card: ADULT / BROWN BLACK / FEMALE / LIGHT, ahead of Luana Alzuguir, and ADULT / BROWN BLACK / FEMALE / OPEN CLASS, ahead of Ana Laura Cordeiro. She is listed for Gracie Barra in both.

      Where in the source: Division blocks headed "ADULT / BROWN BLACK / FEMALE / LIGHT" and "ADULT / BROWN BLACK / FEMALE / OPEN CLASS", each read whole

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, official results for the 2010 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship.(opens in a new tab)

    • The federation’s 2010 World Championship results place Kyra Gracie first in ADULT / BROWN BLACK / FEMALE / LIGHT, ahead of Luanna Alzuguir, listed for GRACIE ELITE TEAM rather than Gracie Barra. In the same year’s ADULT / BROWN BLACK / FEMALE / OPEN CLASS she is listed joint third, behind Luanna Alzuguir and Gabrielle Garcia, level with Beatriz Mesquita.

      Where in the source: Division blocks headed "ADULT / BROWN BLACK / FEMALE / LIGHT" and "ADULT / BROWN BLACK / FEMALE / OPEN CLASS", each read whole, first through joint third

      Accessed:

Competition results

Recorded tournament results, newest first
YearEventResultDivision
2011ADCC 2011Source: adcombat.com-60 kgNo-giVerified1st place-60 kgNo-giVerified
2010IBJJF World ChampionshipSource: en.wikipedia.org-64 kgGiVerified1st place-64 kgGiVerified
2008IBJJF World ChampionshipSource: en.wikipedia.orgAbsoluteGiVerified1st placeAbsoluteGiVerified
2008IBJJF World ChampionshipSource: en.wikipedia.org-64 kgGiVerified1st place-64 kgGiVerified
2007ADCC 2007Source: adcombat.com-60 kgNo-giVerified1st place-60 kgNo-giVerified
2006IBJJF World ChampionshipSource: en.wikipedia.org-64 kgGiVerified1st place-64 kgGiVerified
2005ADCC 2005Source: adcombat.com-60 kgNo-giVerified1st place-60 kgNo-giVerified

Lineage

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Trained under

Students1