Maria Eduarda Tozoni Ono, commonly known in the sport of jiu-jitsu as Duda Tozoni, is a professional grappler and a representative of Marcos Cunha's, The Match Champ Academy in the sport's international circuit. Tozoni first made waves as a colored belt, competing in the roosterweight division (48,50 kg / 107.0 lbs) when she conquered a European Open and South Brazilian Championships of the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championship (IBJJF). Maria Eduarda Tozoni Ono was born on September 03, 2001, in Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Brazil, where she grew up. Although not particularly sporty during her childhood, Eduarda started jiu-jitsu at the age of 11. Her father was a fan who had grappled when he was younger and was of the belief that this activity would be beneficial for Tozoni's health and mental development, as such he enrolled his daughter in a kids trial class in 2013 and, luckily, it was love at first sight for Duda. "From the very first class, I was charmed by jiu-jitsu and I haven't stopped since" Maria Eduarda told BJJ Heroes in an April 2021 interview, "I identified with this sport from the get-go". Marcos Cunha of the team "The Match Champ" (TMC) was Duda Tozoni's first instructor and the person who guided the young Santa Catarina prospect from day one all the way to black belt. Although lesser known at an international level, team TMC was very successful at a local and national level, particularly in the female division through athletes such as Ana Carolina Schmitt and Anna Negri. As a purple belt, Tozoni's career started gaining traction as she went on to defeat a few seasoned black belts on the professional circuit. That momentum increased exponentially as a brown belt, a time when Maria Eduarda started competing regularly in the AJP Tour's mixed brown and black belt division as she had the chance to compete against some of the sport's international stars. After a successful colored belt career, on June 2021, Master Marcos Cunha promoted Maria Eduarda Tozoni to black belt. Traditionally BJJ Heroes has only accounted for adult black belt records as they signify an athlete's entry into our sport's elite ranks. Tozoni, however, is a special case as he's been competing and beating some of the top competitors in her division since her brown belt days. Considering the level of opposition Eduarda overcame early on in his career, we believed it would be beneficial to have his matches against pro-athletes included on his profile from his brown belt onwards. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() );