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Shanti Abelha

Arte Suave black belt who won world titles at blue and purple belt, then took Worlds bronze at black belt while working in management and consulting.

Biography

Shanti Abelha is a black belt from Arte Suave in Copenhagen, an academy in the CheckMat organization. She won world titles at blue and purple belt, then took bronze medals in the adult black belt division of the IBJJF World Championship, building that record while working in management and consulting. She was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1981. At four she moved with her family to England, where she lived until she was around eleven. Her teenage years were split between Denmark, the United States and England, and around 1999 she made Denmark her home. Capoeira was her first martial art: she started at 17, trained for most of the next five years with Grupo Senzala and reached an orange cord. In 2004 she spent a short time in Wing Tsun kung fu for self-defense. Jiu-jitsu came in 2005. In a 2014 interview with BJJ Eastern Europe, she explained that kung fu had left her convinced she also needed a way to defend herself on the ground. She was on a university exchange in Brazil at the time and was urged repeatedly to give jiu-jitsu a try. Her first two months were at André Pederneiras's Nova União academy in Rio. She told the interviewer she did not like it for the first months but was determined to learn it, and she never quit. Back in Denmark she trained for a few months under Iran Mascarenhas before moving to Shimon Mochizuki's Arte Suave. The club says it was started in 2002, with its first premises in a basement near Vanløse station, and calls itself one of the first jiu-jitsu clubs in Denmark. It belongs to CheckMat, the organization led by Leonardo "Leozinho" Vieira and his brother Ricardo. Abelha remembered that when she joined, Arte Suave had only a handful of training times in a government-owned sports hall, and the mats went down and came back up at every session; by 2014 the academy had premises of its own over two floors. She saw it as an unusual academy because its founder is not Brazilian and never had steady daily teaching from a black belt. According to BJJ Heroes, Vieira and Mochizuki gave her every belt she earned, and they promoted her to black belt together on 28 October 2011. Her world titles came before black belt. Arte Suave's results page lists her as 2007 world champion in the blue belt middleweight division and 2008 world champion at purple belt middleweight, with a bronze in the purple belt open class the same year. BJJ Heroes adds a European Open gold at purple belt in 2008. At black belt, the club's list shows three bronze medals for her in 2013: at the IBJJF European Open, the World Championship and the World No-Gi Championship. The following year she won the Master 1 black belt division of the European Open in both medium-heavy and the open class, and took bronze in the adult black belt middleweight division at the World Championship. In the interview she called that Worlds medal her fifth bronze at adult black belt level. The club also lists 2014 golds in both her weight and the open class at the Rome International Open and the Copenhagen Open. She competed at ADCC in 2009, but said that no-gi training had rarely been a priority for her since. All of this ran alongside her working life. She finished a Master's degree in 2007, the same year as her blue belt world title, and fitted jiu-jitsu into her evenings. By 2014 she was training three or four times a week, one of those sessions being a class she taught, plus roughly two strength workouts. In the month before a major event she sometimes added morning sessions. She described her game as technical rather than strong, at home both on top and underneath, and based on safe techniques with a high success rate and on spotting gaps in an opponent's game. She stayed away from positions such as the berimbolo, saying they need more drilling than her schedule allowed. For years, she said, she doubted she could beat women who trained far more than she did, and began matches already behind in her own head. What changed it was deciding she could win, and reminding herself that no opponent would be harder than rolling with her coach and teammates at home. By late 2014 she had thought about leaving adult Worlds for the masters division, but after a conversation with Vieira she planned another attempt in 2015, saying she believed she could finish higher than third. Arte Suave had just set up a formal Elite Team for its serious competitors, and she said she enjoyed coaching and teaching and wanted to do more of both. In the masters division the club later lists her with black belt middleweight golds at the IBJJF World Masters in 2016 and 2018, the 2017 European Championship in Master 1, and the 2022 European Championship in Master 3.

Sources for this profile

  • BJJ Heroes, athlete profile of Shanti Abelha (article dated 2014).(opens in a new tab)

    • She was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1981.

      Where in the source: Biography section, opening sentence giving place and date of birth.

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    • Her family moved to England when she was four, and she grew up there until about the age of eleven. Her teenage years were spent moving between Denmark, the USA and England, and she settled in Denmark around 1999.

      Where in the source: Biography section, second paragraph; mentions England at age four and settling in Denmark.

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    • Her first martial art was capoeira, which she began at 17 and practised for most of five years, reaching an orange cord with Grupo Senzala. In 2004 she briefly tried Wing Tsun kung fu for self-defence.

      Where in the source: Biography section, paragraph on martial arts beginnings; Capoeira and Wing Tsun.

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    • She started jiu-jitsu in 2005. Her first two months were at André Pederneiras's Nova União academy in Rio de Janeiro while she was an exchange student; back in Denmark she trained for a few months under Iran Mascarenhas before moving to Shimon Mochizuki's ArteSuave academy in Copenhagen.

      Where in the source: Biography section, paragraphs on starting BJJ; Nova União, Mascarenhas, ArteSuave.

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    • All of her belts were awarded by Léo Vieira and Shimon Mochizuki, who together presented her black belt on 28 October 2011.

      Where in the source: Biography section, paragraph beginning with her belts; date given as "October 28th, 2011".

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    • BJJ Heroes lists her team as Arte Suave/CheckMat, a Copenhagen academy affiliated with the CheckMat team.

      Where in the source: Profile info box, team/association line.

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    • Among the main achievements BJJ Heroes lists for her are World Championship gold at blue belt (2007) and purple belt (2008), European Open gold at purple belt (2008), World No-Gi Championship bronze as a black belt (2013), and ADCC participation in 2009.

      Where in the source: Profile info box, main achievements list.

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    • She received her black belt on 28 October 2011, presented by Léo Vieira and Shimon Mochizuki.

      Where in the source: Biography section, belts paragraph; date "October 28th, 2011".

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  • BJJ Eastern Europe (BJJEE), interview with Shanti Abelha, 30 October 2014.(opens in a new tab)

    • In a 2014 interview she said she had been doing kung fu for self-defence and decided she also needed ground self-defence. While in Brazil on a university exchange, a cousin kept urging her to try jiu-jitsu. She disliked it for the first months but was determined to learn, and never stopped.

      Where in the source: Answer to the question about how she discovered BJJ.

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    • In October 2014 she said she had won gold in both her weight class and the open class in the masters division of that year's European Championships.

      Where in the source: Answer to the introduction question; 2014 European Championships.

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    • In the same 2014 interview she said she had also won bronze at the World Championships that year.

      Where in the source: Answer to the introduction question; World Championships bronze.

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    • She described the 2014 Worlds bronze as her fifth bronze at adult black belt level at the World Championships, and called herself a first-degree black belt training at ArteSuave/CheckMat.

      Where in the source: Answer to the introduction question; fifth bronze and first-degree statement.

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    • She said she took part in ADCC in 2009 but had not been able to prioritise no-gi training much since then.

      Where in the source: Answer to the introduction question; ADCC 2009.

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    • In 2014 she combined competing with a career in management and consulting. She finished a Master's degree in 2007, the year she won Worlds at blue belt, and trained in the evenings. She trained three to four times a week including teaching one class, added about two strength sessions a week, and in the month before big events sometimes trained in the mornings too.

      Where in the source: Answer to the question about combining a job with competition training.

      Accessed:

    • She described her game as technical rather than strength-based, comfortable on top and bottom, built on safe, high-percentage techniques and on finding holes in opponents' games. She said she avoided positions like the berimbolo because mastering them takes drilling time she did not have.

      Where in the source: Answer to the question about how she would describe her BJJ game.

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    • She said that for a long time she did not believe she could beat opponents who trained far more than she did, so she started fights mentally behind, which hurt her performance. She said she fixed this by believing she could win, and drew confidence from the idea that no opponent could be tougher than sparring with her coach and training partners.

      Where in the source: Answer to the question about mindset against the world elite.

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    • She said she had considered retiring from adult Worlds to compete in the masters division, but after talking with Léo Vieira planned one more attempt in 2015, saying she believed she could do better than bronze.

      Where in the source: Answer to the question about the pinnacle of her career.

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    • She recalled joining Arte Suave less than nine years before 2014, when the club had a few training slots in a government-owned sports hall and mats had to be laid out and stacked away each session. By 2014 it had its own space on two floors. In her view the academy was unusual because its founder, Shimon Mochizuki, is not Brazilian and never had consistent daily instruction from a black belt.

      Where in the source: Answer about Mochizuki and Arte Suave.

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    • She said Arte Suave had just formed a formal Elite Team for serious competitors in 2014, and that she enjoyed coaching and teaching and wanted to do more of it.

      Where in the source: Final answers about what is next for her and the team.

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  • Arte Suave, club results page, member section for Shanti A. D. Abelha, read 21 October 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • The club's results page lists her with gold at the 2007 Mundial in the blue belt middleweight division and gold at the 2008 Mundial in the purple belt middleweight division (69 kg), plus bronze in the 2008 purple belt open class.

      Where in the source: Section headed with her name; rows for Mundial 2007 and Mundial 2008, medal shown by icon.

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    • For 2013 the club results page shows black belt bronze medals at the IBJJF European Open (medium-heavy), the World Championship (middleweight) and the World No-Gi Championship (medium-heavy).

      Where in the source: Her section; three 2013 rows with bronze icon.

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    • The club results page lists two golds for her at the 2014 IBJJF European Open in the black belt Master 1 division, one in medium-heavy and one in the open class.

      Where in the source: Her section; two rows for the European Open 2014, Master 1.

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    • The club results page lists a bronze for her at the 2014 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship in the adult black belt female middleweight division.

      Where in the source: Her section; row for World Jiu Jitsu Championship 2014, bronze icon.

      Accessed:

    • Later in her career the club results page lists masters-division golds in the black belt middleweight class at the 2016 and 2018 IBJJF World Masters, the 2017 IBJJF European Championship (Master 1), and the 2022 IBJJF European Championship (Master 3).

      Where in the source: Her section; Master 1 and Master 3 rows for 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022.

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    • Her member section on the club results page carries the heading "Antal medaljer 86" and lists 86 entries from 2006 to 2022: 38 gold, 20 silver and 26 bronze medals plus two trophies, so the heading figure includes the trophies.

      Where in the source: Heading of her section, "Antal medaljer 86".

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    • Besides the European Open, the club results page shows golds for her in 2014 at the Rome International Open (medium-heavy and open class) and the Copenhagen Open (medium-heavy and open class), all in the black belt adult female division.

      Where in the source: Her section; Rome International Open 2014 and Copenhagen Open 2014 rows.

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    • The club results page marks her member section with a black belt icon showing three stripes (degree 3). The page carries no date for this icon.

      Where in the source: Heading of her section; icon image named for black belt with three stripes.

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  • Arte Suave, club about page, read 21 October 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • Arte Suave describes itself as one of the first BJJ clubs in Denmark. Its about page says the club was started in 2002, after Shimon Mochizuki and a training partner had spent a period travelling to Malmö once a week to train, and that its first premises were in a basement near Vanløse station in Copenhagen. It says the club is part of the CheckMat organisation led by Leonardo "Leozinho" Vieira and his brother Ricardo.

      Where in the source: About page, opening paragraphs and the CheckMat paragraph.

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Lineage

No teaching connections are shown on this page.

Open lineage