Alex Nguyen

My Bao Nguyen, commonly known as Alex Nguyen, is a black belt in jiu-jitsu under Greg Souders who is widely regarded as one of the top no-gi / submission-grappling competitors of her generation. A reputation earned through her wins at important events such as the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) Pan American No-Gi Championships and other events, particularly under the submission-only ruleset.

Alex Nguyen Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: My Bao Nguyen

Nickname: Nguyen is mostly known as Alex, a name her father created to ease the family’s transition to the US when they moved from Vietnam, due to the hard spelling of her original name.

Lineage: Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Rickson Gracie > Marcelo Behring > Mario Yamasaki > David Jacobs > Greg Souders > Alex Nguyen

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship NOGI (2022)
• 1st Place Midwest Finishers 115 lbs (2022)
• 1st Place Midwest Finishers 125 lbs (2022)
• 3rd Place IBJJF Pan Championship NOGI (2021)

Main Achievements (Colored Belts):

• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship (2018 purple)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2019 purple)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship NOGI (2020 brown)
• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship (2019 purple)
• 2nd Place IBJJF Pan Championship NOGI (2018 purple)
• 3rd Place IBJJF World Championship (2019 brown)
• 3rd Place IBJJF Pan Championship NOGI (2019 purple)

Main Achievements (Juvenile):

• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship (2016**)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2016)
• 1st Place IBJJF American Nationals (2016)
• 1st Place IBJJF American Nationals NOGI (2016)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Kids Championship (2013)
• 3rd Place IBJJF American Nationals (2015)

* Absolute
** Weight and Absolute

Favorite Position/Technique: Well-Rounded

Weight Division: Peso Pluma (53.5kg / 118 lbs)

Team/Association: Standard Jiu-Jitsu

Alex Nguyen Biography

Alex Nguyen was born on January 17, 2000, in Vietnam but moved to the United States with her family in 2002, settling in Maryland where she grew up.

Encouraged by her parents to try as many extra-curricular activities as she could, Nguyen went through an array of hobbies from arts to soccer, judo, and jiu-jitsu, which she picked up in 2009, around the same time, she joined her school’s wrestling team.

From the get-go Alex’s father was very involved in her sporting life, often in a – now understood to be – overly intense manner. According to Nguyen in an interview given to BJJ Heroes in November 2022, her father asked 9-year-old Alex “Do you want to do this recreationally or be elite?” when she first started training jiu-jitsu. Being young and wanting to make her father proud, Alex chose the latter option which resulted in years of an intense training schedule programed by the patriarch, consisting of weight lighting, scholastic wrestling, and jiu-jitsu, often for 32 hours per week, outside her academic duties.

The intensity of the schedule demanded by her father eventually dried out her love for the sport and damaged Alex’s relationship with her dad. In 2018 she decided to break the cycle and started practicing jiu-jitsu merely as a hobbyist. This lasted up until her black belt promotion which took place on December 2020, a ceremony led by Nguyen’s long-standing coach, Greg Souders, who took Alex from white to black belt.

After earning her black belt, Alex became more invested in the sport once again, opting to give her competitive career a second chance.