Kody Steele

Kody Steele is an American athlete and a professional grappling competitor as well as a jiu-jitsu black belt under Rodrigo Cabral (Brucutu), who represents the Texas-based team — Brazilian Fight Factory (affiliated with Checkmat). A former wrestling standout, Steele became a well-recognized figure in BJJs pro circuit as a brown belt (2018-2019), a time when he conquered the Eddie Bravo Invitational (EBI) Combat Tournament, also beating former 2x black belt world champion DJ Jackson that year at Third Coast Grappling, among other important medals on the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) amateur league.

Kody Steele Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Kody Steele

Nickname: N/A

Lineage: Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Rolls Gracie > Romero Cavalcanti > Leonardo Vieira >Rodrigo Cabral > Kody Steele

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place Marianas Open (2018 brown)
• 1st Place EBI Combat Jiu-Jitsu (2019)
• 1st Place TMS Team Grand Prix (2019)
• 1st Place IBJJF Austin Open (2017 purple)
• 1st Place IBJJF Austin Open No-Gi (2017 purple)
• 1st Place IBJJF Dallas Open (2017 purple)
• 1st Place IBJJF Dallas Open No-Gi (2017 purple)
• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship No-Gi (2017 purple, 2019 brown)
• 3rd Place IBJJF American Nationals (2018 brown)

Favorite Position/Technique: Guard Passing

Weight Division: Peso Médio (82,30 kg / 181.5 lbs)

Team/Association: Checkmat / Brazilian Fight Factory

Kody Steele Biography

Kody Steele was born on April 21, 1995, in Port Angeles, Washington, USA, growing up in Port Angeles and Sequim (also in Washington).

A very active child from a young age, Kody played a number of sports such as baseball and football, which he competed in extensively prior to finding his calling in wrestling during middle school, as a 13-year-old. Playing club wrestling for a number of years, Steele competed in all 3 main styles of the ancient combat form — Greco-Roman, freestyle and folk-style.

Jiu-Jitsu entered Kody’s life due to a lack of wrestling schools in Texas, where Steele moved to in 2013. Resigned to not having a room to practice the sport he loved, he decided to give jiu-jitsu a try, immediately finding coach Rodrigo Cabral at the Brazilian Fight Factory Academy, where the connection with BJJ proved to form just as quickly and strongly as he had previously felt with wrestling.

One could say Steele hit the ground running with his jiu-jitsu, as in less than 2 years Kody started grappling on a full-time schedule, making his mark in the sport. The Washington native’s brilliant performances in the colored belt divisions — particularly in the no-gi circuit, ramped up Kody’s name to compete in important professional events such as EBI Combat, Kasai, Fight 2 Win to name a few, with his record earning Steele his black belt on January 2020, from the hands of Rodrigo Cabral, the coach who guided him from white to black belt.