Brianna Ste-Marie

Brianna Ste-Marie is a Canadian grappler who holds the rank of black belt in jiu-jitsu under instructors Fábio Holanda and Leonardo Saggioro of the Brazilian Top Team (BTT). Brianna Ste-Marie is widely recognized as one of her generations’ top competitors, a reputation she conquered early in her career, as a colored belt, through the many medals she conquered in the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) including important titles such as World No-Gi, Pan American (Gi and No-Gi), and European Championships.

Brianna Ste-Marie Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Brianna Ste-Marie

Nickname: N/A

Lineage 1: Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Carlson Gracie > Murilo Bustamante > Fábio Holanda > Brianna Ste-Marie

Lineage 2: Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Carlson Gracie > Sérgio Bolão > Ricardo Marques > Leonardo Saggioro > Brianna Ste-Marie

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship NOGI (2022)
• Who’s Number One 135 lbs Champion (2022)
• 1st Place ADCC West Coast Trials (2022)
• 1st Place ADCC East Coast Trials (2021)
• 2nd Place ADCC (2022)
• 3rd Place IBJJF World Championship (2023)

Main Achievements (Colored Belts):

• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship NOGI (2019 purple, 2021 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2018 blue, 202o purple)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship NOGI (2018 blue, 2019** purple)
• 1st Place IBJJF European Open (2020 purple)
• 1st Place IBJJF American Nationals (2021 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF American Nationals NOGI (2021 brown)
• 2nd Place IBJJF American Nationals (2021* brown)
• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship NOGI (2018 blue)
• 2nd Place IBJJF Pan Championship NOGI (2017 blue)
• 3rd Place IBJJF World Championship (2018** blue, 2019 purple)
• 3rd Place IBJJF World Championship NOGI (2019* purple, 2021* brown)
• 3rd Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2020* brown)
• 3rd Place IBJJF European Open (2020* purple)

Other Achievements:

• 1st Place EBI Combat Worlds Tournament 125 lbs (2021)
• 1st Place Medusa 135 lbs Tournament – EBI Combat (2021)

Favorite Position/Technique: Pressure Passing

Weight Division: Peso Leve (64 kg / 141.5 lbs)

Team/Association: BTT

Brianna Ste-Marie Biography

Brianna Ste-Marie was born on August 30th, 1996, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and grew up in a suburb of the state’s largest city named Pierrefonds.

A sporty person by nature, Brianna started playing rugby and soccer competitively during her childhood but opted to focus solely on rugby at the age of 11, after she participated in a summer camp at The 300 Rugby Academy with Guillermo Gulli.
Enamored by the physicality of the sport and comradery experienced by the rugby community, Ste-Marie went on to play rugby league for several years with the St-Anne-de-Bellevue rugby club during the summer as well as school rugby during the fall/spring. During this period, Brianna had the opportunity to tour with the squad in the United Kingdom and Ireland while also becoming a part of Team Quebec on a national stage.

After she joined college, Ste-Marie joined Concordia University and played her last season in the fall of 2015, before shifting her focus to jiu-jitsu.

Jiu-Jitsu appeared in Brianna’s life by way of her father who was an avid martial arts fan and long-time practitioner. After some time training at the local Brazilian Top Team (BTT) affiliate, he was able to convince Ste-Marie to try a class. As it turned out, she felt an immediate connection to the sport, and by 2016 Brianna had opted to quit rugby in favor of grappling. She was 19 years old.

Starting out with the right foot, Ste-Marie had the fortuity of finding two very savvy instructors right at the start of her career, namely Frederic Koomsatira and Leonardo Saggioro (Cascão), the latter a multiple time black belt IBJJF World medalist and one of the top featherweights in the sport.

Cascão, in particular, was instrumental in Brianna’s early career as he instilled in the young practitioner the desire to compete at a time when Ste-Marie had no intentions of using BJJ beyond recreational purposes. He was also an important figure in the sense that he pushed the Québécois to surpass her physical and mental limitations.

As Ste-Marie decided to pursue jiu-jitsu more seriously, she started attending classes at the BTT Canada Headquarters with both Saggioro and one of jiu-jitsu’s pioneers in Canada, Mr. Fábio Holanda. Both coaches promoted Brianna Ste-Marie through all belts, including her black belt. The latter took place on December 4th, 2021.

Although a representative of BTT, Brianna Ste-Marie also trained and coached at Mizu Studio, a gym she joined in 2020.