Amanda Leve

Amanda Leve is a jiu-jitsu black belt under James Booth & Jay Regalbuto who worked extensively with Ricardo Almeida during her purple and brown belt career. Competing almost exclusively in the no-gi circuit, Leve is widely regarded as one of the top grapplers of her generation, a reputation she earned after her wins in the colored belt division of the World and Pan No-Gi Championships (weight and absolute) back in 2015, 2016, and 2017 as well as her ADCC US Trials victory (2019). Leve has also competed in boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA).

Amanda Leve Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Amanda Noel Leve

Nickname: N/A

Lineage 1: Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Carlos Gracie Jr. > Daniel Simões (Gracie) > James Booth > Amanda Leve

Lineage 2: Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Carlos Gracie Jr. > Renzo Gracie > Steve Bongiorno > Jay Regalbuto > Amanda Leve

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place ADCC WC Trials (2019)
• 1st Place Finishers 4 Tournament (2017)
• 1st Place Grapplers Quest Pro Submission (2019)

Main Achievements (Colored Belts):

• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship No-Gi (2016** purple, 2017 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship No-Gi (2015** purple)
• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship No-Gi (2015** purple)
• 3rd Place IBJJF World Championship No-Gi (2017* brown)

* Absolute
** Weight and Absolute

Favorite Position/Technique: Back Takes / Kimura-Lock

Weight Division: Super-Pesado (over 79 kg / 175.0 lbs)

Team/Association: GrindHouse / Studio 84

Amanda Leve Biography

Amanda Leve was born on December 13, 1996, in Northeast Philadelphia, where she was raised.

Sports were a big part of Leve’s upbringing. During the first years of compulsory education, Amanda played softball for her elementary school where she pitched and helped lead the team to two city championships. During high school the Philadelphia native added track and field to her softball playing, specializing in shot put and breaking her school’s record for indoor and outdoor shot put.

When interviewed for her BJJ Heroes profile (April 2021), Amanda explained that her competitiveness had been present since the early days of her childhood, a character trait imprinted by her father:

“I played T-ball at, like, 4 or 5 [years old]. At one point I wanted to stop t-ball because they would always tell us it was a tie game so no one got upset. My dad also helped fuel the competitiveness. He never let me accept 2nd place. There was a softball championship game in elementary school that my team lost and he made me trash the 2nd place trophy in front of the whole team of girls.”

The introduction to jiu-jitsu took place at the age of 11. Amanda’s father and uncle were big mixed martial arts fans and had signed Leve’s brother to a BJJ club. After watching a class, Amanda asked to join, then taking her first class at Jeff Creasman’s Daddis Fight Team.

Immediately after joining Daddis Fight Team, Amanda’s father added Leve’s name to a local tournament. The experience changed her life:

“The first match I lost in 15 seconds. I cried and wanted to go home, but my dad convinced me to stay for one more match. I ended up winning and I’ve been addicted to the feeling ever since!”

Growing up embedded in grappling culture and always seeking a wide range of competitive and coaching experiences, Amanda Leve trained with an array of instructors. This included the aforementioned Jeff Creasman, Frank Ambrifi (orange belt), Rich Latta (green belt), Jason Frawley (blue belt), Ricardo Almeida (purple and brown belt), and finally James Booth of the GrindHouse Academy and Jay Regalbuto of Studio 84, the two instructors who graded Leve with her black belt on April 2021.

NOTE REGARDING AMANDA LEVE’S RECORD

Traditionally BJJ Heroes has only accounted for black belt records as they signify an athlete’s entry into our sport’s elite ranks. Amanda, however, is a special case as she’s been competing in the pro-grappling circuit since her colored belt career, including in the most important nogi tournament in the sport, the ADCC. This has left BJJ Heroes with a delicate predicament of defining when to start accounting for the young prodigy’s match records.

Considering the real potential Leve holds in the sport, we have decided to add Amanda’s matches prior to her black belt debut (which took place at the WNO Championship on September 25, 2021), however, we have added solely her fights in the professional scene.