Ismael Santos

Ismael dos Santos Lima, commonly known as Ismael Santos is a jiu-jitsu black belt under Elinor Batista who worked extensively with Julio Cesar Pereira and Marcelo Ribeiro while representing GF Team in the sport’s international circuit. Ismael became well-known as one of the top featherweight athletes of his generation while competing in the colored belt divisions of the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) where he conquered a Pan American title as a brown belt (2021) and numerous International Open gold medals.

Ismael Santos Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Ismael dos Santos Lima

Nickname: N/A

Lineage: Takeo Iano > Francisco Sá > Francisco Pinto Sá (Sázinho) > Elinor Batista > Ismael Santos

Main Achievements:

• #1 Featherweight in IBJJF Ranking (2021 brown)
• 8x International Open Gold Medals (2021 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2021 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF American Nationals (2021 brown)
• 2nd Place IBJJF Brazilian Team Nationals (2017 blue)
• 3rd Place AJP Grand Slam, MIA (2021 brown)
• 3rd Place IBJJF Brazilian Nationals NOGI (2019 purple)
• 3rd Place IBJJF American Nationals (2021* brown)
• 3rd Place IBJJF BJJ Rio Pro (2019** purple)

* Absolute
** Weight & Absolute

Favorite Position/Technique: Botinha (lapel-grip straight ankle lock)

Weight Division: Peso Pena (70,00 kg / 154.5 lbs)

Team/Association: GF Team

Ismael Santos Biography

Ismael Santos was born on September 1, 1999, in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.

A sporty child while growing up, Ismael played in his school’s handball and futsal (5-a-side) squads up until his 13th birthday, a time when he opted to pick-up jiu-jitsu after a few training sessions at a friend’s garage convinced him this was the best martial art for Santos to learn how to defend himself.

Dead set on training jiu-jitsu, Ismael joined coach Elinor Batista’s academy – an affiliate of GF Team in Ceará – shortly after those garage training sessions. Once he discovered the competitive side of this combat style, Santos’ love and desire to improve grew exponentially, leading the young Fortaleza native to allocate all his resources to training and competing in grappling from his yellow-belt onwards.

As he progressed through the ranks, Ismael started working also with GFTeam head coach Julio Cesar Pereira, as well as coach Marcelo Ribeiro in the United States, when preparing for big international events such as the World Championships, Pan American Championships, and American National Championships.

It was while standing on US soil, shortly after the World Championships, on December 15, 2021, that Ismael Santos was promoted to black belt from the hands of coach Julio Cesar and Ribeiro, a promotion commissioned and followed by his instructor in Ceará, Elinor Batista, through Zoom call.