Johnatha Alves

Johnatha Alves is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Guilherme Mendes, who is also a product of the Believe & Achieve grappling scholarship, being the grappling program’s very first athlete to reach the prestigious rank. Alves is widely recognized as one of the top BJJ athletes of his generation, a reputation earned while competing for the Atos Jiu-Jitsu team in the lower belt divisions of the sport, a time when Guilherme Mendes’ Art Of Jiu-Jitsu team was linked with the San Diego based squad.

Johnatha Alves Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Johnatha Barbosa Alves

Nickname: N/A

Lineage: Carlos Gracie > Carlson Gracie > André Pederneiras > Ramon Lemos > Guilherme Mendes > Johnatha Alves

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2020)
• 1st Place IBJJF Houston Open (2021**)
• 1st Place IBJJF Dallas Open (2021**)
• 1st Place IBJJF Fresno Open (2019)
• 2nd Place AJP Grand Slam, MIA (2020)

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship (2017 blue, 2019 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pans Championship (2017 purple, 2019 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship Juvenile (2016** blue)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pans Championship Juvenile (2016** blue)
• 1st Place IBJJF European Open Juvenile (2016** blue)
• 1st Place AJP Grand Slam, LA (2018 brown)
• 1st Place ROYAL Invitational (2017 purple)
• 1st Place Spyder International Challenge (2018)
• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship (2018 purple)
• 3rd Place IBJJF European Open (2019 brown)

* Absolute
** Weight and absolute

Favorite Position/Technique: Berimbolo

Weight Division: Peso Leve (76,00 kg / 168.0 lbs)

Team/Association: AOJ

Johnatha Alves Biography

Johnatha Alves was born on January 12, 1999, in São Paulo, Brazil, where he first started training at the age of 9. Coach Caio Izidro was Johnatha’s first instructor, tuition later handed to Rodrigo “Sama” and Rogerio “Alemão” who awarded Alves his blue belt.

During his mid-teens, Alves applied for the Believe & Achieve grappling scholarship, a fund developed by the Mendes Brothers, Guilherme, and Rafael, in Costa Mesa, California. This grappling program was designed with the intent of helping the sport’s rising talent by granting them full room and board, the best training assistance available in the sport, as well as tournament registration and travel fee coverage. Alves proved to be the perfect candidate, joining the Mendes team in 2016, as a juvenile blue belt, at their performance center in Costa Mesa, California – Art of Jiu-Jitsu.

As soon as Johnatha joined the Believe & Achieve workgroup at AOJ, he started representing the Atos team on the international circuit, quickly proving why he had been picked for the B&A project by winning double gold medals at the 2016 IBJJF Europeans, Pans and Worlds that year.

Under the Mendes umbrella, Johnatha’s path of success carried across all colored belts, ultimately leading to his black belt promotion in a ceremony that took place on June 01, 2019. We use the term “ceremony” lightly as his belt award was an unusual event in itself: Alves was thrown his black belt by longtime coach Guilherme Mendes from the stands, while still on the mat, celebrating his win at the brown belt final of the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship.