Luciana Mota

Luciana Mota Castelo Branco (Luciana Mota) is a professional jiu-jitsu athlete and a black belt under João “Johnny” Faria and Diego Castelo Branco who represents the Alliance Team in the sport’s global circuit. Originally from Manaus, Brazil, Luciana made a name for herself competing in the United States of America where she conquered important medals in the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) league.

Luciana Mota Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Luciana Mota Castelo Branco

Nickname: N/A

Lineage 1: Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Royler Gracie > Paulo Brandão (Coelho) > Diego Castelo Branco > Luciana Mota

Lineage 2: Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Flávio Behring > João Faria (Johnny) > Luciana Mota

Main Achievements:

• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championships (2022)

Main Achievements (Colored Belts):

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

Favorite Position/Technique: 50-50, Single-X, and Closed Guard

Weight Division: Meio Pesado (74,00 kg / 175.0 lbs)

Team/Association: Alliance

Luciana Mota Biography

Luciana Mota Castelo Branco was born in May 1990, in Manaus, the capital city of the Amazonas state in Brazil.

Drawn to martial arts from a young age, Luciana’s parents agreed to sign her up to the local judo club when Mota was 9 years old after many requests from their daughter. Sadly, the academy had very few children and no girls to train with which led the experience to be short-lived.

After her experience with judo, Luciana turned towards other sports, becoming particularly dedicated to weight lifting and bodybuilding, the latter a sport in which Mota competed. It was also while at the gym, lifting weights, that Mota met her future husband – Diego Castelo Branco – in 2012. Diego was already a black belt by the time the two started their relationship and, naturally, he invited Luciana to try a jiu-jitsu class. An invitation was extended numerous times before she finally gave in, in January 2015.

When Luciana first started training jiu-jitsu, she led her mat life as a hobby, training solely 2x per week in the all-female class while also lifting weights at the gym and working as an accountant. Mota gradually became more invested in the sport going on to have 1-to-1 classes with Diego Castelo Branco which finally led her to compete.

Within two competitions, Luciana’s (then future) husband, Castelo Branco, had a conversation with her and explained the potential he saw in Mota as a grappler, instilling in her the ambition to reach the top of jiu-jitsu’s competitive world. She eventually dropped her full-time job to pursue her newfound love for jiu-jitsu. Within 11 months, Luciana earned her blue belt and moved on to national-level tournaments where she continued her success.

Following Castelo Branco’s instruction, Luciana quickly became one of the top colored belts on the Brazilian circuit, which earned her, her purple belt promotion in October 2018.

In trying to advance their jiu-jitsu careers in the most competitive international circuit, Luciana and Diego decided to move to the United States around 2017, first joining the Zenith Jiu-Jitsu Academy headquarters in Las Vegas and later Alliance San Diego with Johnny Faria. Under the guidance of Faria and Castelo Branco, Mota climbed the ranks once again, earning her black belt on December 14, 2021.