Alessandra Vieira | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() Vieira in May 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Alessandra Vieira de Souza
[1] March 14, 1976 São Pedro dos Ferros Minas Gerais, Brazil | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other names | Alessandra Vieira Jamgochian [2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nickname | Leka [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Residence | Valencia, California | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | Brazilian / American | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Division | Feathereweight | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Style | Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team |
Checkmat Gracie Humaitá Dojo/Machado | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rank | 6th deg. BJJ black belt [a] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Occupation | BJJ instructor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | checkmatvalencia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Alessandra "Leka" Vieira (born March 14, 1976) is a submission grappler and a 6th degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner and coach. [a] Widely regarded as one of the pioneers of women's Brazilian jiu-jitsu, she became in 1999 the first-ever female black belt World champion. [1] [3]
A highly accomplished competitor, Vieira is a three-time World champion, four-time Pan American champion [b] as well as an ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship finalist, in 2022 she was inducted in the United States Martial Art Hall of Fame. [3] As a 6th degree black belt, she is one of the highest ranked female jiu-jitsu practitioners in the United States. [1]
Alessandra Vieira de Souza was born on March 14, 1976, in São Pedro dos Ferros, Minas Gerais, Brazil. [1] At the age of 16, after an ACL injury forced her to take time away from handball, she started training Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) under Aloisio Silva, a Carlos Gracie's black belt, founder of Dojo jiu-jitsu and one of the first BJJ masters to teach women. [4] She was promoted to blue belt after six months of training and two years later was a finalist at the 1994 Brazilian National Championship winning silver. She was promoted to black belt by Silva in 1998 then won the 1999 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship a year later, becoming the first female black belt world champion. [1] [c] She won silver at the 2000 World Championship in the featherweight division, [6] [d] then the following year, she won gold at the Pan American Championship. In 2001 she was invited to help start a women's only class at Rigan Machado's academy which resulted in her move to California and representing Machado JJ in competition. [8]
In 2002, Vieira won the World Championship and the Pan American in the same year. [9] After promoting Cindy Omatsu in 2002, she became the first woman to promote another woman to BJJ black belt. [e] [10] She won the Pan championship again in 2003 in the featherweight division. [d] In 2005, she faced Kyra Gracie in the ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship final losing on points after a 16-minute match for the woman's under 60 kilograms (130 lb) title;. [11] that same year, representing Gracie Humaitá, Vieira won the World Championship for the third time after defeating Kyra Gracie in the lightweight final. [f] [13] In 2004, Vieira opened her own school out of Torrance, California. [14] In 2015, she opened CheckMat Valencia an affiliate of Checkmat. [15] In 2014, she became a member of Black Belt Magazine hall of fame after being chosen as Competitor of the Year. [16]
In 2018, Vieira launched the Wonder Woman BJJ Project, a program to help promote and expand the role of women in jiu-jitsu. [10] In 2019 Vieira returned to competition to win the Pan Masters championship in the featherweight division. [2] In March 2022, she received her 6th degree from Léo Vieira, [3] [17] and was inducted in the United States Martial Art Hall of Fame. [3]
Main Achievements: [1]
Vieira's jiu-jitsu instructor lineage can be traced from Carlos Gracie Sr, one of the founders of the art, to Grand Master Aloísio Silva ( 7th degree): [1] [19]
Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie Sr. > Robson Gracie > Aloísio Silva > Leka Vieira [1]