Kingz Athlete Spotlight: Melissa Cueto

 Jiu-jitsu fans in Brazil have long known Melissa Stricker Cueto’s name. Just in the last four years, Melissa has really make a name for herself on the international stage… and she’s just getting started, with her sights set on some serious gold. - womens gi pants

The 32-year-old Brazilian from Pelotas, a city in the far south of Brazil, was a born athlete. Having practiced several different sports growing up, she settled on taekwondo in her teens, before finding Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the age of 17.

From white to brown, Melissa had stand-out performances in the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation tournaments in Brazil. During her purple belt years alone, she became a two-time South American champion, a two-time South Brazilian Champion, and two-time silver medalist at the Brasileiros. She hit another gear during her brown belt year. She took home the gold at both the Brasileiros and the World Championships, after which she was later promoted to black belt in December 2018 by her then coach, Leonardo Morosetti.

After joining Diego Unfer academy, Melissa’s freshman year at black belt saw some notable wins, including against Luanna Alzuguir and Maria Malyjasiak at the 2019 IBJJF Worlds. But it was in 2021, after joining the Alliance team, that she really began to shine. She won her first IBJJF World Championship at black belt, in an incredibly stacked women’s heavyweight division, then in 2022 went on to win the Heavyweight division at the IBJJF Pans.

With her aggressive spider guard, ultra-technical sweeping game, and submission-hunting style, the Alliance athlete doesn’t fail to deliver exciting matches to her fans.

We caught up with Melissa to talk about who she is, her jiu-jitsu journey so far, and what she has her sights on for the future. Read on… 


How long have you been training and how did you start?

I have been training for 15 years. I always liked fights and the first fight I did was in taekwondo; before I started jiu-jitsu, it was the style that I practiced. I was passing in front of a jiu-jitsu academy and I decided to go in and see what it was like. And after that, I stopped taekwondo and never gave up jiu-jitsu.

Eu treino há 15 anos. Sempre gostei de lutas e a primeira luta que fiz foi taekwondo, inclusive na época em que iniciei jiu-jitsu, era a modalidade que eu praticava. Estava passando na frente da academia de jiu jitsu e resolvi entrar e ver como era e depois disso, cancelei o taekwondo e nunca mais larguei o jiu-jitsu.

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