Kaynan Duarte

Duarte was born on January 24, 1998, in Pederneiras, São Paulo, Brazil.[1][2]

During his pre-teens, Duarte developed an interest in martial arts and started attending Judo classes.[1][2] From there and through his cousin he learnt about Brazilian jiu-jitsu and transitioned to the sport.[1][2]

Duarte's first instructor was José Luis and Duarate moved to various places to train with different people in order to expand his knowledge on the sport.[1][2] During his visits to São Paulo, he met Paulo Ledesma who was associated with Atos Jiu-Jitsu.[1][2] Eventually in 2016, Duarte moved to San Diego, California, to join Atos Jiu-Jitsu under André Galvão.[1][2] Galvão who served as Duarte's coach promoted Duarte to Black Belt in 2018 after Duarte won the 2018 World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship in both the Brown Belt heavyweight and absolute divisions.[2][3] Duarte received his black belt only one year after his promotion to brown belt.[2]

In the 2019 ADCC World Championship, Duarte defeated Eldar Rafigaev, Yuri Simoes, Marcus Almeida and Nick Rodriguez to become champion in the heavyweight division.[1][4][5] Duarte also competed in the absolute division but suffered an upset loss in the first round against welterweight Lachlan Giles after being submitted by a heel hook.[1][4][5]

Duarte suffered another shocking upset in the 2021 Who's Number One tournament.[1][5][6] Going in as a heavy favorite, he defeated Kyle Boehm and Giancarlo Bodoni.[1][5][6] In the final he faced unranked Tim Spriggs and was submitted by a heel hook.[1][5][6]

in the 2022 ADCC World Championship, Duarte won his second championship by defeating Owen Livesey, Elder Cruz, Rafael Lovato Jr. and Craig Jones to become champion in the light heavyweight division.[1][7]

On January 29, 2023, Duarte won gold medals in both the super-heavyweight division and the absolute division of the 2023 IBJJF European Championship.[8] Duarte was then invited to compete in the BJJ Stars 10 Absolute Grand prix on April 22, 2023.[9] Duarte won his first match against Vinicius Liberati by submission but was disqualified in his quarter-final match against Micael Galvão after reaping his opponent's knee.[10]

On February 7, 2020, the United States Anti-Doping Agency announced Duarte had tested positive for Ostarine following a post-match drug test at 2019 World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship.[1][2][11] Duarte who was champion in heavyweight division for that year was stripped of his Gold Medal and banned from competing in IBJJF events for one year.[1][2][11] Duarte claimed the intake of Ostarine was not intentional.[2]

Main Achievements:

As black belt:[1]

• ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship (Champion in 2019 and 2022)
• World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship (Champion (heavyweight) and Third place (absolute) in 2021, Champion in 2022)
• World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship (Champion in 2018)
• Pan IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship (Champion in 2019)
• Pan IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship (Champion (super heavyweight and absolute) in 2020, Second place (absolute) and Third place (super heavyweight) in 2018)
• European IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship (Champion (heavyweight) and Third place (Absolute) in 2019)
• Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship (Champion 2019)
• Who's Number One (Second place in 2021)

Main Achievements:

In colored belts:[1]

• World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship (Champion in 2017 (purple) and 2018 (brown heavyweight and absolute))
• World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship (Champion in 2017 (purple) and 2018 (brown))
• Pan IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship (Champion in 2017 (purple) and 2018 (brown))
• European IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship (Champion (brown absolute) and Second Place (brown heavyweight) in 2018)

Mitsuyo "Count Koma" Maeda → Carlos Gracie, Sr. → Helio Gracie → Rolls Gracie → Romero "Jacare" Cavalcanti → Alexandre Paiva → Fernando "Tererê" Augusto → André Galvao → Kaynan Duarte[1]

• List of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners