UFC Signs Women’s BJJ G.O.A.T Bia Mesquita

Record-breaking Women’s BJJ G.O.A.T Beatriz ‘Bia’ Mesquita has signed for the UFC and will make her debut in Rio de Janeiro later this year.

Mesquita’s remarkable BJJ credentials speak for themselves as she’s a member of the IBJJF Hall-Of-Fame, which comes as no surprise when you consider that she’s currently in the Guinness Book Of Records for winning no less than 10 world titles in the organization.

In total she holds 24 titles at black belt level across the four major Gi championships, and has a further 12 major wins in Nogi championships, as well as an ADCC gold medal, leading to her being proclaimed as the ‘BJJ Lady G.O.A.T.’

Since June of last year Mesquita has set her sights on making use of her talents in MMA, and has gone on to compile a 5-0 record, with all but one of those fights coming in the LFA promotion, racking up three submission wins, a DQ win and most recently a 2nd round TKO finish, leading her to being signed by the UFC.

The only drawback is that due to her many years spent amassing trophies in BJJ, Mesquita is arriving in the UFC relatively late at 34-years-old, but even so she’s certainly an exciting new addition to spice up the women’s bantamweight roster.

And the Brazilian Mesquita’s debut will be against Irina Alekseeva at UFC Fight Night 261 on October 11th in Rio.

Alekseeva is known as ‘The Russian Ronda’ after UFC superstar Ronda Rousey due to her judo background and aggressive style of fighting.

However, the 35-year-old Alekseeva has struggled to live up to that billing so far as despite a win in her UFC debut in 2023, she has since suffered back-to-back defeats, sandwiched inbetween a year-long suspension due to being found to have elevated levels of testosterone.