23 year old Mayssa Bastos of GF Team has already conquered nearly every possible title in the sport, even with losing most of her second year at black belt to the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently ranked first at strawweight in no-gi and roosterweight in the gi, Mayssa is a Worlds and Pans champion at black belt in both gi and no-gi competition.

FloGrappling Official No-Gi Rankings

The Rio de Janeiro native began her training at 11 years old, and had success at all the colored belts on her way up through the ranks. Remembering her first forays into competition, Mayssa had this to say:

"Remembering my first competitions, I remember that I was very nervous and anxious. To be honest, I was always very competitive, and I remember at the colored belts that I competed practically every weekend. Sometimes I had a competition one day and then another the next. There was even a time I fought at two competitions on the same day. So I always liked the idea of competing."

Mayssa had a nearly impeccable record at the colored belts. Worlds, Euros and Pans champion at blue belt. Worlds, Euros and Pans champion in back to back years at purple. As a brown belt, she won the Abu Dhabi World Pro competing against black belts and also won Euros and Pans again.

Everyone knew Mayssa was going to be a problem at black belt, but defeating four-time Worlds champ Rikako Yuasa in her very first worlds at the highest level was truly remarkable. Mayssa has racked up an incredible 53-5 record so far at black belt, with only one of those losses coming at her natural weight class. 

"I always had a lot of desire and I always believed it was possible. When I see everything I have achieved so far in such a short time as a black belt, I am very fulfilled."

Mayssa has proven herself elite in both gi and no-gi competition, and not only under the IBJJF ruleset either. Besides her IBJJF no-gi titles, she won by submission at KASAI and achieved a major submission only title when she won the EBI 18 strawweight tournament.

Mayssa has cleared out her division in a short time in dominant fashion, but she has a new challenger in Grace Gundrum at the upcoming WNO: Kaynan Duarte vs Rodolfo Vieira. A win on the biggest superfight event in the game, against the #2 ranked athlete in her no-gi weight, would only further prove that Mayssa is untouchable in the sports lightest weight category.

Watch WNO: Kaynan Duarte vs Rodolfo Vieira Live On Demand On FloGrappling