Last Friday, Jessa Khan had a dominant performance against black belt Kaori Hernandez at her IBJJF GP superfight. She started the match by coming up from the guard with crazy dog passing grips, passing immediately and worked her way quickly to mount, putting 17 points on the board before the first half of the match expired. The rest of the match was one way traffic, and Khan eventually snagged a triangle armbar while maintaining full control of the mat.

One of the first stars that Gui Mendes raised in the Art Of Jiu-Jitsu’s juvenile program, Khan received her black belt at the age of 18 in 2020. She wasted no time jumping into the highest level of competition with mixed success in her first year. In 2021, she struggled in her matches against athletes like Mayssa Bastos and Brenda Larissa, but had wins over the likes of Patricia Fontes and Julia Balmante.

At the end of the year, Khan reflected on her past year of competition experiences. “Although I was competing a lot more and getting more experience each time, I felt like it was hard for me to balance training in the gi and also no-gi, especially both divisions in the black belt. Every fight is a tough one,” she told Flograppling in a recent interview.

In 2022, Khan turned her attention to the gi, competing less frequently with more focus. She won her first major black belt title at the IBJJF Pans in April. Then, after a tough first round loss at Worlds, she took two months off of competition, which she said was to “improve my mind to get mentally stronger, adjust my training to where I can push myself, and also see small improvements everyday.”

In September, Khan came back with vigor, winning the light featherweight division of IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Con via two submissions. Then, two weeks ago, she won four fights with three submissions at the JJIF World Championships Abu Dhabi.

Khan’s 2022 success continued this weekend. She attributes some of that success to aforementioned mental adjustments. “Right now, I am really enjoying competing. Not putting too much pressure on myself and just trusting the work I am doing in the academy,” she said.