Dimitrius Souza - Heavyweight BJJ Black Belt

On March 25, 1989, Dimitius Souza was born in an area named Cohab, in São Paulo, Brazil. Souza is a top-ranked heavyweight BJJ competitor who won many championships in his weight divisions. He started his jiu-jitsu career through his friend. Now, Souza is a jiu-jitsu black belt athlete and a winner of many IBJJF Championships.

Dimitrius Souza grew up on the east side of Sao Paulo in Cohab. He started training in jiu-jitsu at a young age.

Souza was introduced to jiu-jitsu through his friend who was already practicing martial arts. Souza had his first interaction with BJJ, through the invitation of his friend. Souza decided to take his first BJJ class at the Nascidos para Vencer social project, a project built in 1998 to assist people facing financial difficulties, engaging the kids with jiu-jitsu and promoting a healthy and athletic lifestyle in a poor area.

Souza developed an instant liking for the gentle art and immediately decided to pursue BJJ professionally.

Souza’s first instructor at the Nascidos para Vencer project was the head of the organization, António Carlos Bergamo, known as “Toni”.  Toni had to travel frequently for other projects  outside Sao Paulo.  In his absence, Souza trained with other instructors, including  Everdan Olegario aka Mestre Dan, and Sergio Moraes. Both had a fundamental role in the success of Souza as a grappler. Later as a blue belt, Souza also joined the Fabio Gurgel Academy to increase his exposure and further polish his skills.

In 2009, Souza was promoted to the brown belt. After he got his brown belt, Souza became a regular at Luciano Nucci’s gym, the famous “Casquinha”. In the brown belt division, Souza won several important tournaments during his 2011 jiu-jitsu campaign, including a win at the IBJJF World Championship.

In July 2011, Souza was promoted to the black belt by Sergio Moraes, after he won the World Championship that year in the brown belt. This spectacular win allowed Souza to make a successful career in BJJ as a black belt. He participated in many important international and national championships, including the IBJJF Championships, the Brazilian National Championship, and the IBJJF South America Championship, and won many medals.

Souza is nicknamed “Dimi,” which is short for Dimitrius. However, he is best known by his original name in the BJJ World.

Souza has been affiliated with the Alliance Jiu-Jitsu Academy for over 2 years as a consultant. He also teaches jiu-jitsu classes there.

Dimitrius Souza competed with Uanderson Ferreira at the IBJJF Pan Championship 2023 as a black belt in the open-class division. After a long and intense match, Souza got three advantage points and won the match with his excellent crucifix choke technique.

Dimitrius Souza fought with Pedro Machado at the IBJJF World Championship 2022 in the black belt, heavyweight division. At the start of the fight, Souza scored two points by taking Mechado down and reversing his technique using his legs. After a long and intense bout, Souza won the match with the two points that he scored at the start.

Dimitrius Souza faced Filipe Pimentel at the IBJJF World Championship 2021 in the heavyweight division as a black belt. Souza dominated the fight  from the start.  He maintained the top position during the entire match. In the end, Souza defeated Pimentel with  the choke from back technique.

Dimitrius Souza v Pedro Marinho / Pan Championship 2022

Dimitrius Souza v Gustavo Mascarenhas / Sul-Americano 2021