Dominic Mejia - The Young Aggressive ADCC Champion

Dominic Mejia is one of the best BJJ black belt athletes of his time under Aaron Collins. From an early age, he started his Jiu-Jitsu journey and became the strongest and most remarkable athlete in the world of BJJ. Recently, Mejia has been associated with team New Wave Jiu-Jitsu under John Danaher. Mejia has competed in both Gi and NoGi national and international tournaments, but his passion for grappling is in the NoGi Championships. He has won the ADCC Championship 4 times and the IBJJF Pan American Championship title one time. Mejia also has a girlfriend, Jade Nicole, and they have been together since they were in school.

Dominic Mejia was born in California, USA, in 2003. Mejia’s parents were already familiar with Jiu-Jitsu, as Mejia’s father had also practiced the sport for some time. His mother grew up in Brazil, so she also knew about BJJ. They both decided to introduce their son to the world of martial arts. Mejia, along with his schooling, started his Jiu-Jitsu training at the age of 3 at Gracie Barra Upland Academy in California, and right away, his interest in jiu-jitsu developed.

Mejia was asked why he loved Jiu-Jitsu so much, and he said:

At the Gracie Barra Upland Jiu-Jitsu Academy, Mejia was trained under Ana Laura Cordeiro and Rafael Novais. His coaches promoted him from white to green belt in 2017. At Green Belt, Mejia competed in national and international tournaments, winning multiple titles. He also won gold in the Pan American Kids and Jiu-Jitsu World League. In 2018, Mejia was promoted to the blue belt under Ana Laura Cordeiro. At Blue Belt, he won the Pan Championship and Marinas Pro titles, competing against other strong fighters.

During the pandemic in 2020, Mejia started his very own self-defense training sessions for females to help the ladies defend themselves and become confident. He also taught martial arts to kids at Gracie Barra Academy.

Mejia is always excited to compete in NoGi competitions. After the pandemic restrictions shut down, he joined Gracie Carlsbad Jiu-Jitsu Academy in South California. There, he started preparing for the ADCC Trials under Aaron Collins, who later in 2021 promoted him to brown belt. In 2022, Mejia competed in the NAGA Championship and won a gold.

After intense training sessions and dedication, Mejia’s hard work finally pays off. In 2023, he competed in major NoGi competitions and won gold medals in the ADCC US and Mexico Open Championships.

In August 2023, Aaron Collins promoted this 20-year young enthusiastic grappler, Dominic Mejia, to black belt. This was a massive achievement in Mejia’s 17 years of BJJ journey.

In September 2023, just after Mejia won a bronze at the ADCC Chicago Open, he moved to Austin, Texas, and joined the New Wave Academy under coach John Danaher. He moved to Austin from California because Carlsbad Academy was 6 hours away from his home, and rather than training, most of the day was spent traveling, which was quite hectic for him. Mejia, therefore, decided to relocate to Austin permanently and joined New Wave Academy, which was just 30 minutes away from where he lives now. He started his training for ADCC two times a day, and in January 2024, at the ADCC Open- Long Beach, he defeated all five of his opponents, four by submission and one by points, winning the ADCC Championship title.

In the 2023 Tezos: WNO21, the most anticipated undercard bout occurred between Dominic Mejia and Owen Jones. As the fight started, Jones pulled a guard with Mejia applying pressure on his opponent’s right knee.

Mejia was on top and putting maximum pressure on Jones’s leg. Jones attempted a leg sweep to come on top but failed. Mejia used his outstanding tactics and tried ankle locks and a guillotine.

With just 5 minutes left for the fight to end, Jones started to pick up pace and attempted a few submission attacks, toe hold, and straight ankle lock, keeping hold against his opponent and getting advantages. Jones won the match via unanimous decision.

In the 2023 ADCC East Coast Trials, an interesting grappling fight was held between 19-year-old Dominic Mejia and a 17-year-old boy, Dorion Olivarez, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Mejia grabbed his opponent’s leg and took him down on his back, but Olivarez didn’t stay on the mat. He stood up and dropped down Mejia. Mejia attempted the triangle choke and attacked his opponent in an inverted position.

With just a few minutes left for the bout to end, Olivarez went for a submission attack against his opponent and secured six points, winning the fight.

In the 2023 AIGA Champions League, an intense grappling match took place in the qualifier round between Dominic Mejia and Aliev Nurbolat.

The bout began with Mejia pulling a guard and, in an inverted position, grabbed his opponent's leg and attempted a straight ankle lock.

Nurbolat recovered himself but was again caught by his opponent as Mejia attacked him via submission, choking his opponent from the back and holding him in that position for a long time. Mejia won the match via submission.

Deandre Corbe vs Dominic Mejia | Enigma Invitational XIII

Kaua Gabriel vs Dominic Mejia | AIGA Champions League Finals

- 65 kg Atakeldy Yessetov Battle Force vs Dominic Mejia Acai republic

Thien Luu vs Dominic Mejia | Tezos WNO: Pena vs Rodriguez

Photo credit: @dominatormejia