Horlando Monteiro - The BJJ Submission Genius

Horlando Monteiro shared his goals about winning double gold medals in the most prestigious BJJ competitions in a 2015 interview with bjjee.com. At that time, Monterio was a brown belt aspiring to become worthy of a black belt. True to his words, Monterio won double gold medals in 2018 IBJJF American Nationals. Before this, Monterio had won a double gold as a purple belt in 2015 UAEJJF Abu Dhabi Pro.

A fairly young athlete, Monteiro has become an inspiration for all BJJ aspirants around the world. His remarkable BJJ journey testifies to his dedication toward the sport.  

Horlando Monteiro was born on January 20, 1995 in the Imperatriz, Marahao, Brazil. When Monteiro was an infant, his family moved to Natal. As a result, the future BJJ star was brought up between Natal and Joao Pessoa, Brazil.

Monterio discovered mixed martial arts when he was still a child. The combat sport piqued his interest and he eventually resolved to become a professional MMA fighter. As a child, Monterio often pictured himself fighting in a cage against the most feared MMA fighters. However, the 12-year-old Monteiro enjoyed the grappling sessions during his MMA training more than striking. Therefore, he convinced his parents to enroll him in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes, the one martial art that focuses heavily on ground-based grappling techniques. Monterio adorned the traditional BJJ uniform, the Gi, in December 2007 and changed his goals from becoming a UFC Championship to becoming a pro BJJ athlete.

Monteiro began his BJJ training under Tayrone Damasceno of Grappling Fight  Team (GF Team), Paraiba, Brazil. Monteiro continued training with Damasceno till the blue belt level. As a blue belt, Monterio bagged a gold medal in the 2013 IBJJF European Open in the absolute division.

Monterio had achieved the purple belt rank by 2014 only to create a remarkable winning streak in the most important jiu-jitsu championships. The young purple belt earned his first double gold at the 2015 UAEJJF Abu Dhabi Pro in the open weight and middleweight division. This outstanding victory was followed by a gold and a bronze medal at the 2015 IBJJF Pan Championship in the middleweight and open weight categories respectively.

As he developed his grappling skills further, the emerging BJJ athlete decided to join one of the best BJJ teams in Northeastern Brazil, Kimura/Nova Uniao. At this new academy, Jair Lourenco became Monteiro’s head coach. With Lourenco at the helm of Monterio’s training, the young grappler quickly climbed up the ladder of success by winning various national and inter-state championships at the lower belt levels. Soon Monteiro became one of the most-feared BJJ athletes in the jiu-jitsu circuit.   

Though Monteiro had made a name for himself in Brazil, he wanted to expand his horizons beyond that. As a result, he decided to travel to the United States to participate in prestigious and highly competitive BJJ tournaments. During his travels to the U.S, Monteiro met Gustavo Dantas, a fifth degree BJJ black belt and a legendary BJJ athlete and coach. Dantas’s guidance further helped Monteiro unleash his potential on the mats.

After winning numerous gold and silver medals at various international BJJ competitions, Monteiro finally became worthy of a black belt in November 2016. Monteiro reached the black belt level only nine years after first joining BJJ classes in 2007. His black belt promotion ceremony was attended by Jair Lourenco, Marcelo Pinheiro, and Gustavo Dantas, all three BJJ coaches who helped Monteiro achieve his goals.

Monteiro is consistent when it comes to training and competing in BJJ. However, his injuries changed that, compelling him to stay off the mats from 2021-2022. After rehab, Monteiro has emerged as an even better grappler. His spectacular comeback at the 2023 American Nationals held in Vegas, Nevada is enough proof of that.

At the 2023 American Nationals, Monteiro submitted all three of his opponents to win a gold medal in the black belt medium-heavyweight division. By far, Monteiro’s victory in this competition is considered his best performance as a black belt. He had a 100% submission rate and managed to submit all of his opponents in under three minutes.

The 2023 IBJJF Absolute Grand Prix was scheduled in September and Horlando Monetiro was one of the eight featured grapplers of this event. Though Victor Hugo submitted Monteiro via Ezekiel choke in the quarterfinal absolute division, participation in the tournament is nothing short of an achievement. Before this tournament, Monetiro also competed at the 2023 IBJJF Phoenix Open and the 2023 IBJJF Indianapolis. 

In July 2023, Monteiro bagged a gold medal at the 2023 Phoenix Open in the heavyweight division after submitting Mateus Rodriguez in the semi-final and Lucas Norat in the final.

In June 2023, Monteiro took to the mats of the 2023 IBJJF Indianapolis Open absolute and heavyweight divisions only to win a double gold.

After his stellar victory at the 2023 American Nationals, Horlando Monteiro shared that he is the only adult BJJ black belt fighting out of Hawaii. Monteiro has decided to continue representing Hawaii and BJJ Foundation, Kona Big Island to bring back world-class Hawaii jiu-jitsu to the prestigious BJJ mats. Monterio also shared that many people discouraged him from training in Hawaii as adult black belt jiu-jitsu was dead there. However, Monteiro proved everyone wrong by submitting top-notch BJJ athletes, including Kennedy Maciel, Mikey Musumeci, and Ronaldo Junior. Though he is grateful for the training he received in Natal, Brazil, Monteiro is now content with representing Hawaii. In the future, fans will be able to see more of him on the mats.

Horlando Monteiro faced Mikey Musumeci at the 2020 IBJJF Pan Championship in the black belt heavyweight division. At the start of the fight, Monteiro scored two points by taking down Musumeci. Then, Musumeci got two advantage points by successfully applying the back-take technique. Musumeci scored two more points with guard passing. Then, Monteiro scored two points by escaping Musumeci’s guard pass technique. Monteiro scored another three points with the side control. Immediately after that, Monteiro scored another seven points with the mount. Five minutes into the fight, Monteiro performed the katagatame technique and won the match.

Horlando Monteiro competed against Renato Cardoso at the 2018 IBJJF European Open in the black belt heavyweight division. At the start of the fight, Cardoso got one advantage point by taking down Monteiro. After a long and intense fight, Monteiro got eight points with the mount and won the match.

Horlando Monteiro faced Lucas Lisboa at the 2022 Austin Winter Open in the black belt heavyweight division. At the start of the fight, Monteiro got one advantage point by taking down Lisboa. Lisboa scored the first two points with the double-leg takedown. After a long and intense fight, Monteiro scored three points with the north-south choke and gained three more points immediately after. Monteiro won the match with six points.

Dom Bell vs Horlando Monteiro // 2020 IBJJF Pan Ams Heavyweight Semi-Final

Kaynan Duarte VS Horlando Monteiro / European Championship 2019

Horlando Monteiro vs Gianni Grippo / Atlanta Summer Open 2017

Horlando Monteiro: European Championship Highlight

Photo Credit: @horlandomonteirobjj