Tainan Dalpra is a Brazilian black belt from Florianópolis who competes at middleweight for Art of Jiu-Jitsu (AOJ). Since his black belt debut in 2021 he has won IBJJF Worlds gold in 2021, 2022 and 2025, and BJJ Heroes lists a fourth title in 2026. When we checked in October 2026, BJJ Heroes credited him with 115 wins and only 3 losses.
Background and lineage
Dalpra's father started teaching him jiu-jitsu at 5. At 13, as an orange belt at the IBJJF Pan Kids, he met Rafael and Guilherme Mendes. In 2015 he moved to Costa Mesa, California, to join AOJ's competition team and scholarship programme.
He won Worlds titles as a juvenile, a blue belt and later, and won the Pans at juvenile, blue and purple belt. He also won the Europeans at purple and brown belt. Guilherme Mendes promoted him to black belt in October 2020, on the podium of the Pan Championship. That places him in the Mendes brothers' line, which runs through Ramon Lemos, André Pederneiras and Carlson Gracie.
Competition highlights
- IBJJF World Championship: middleweight gold in 2021, 2022 and 2025, with BJJ Heroes also listing 2026. He took silver in 2023 and was disqualified in the 2024 quarter-final against Francisco Lo.
- Pan Championship: middleweight gold in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025.
- European Championship: gold in 2022 (Rome), 2023 (Paris) and 2025 (Lisbon).
- Grand Prix and invitationals: he won the 2021 IBJJF Middleweight Grand Prix and the middleweight division of The Crown in 2023. At The Crown 2024 he beat Gabriel Galvão and Elijah Dorsey, then took silver after injury kept him out of the final.
BJJ Heroes also lists Brazilian National and Asian Open titles and ranks him first in the IBJJF middleweight rankings for 2022–2023.
Style and signature techniques
BJJ Heroes' finish breakdown shows how Dalpra wins:
- 36 chokes from back control
- 19 armbars
- 7 triangles
- 4 toe holds
- 3 cross-collar chokes
He has also finished an opponent with a brabo choke, against Burak Sarman at Tough Roll in 2023.
Notable matches
- 2021 Middleweight Grand Prix: beat Renato Canuto 9–2, then choked Jonnatas Gracie in the final.
- 2021 Eugene 2 (IBJJF event): lost the semi-final to Mica Galvão on a referee decision, one of his three recorded losses.
- 2022 IBJJF Grand Prix superfight: armbarred Rodrigo Lopes at 4:22.
- March 2023 superfight: beat Isaque Bahiense 19–2 over 30 minutes.
- 2023 Worlds final: his first IBJJF black belt loss. He lost to Jansen Gomes on advantages after a 0–0 match.
- No-gi: debuted at Who's Number One with an armbar on Troy Russell, and later choked Mauricio Oliveira at the IBJJF No-Gi Absolute Grand Prix in February 2024.
Academy
Dalpra has trained at Art of Jiu-Jitsu in Costa Mesa since 2015, under the Mendes brothers and alongside teammates such as Mayssa Bastos.