Bia Mesquita made the Guinness World Records with most gold medals won at IBJJF World Championship, and is now driven to pursue history inside the octagon. The 10-time IBJJF champion and one-time ADCC gold medalist is wasting no time in mixed martial arts, going 3-0 with three rear-naked chokes in a span of six months to enter this year as one of the top prospects to watch.
Set to face Hope Chase in a bantamweight showdown at LFA 203, which takes place Thursday night at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Mesquita hopes to secure a contract with the UFC with another finish.
“I’ll be fighting in Vegas in a week that’s gigantic for the UFC,” Mesquita told MMA Fighting. “There’s UFC Invitational on Thursday, Power Slap on Friday, and UFC 313 at the T-Mobile Arena [Saturday], so I think that’s a huge opportunity for me. God willing, I’ll be able to show up there and do some network and more doors will open for me — and maybe already put a foot in the UFC and the contract comes. I’m ready to sign with the UFC as soon as they call me.”
If the offer doesn’t come this week, Mesquita vows to stay active and add more wins to her MMA record — and maybe the LFA bantamweight belt — to then convince Dana White and company matchmakers she’s UFC material.
“The boss will make the call and I’ll say, ‘Send me location,’” Mesquita laughed. “I’m ready for this. My goal is to make noise and make the difference. This is another step in that direction. No matter how long it takes, I truly believe I’ll sign with the UFC this year.”
Mesquita said it would be possible to make 125 pounds in MMA, but it could affect her game. Being a high-level grappler requires power and strength, and she fears that cutting extra 10 pounds could diminish her abilities the following day. That, and the fact women’s bantamweight is one of the shallowest weight classes in the UFC today.
“I’m cutting more weight to enter a division, but do I really wanna be just another one there?” Mesquita said. “There’s 30 girls there, a ton of great fighters, meanwhile 135 is like… Sure, the top 10 is stacked, but the path is shorter. I’ll be stronger at 135, more fit to fight. It’s already a war to make weight for 135, imagine at 125. … I believe I’ll easily be in the top 10 [of the UFC] in one or two years, fighting at the top. That’s another good thing about this division.”
Julianna Peña currently holds the UFC title at 135 pounds, and Kayla Harrison is likely next in line. Mesquita trains alongside Harrison on a daily basis in Florida, and celebrates the help of the two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time PFL championship under the same roof at American Top Team.
“Kayla is a phenom,” Mesquita said. “We help each other a lot. If Kayla puts you against the cage or clinch, the takedown is coming. It’s surreal. Her judo is so, so, so good. And that’s exactly how I feel about my ground game. The level is different. I know I’ll get to the submission when I take someone down. And that’s great because we help each other so much in practice. It’s priceless to be surrounded by people like that. There’s no other destiny but to be champion because everybody is on the same vibe, the same discipline, the same energy. It makes the process so much easier.”
Mesquita moved to American Top Team and “became a white belt again” in MMA, getting punched in the face in sparring to realize it lit a fire that was no longer there in the jiu-jitsu circuit. She credits ATT head coach Marcos Parrumpa for the evolution in a new sport, learning new technique in every aspect of the game — even grappling.
“My jiu-jitsu today isn’t the same of when I won the ADCC in 2017. A lot has changed,” Mesquita said. “And the fight starts on the feet and I need to take someone down in order to use my jiu-jitsu. Did I avoid getting punched and took someone down? Good. I can’t waste opportunities. I’m comfortable on the ground, but the wrestling I’m training now is completely different than the one I trained for jiu-jitsu. Now I train to position myself for jiu-jitsu with ground and pound, punching to create space to advance position and submit. It’s all completely different.”
“I have to keep my jiu-jitsu at the highest level, of course,” she continued. “I can’t let it drop because this is my background. I’ll never be a striker. That won’t happen. If I can, I’ll be like Demian Maia. Get there, takedown, submit. That’s my dream [laughs]. I’m 33 today and I don’t have time for that, so let’s work the players with have on the team, which is jiu-jitsu [laughs].”
Mesquita wanted to make the transition to MMA earlier, but it was hard to pull the plug and quit a sport she did for nearly three decades. Mesquita took grappling matches with MMA veterans to make some money and find out more about MMA grappling, defeating former UFC champion Miesha Tate and one-time UFC title contender Jennifer Maia before the transition, and realized it was hard finding women willing to face such a jiu-jitsu beast in a MMA cage.
“If you’re a fighter, you have to fight,” Mesquita said of the struggle for opponents early in her career. “If you want to be a champion, you have to fight whoever they put in front of you. You don’t get to pick and choose. That’s how I made my career in jiu-jitsu, and I won’t chance in MMA. If I want to be a great MMA champion like I was in jiu-jitsu, I have to be ready to face whoever comes.”
The short but already intense MMA career has taught Mesquita important lessons about herself as a woman and athlete, but also opened her eyes on how losses are treated compared to jiu-jitsu. Mesquita has yet to taste defeat under the LFA banner, and getting her hands raised after each of her MMA bouts felt different than the hundreds of jiu-jitsu wins.
“In jiu-jitsu, you lose a match, there’s another one next week. And another big tournament next month,” Mesquita said. “I feel that memory is shorter in jiu-jitsu. You lose the Pans? You can win the Mundial two months later and no one will remember that. It’s not the same in MMA. The [loss] will stay in your record. I feel that every time I fight I’m getting one step closer to my goal, which is to compete with the world’s best and become champion. I’m not here to be another one.
“And I know that this division still doesn’t have many big names. It’s still quite empty, let’s put it this way. The champion is changing all the time, and I see a huge opportunity with my background, knowhow and experience. I’m an athlete my entire life and I’m coming to make some noise, to become champion, and be among the best.”
