Rafaela Guedes

Rafaela Guedes was born on May 23, 1992, in Manaus, a city located on the banks of the Negro River in northwestern Brazil, and the capital of the state of Amazonas.

While growing up, Rafaela practiced a number of sports, with handball being the one she took most seriously, playing it at a competitive level from the age of 10. Although embedded in this sport for an extended period, a serious injury threw her out from the handball tournament scene for good at the age of 15.

During her teens, Rafaela became a regular face at local jiu-jitsu tournament stands, being there in support for her cousins, who practiced the gentle art. Her admiration for her cousins would be behind Guedes’ decision of starting jiu-jitsu at the age of 17, after struggling with depression and her weight since leaving her handball life.

Rafaela’s first experience in jiu-jitsu took place at a local social project where she earned her blue belt. After that, Guedes wanted to place more effort into her tournament experience, then joining coach Daílson Pinheiro’s school – also in Manaus, for that purpose. It was while training with Pinheiro that Guedes’ love for competition developed, leading her to leave her hometown at the age of 22, to live in São Paulo, where she had access to Brazil’s strongest jiu-jitsu circuit.

Rafaela spent a few years at the New School Brotherhood academy, one of the leading grappling gyms of that time, where she became good friends with one of the team’s top athletes, Luiza Monteiro, who moved to the United States in 2017