5 Wins That Made ONE Submission Grappling World Champion Mayssa Bastos An All-Time BJJ Great

The 27-year-old submission hunter will soon defend her gold for the first time when she rematches former titleholder Danielle Kelly on December 6 in U.S. primetime at ONE Fight Night 26: Lee vs. Rasulov on Prime Video.

That hotly anticipated showdown goes down at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, and it promises to deliver action after their first matchup produced 10 minutes of frantic, back-and-forth submission grappling.

With an incredible nine IBJJF World Titles to her name and dozens of victories against the planet’s top BJJ black belts, Bastos is undeniably the GOAT of the sport’s lightest weight divisions.

Before she locks horns with Kelly for the second time, we revisit five monumental wins that made the Brazilian a living legend.

#1 Showcases Submission-Only Prowess Against Patricia Fontes

After enjoying an absurdly dominant colored-belt career in which she won essentially every major tournament, Bastos was awarded her black belt in 2018.

She wasted no time establishing herself as a force at the highest level, and later that same year, she won the ultra-tough Eddie Bravo Invitational, taking out four elite opponents in one day.

Notably, the event followed a unique submission-only rule set, unlike the IBJJF, where Bastos had previously spent the vast majority of her career competing. And her tournament-clinching win came in the final against three-time IBJJF No-Gi World Champion Patricia Fontes.

The victory proved that she belonged among the best of the best and removed any doubts that her supremely technical brand of grappling would translate to the highest levels of no-gi competition and different rule sets.

#2 A Passing Of The Torch Against Rikako Yuasa

The following year, Bastos reached the top of the mountain in gi competition when she claimed her first gold at the IBJJF World Championships.

That performance alone was notable and impressive, but it was her win in the tournament final that marked an important changing of the guard.

In that match, Bastos earned a hard-fought, closely contested victory over Japanese veteran Rikako Yuasa – a woman who had won the four previous World Titles at that weight class.

With her win over Yuasa, the Brazilian announced herself as the new indisputable dominant force in the roosterweight division.

#3 A Barnburner With Tammi Musumeci

Bastos would continue to find unprecedented success in both gi and no-gi competitions, and in 2021, she collided with American sensation Tammi Musumeci in a submission-only matchup that BJJ fans had been clamoring for.

That’s because Musumeci – a multiple-time IBJJF No-Gi World Champion and an ADCC medalist – is widely recognized as the greatest-ever American female BJJ competitor. What’s more, she possesses a complex and dynamic guard game that closely resembles that of Bastos.

Ultimately, fans of submission grappling got what they wanted.

Over the course of 15 fast-paced minutes, Bastos employed a relentlessly aggressive approach and a beautiful blend of back takes and leg locks to score the decision victory, yet again cementing herself as the most technically sound grappler in the world.

#4 Heel Hooks Mariana Rolszt

In 2023, Bastos claimed her fourth IBJJF No-Gi World Title, and she did it with an entirely new skill set.

The tournament final saw the Art of Jiu-Jitsu representative submit Brazilian National Champion Mariana Rolszt with a picture-perfect inside heel hook – the first heel hook win of Bastos’ career.

By this point, Bastos was already well on her way to becoming an all-time great, but this new wrinkle in her game showed that she was still learning and evolving as an athlete, sending a terrifying message to the rest of the division.

#5 Outlasts Danielle Kelly To Claim ONE World Title

Bastos would subsequently use her ever-evolving leg lock game to add 26 pounds of gold to her jam-packed trophy case. This past August, at ONE Fight Night 24, she took home a thrilling decision win over Kelly in perhaps the most entertaining submission grappling match ever seen in ONE.

After going down a catch around the bout’s midpoint, Bastos turned up the aggression as she looked to attack the American’s legs with bad intentions. With the clock ticking down, she latched onto a vicious belly-down heel hook to even the score at one catch apiece.

While she wasn’t able to secure the finish, she had done enough to earn the decision and become the first-ever ONE Submission Grappling World Champion from Brazil.

Once more, Bastos reached the top of the mountain and further solidified herself as one of the sport’s GOATs.

Source