; born 12 April 1991) is a submission grappler and

Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

(BJJ) black belt competitor. Regarded by some as one of the greatest Japanese BJJ fighters, Yuasa is a World, European and Asian champion in coloured belt and a four times black belt

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

champion.

Career

Rikako Yuasa was born on 12 April 1991 in Saitama, Japan. She started swimming from the age of four, by the time she reached sixth grade she was selected to participate in the Junior Olympics. In secondary school she started wrestling and judo. Looking for a gym she joined Pogona club, an MMA in Kawaguchi, where she discovered

. She started training Jiu-Jitsu (Gi and No-Gi) under Ichiro Kaneko. In October 2008 she was promoted to the blue belt then purple the following year in October 2009. In December 2010 she started competing in

grappling Grappling, in hand-to-hand combat, describes sports that consist of gripping or seizing the opponent. Grappling is used at close range to gain a physical advantage over an opponent, either by imposing a position or causing injury. Grappling i ...

at a Tokyo

JEWELS A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...

event. As a purple belt she won the 2012 European Championship and the 2012 Asian Championship (in both her weight division and in Absolute) finishing third at the World Championship in the Open Weight division. In September 2013, she was promoted to brown belt and joined Paraestra team, one of the first and best grappling academies in Japan where she started training under Yukinori Sasa, the first Japanese to win the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship. In 2014 Yuasa won her first world title as a brown belt and was promoted that same year to black belt by Sasa on 7 June 2014. As a black belt she won the 2015 World Championship for the first time after defeating Gezary Matuda for the lightfeather title becoming the first Japanese athlete to become a BJJ black belt world champion. In

Submission Grappling Submission wrestling, also known as Submission grappling, Submission fighting a form of competition and a general term for martial arts and combat sports that focus on Clinch fighting, clinch and ground fighting with the aim of obtaining a Submis ...

she won the 2015 ADCC Submission Grappling Asia then proceeded to win gold again at the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship in 2016, 2017 and 2018, also winning in 2017 and 2019 ADCC Asia two more times. Competing in local grappling tournaments she fought at Quintet Fight Night 2 and 3 in Tokyo. That same year she won silver at the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Tokyo losing by point in the final against

Mayssa Bastos Mayssa Bastos (born 23 October 1997) is a Brazilian submission grappler and black belt Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitor. Bastos has won almost every single major jiu-jitsu tournaments in both Gi and No-Gi. She is the current roosterweight World ...

, then won gold at the IBJJF Asian championship and silver at the world championship.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitive summary

Main Achievements (Black Belt) * IBJJF World Champion (2018 / 2017 / 2016 / 2015) * IBJJF Asian Champion (2019) * 2nd place IBJJF World Championship (2019) * 2nd place IBJJF Asian Open (2015) * 2nd place Abu Dhabi World Pro (2016 / 2017) * 2nd Place Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Tokyo (2016 / 2019) Main Achievements (Coloured Belts) * IBJJF World Champion (2014 brown) * IBJJF European Champion (2012 purple) * IBJJF Asian Champion (2012 purple) * 2nd place IBJJF Pan Championship (2012 purple) * 3rd place IBJJF World Championship (2011 purple) * 3rd place IBJJF Pan Championship (2012 purple)

Instructor lineage

Mitsuyo Maeda ,Virgílio, pp. 22–25 a Brazilian naturalized as Otávio Maeda (),Virgílio, p. 9 was a Japanese ''judōka'' (judo practitioner) and prizefighter in no holds barred competitions, also being one of the first documented mixed martial artists of t ...

Carlos Gracie Carlos Gracie (September 14, 1902October 7, 1994) was a Brazilian martial artist who is credited with being one of the primary developers of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Along with his younger brother Hélio Gracie and fellow students Luis França and ...

Sr. > Carlos Gracie Junior >

Yuki Nakai is a retired Japanese people, Japanese mixed martial artist. He currently teaches Shooto and Jiu-Jitsu, and is the president of the Japanese Confederation of Jiu-Jitsu. He competed in Shooto, an early MMA promotion where he won the Shooto World W ...

>Yukinori Sasa > Rikako Yuasa

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuasa, Rikako Japanese practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu Living people 1991 births People awarded a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champions (women) Female Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners Japanese submission wrestlers