Ana Vieira’s Issues With IBJJF
In an interview with Jits Magazine, multi-time Jiu-Jitsu champ Ana Vieira discussed being part of the first women’s CJI tournament. She also brought up hard feelings towards the IBJJF and why she will never compete for them again.
Vieira said the bad feelings started after the IBJJF treated her poorly during the 2023 championship. During the finals, Ana was put in a choke and tapped.
The referee did not see the tap, so Vieira was put to sleep by her opponent. When she woke up, Ana was neither helped nor checked by the IBJJF medical staff.
My opponent got me in a choke and I tapped, you know many times, referee didn’t see and the way they handled the situation when… the way they put me up, I was really dizzy, I had like a concussion. They didn’t provide any kind of help, medical help. My wife was there in shock. She told me that afterwards that the whole IBJJF staff was literally just like that, looking to me, waiting for me to stand up and go to the podium. I was completely out, they didn’t want to call for the ambulance.”- Ana Vieira.
Lack of Empathy From IBJJF
For Ana Vieira, what put salt on the wound was the apparent lack of empathy from the IBJJF. Not one time after the event did the organization check on the former champion.
Ana felt that this was disrespectful and pushed her into a depression. For over a decade, the organization has used Vieira’s image to advertise its events and make money.
However, when Ana was down, they were nowhere to be found.
“They never even reached out to me to see how I was doing. I got depressed, you know I stopped teaching classes at my gym. It was just awful. You know physically I was fine but mentally I was completely broken. And to see how they just, they didn’t care. That’s how I felt and I was like you know what, why am I gonna go there, do a lot of tough matches you know, show a whole generation ‘look come here, let’s compete worlds!’ But if something happens to you, that’s how they’re gonna treat you? I don’t feel comfortable doing that.”- Ana Vieira.
The IBJJF’s loss is CJI’s gain. Vieira is one of the greatest female grapplers in history, and we’re happy to see her get the chance at the $100k prize.
Bobby is martial artist for almost 20 years with a BJJ black belt under Professor Sergio Miranda. He is also a karate black and former combat sports athlete, who loves all things grappling.