Maria Carolina Vicentini, commonly known as "Maca" Vicentini, is a jiu-jitsu black belt under Lucas Gualberto who worked extensively with Marco Barbosa (B9) throughout her kids, teen, juvenile, and colored belt career. Maca started making waves in the sport in the lower belt ranks of the sport where she conquered numerous important events, but it was as a brown belt that Vicentini truly broke through as one of the hottest prospects in the sport, a time when she conquered the three major tournaments on the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) schedule, meaning the World, Pan American, and Brazilian National Championships. Maria Carolina Vicentini was born on November 23, 2001, in São Paulo the capital city of the Brazilian state of São Paulo, where she grew up. The connection with jiu-jitsu came at an early age. Maria Carolina's father was an avid grappling practitioner, and when she was old enough to start (4YO), Vicentini and her brother started accompanying their dad to the B9 gym to practice this martial art. Marco Barbosa - a historic figure in judo and jiu-jitsu in the São Paulo region - was Maria Carolina Vicentini's first instructor. "Barbosinha" guided her from when she was a toddler up until her brown belt rank. Vicentini started competing in BJJ at age 6, a habit she maintained from then on. When she was 15, Maria Carolina added freestyle wrestling to her sporting schedule, competing nearly every weekend in both sports, but after one year, the intensity of her schedule led teenage "Maca" to opt out of the wrestling circuit and focus her energy on jiu-jitsu. Maria Carolina Vicentini decided to follow jiu-jitsu as a professional path at 17. In 2023, despite her success on the international circuit with gold medals at the Brazilian Nationals (double) & Pan-American, Maca decided to switch camps and join Dream Art, a world-champion team with a terrific professional structure. Her great form good form was maintained while representing DA as she went on to win the Mundial and, subsequently, her black belt, which arrived from the hands of team leader Lucas Gualberto & Maca's other half, Marcos Froede, in a ceremony that took place in June 2023. In 2024, Vicentini joined the Art of Jiu-Jitsu (AOJ) team, of Guilherme Mendes. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() );