Maria Malyjasiak

Maria Malyjasiak, often referred to as "Marysia" Malyjasiak is a Polish-born Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Abmar Barbosa, and a Pan American champion in the sport, having also an extensive curriculum in judo where Malyjasiak served as a National Polish Team Squad member. Maria is widely regarded as one of the top super-heavyweight competitors of her generation in jiu-jitsu. Maria Malyjasiak was born on March 2, 1989, in Gdansk - Poland where she grew up, spending her time between Gdansk and Gdynia. Martial arts became part of Maria's life during her early teens. More specifically from October 2002 when Malyjasiak moved to a new school where the PE teacher was also a judo instructor. After being introduced to the coach by a friend who already practiced the Japanese art of throwing, Malyjasiak decided to join. Something she enjoyed from the very get-go. Judo became a big portion of Maria Malyjasiak's day-to-day life early on, with her hard work and talent shining through and reaching an international level by way of the national Poland squad. A team for which Malyjasiak played as a U17 and U20 athlete. In 2011 Maria was informed of a jiu-jitsu tournament in Warsaw, POL where the winning prize was an "all expenses paid" trip to Abu Dhabi to compete in the UAEJJF World Championship. Malyjasiak had never won anything more than a medal in judo and thought it was worth her time. As she didn't know the rules Maria trained jiu-jitsu exclusively for 2 months prior to the event, an effort that led to her 1st gold medal in this sport. The thrill of winning the big prize from a grappling tournament at the UAEJJF Abu Dhabi Pro Trials led Malyjasiak towards jiu-jitsu. She eventually quit judo to focus all her efforts on her BJJ progression. Once again Maria's hard work and talent rose above and in just one year she was promoted to purple belt. In October 2013 Maria traveled to the United States for a competition. There she met Abmar Barbosa, a jiu-jitsu black belt with which she started a relationship. As the two grew fonder of each other Malyjasiak started spending more time in the United States than in Poland, ending up earning both her brown and black belts from Abmar - the latter earned on July 4, 2017. Your email address will not be published.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() );